Tuesday, August 26, 2008

DNC Buzzword: Infomercial

[Normally I don't comment much on politics save for in private, but 'tis the season...]
Starting last Friday, the word I've heard over and over used to describe the Democratic National Convention 2008 in Denver, Colorado (and the Republican National Convention 2008 in Minneapolis, Minnesota coming in a couple of weeks) is Infomercial... perhaps you've heard it too. It seems to be the buzzword and the sad thing is that it's accepted as being the way things just are - more akin the the ego stroke of the New Year's Day Tournament of Roses Parade than any serious political convention. What's the point? Perhaps in the election cycle of 2012 all the pretense can be shed. The DNC & RNC will fund their "conventions" with 100% corporate sponsorship and something useful can be done with the our tax money that is currently given in addition to corporate payola. Furthermore, instead of news channels pretending this is anything more than a celebrity red carpet event and that there's serious news to be covered, the DNC & RNC can just buy commercial airtime like any other infomercial and leave the news for actual news worthy items.