Many are excited about the U.S. presidential campaign as the months tick down to November 6.
But Matt Taibbi is not.
He writes in his latest Rolling Stone post - headlined "Is this the Most Boring Election Ever?":
Obama versus Romney is the worst reality show on TV since the Tila Tequila days. The characters are terrible, there's no suspense, and the biggest thing is, it lacks both spontaneity and a gross-out factor.
CNN talked with Taibbi on the "boring" election, what's ahead for the candidates and why he thinks 2012 is feeling a lot like 2004. Here's an edited version:
Q: So did President Obama's announcement on same-sex marriage give the election some life?
TAIBBI: If you notice, that was really Joe Biden who injected that little plot into the race. But yes, I guess there's going to be a few controversies here and there. But really, [this election] lacks the same kind of thrills we had four years ago when it seemed like every week there was some new crazy controversy from Reverend Wright to Geraldine Ferraro to Bill Ayers. It was something like that every week. And we're just not having that this time.
Q: Is the 2008 election campaign a hard year to top?
TAIBBI: Yes, [2008] was fantastic. Purely from a reality show television aspect, I think it was the most entertaining election we have had.
Q: What do you think about polling that shows President Obama and Mitt Romney are neck and neck?
TAIBBI: You know, I saw that poll. I don't believe it. I don't know any campaign journalist out there who thinks that Romney has a legitimate chance to win. I'm not making a value judgment about either candidate.
I just think that in the press, there's this general feeling that this election is a foregone conclusion. You have a relatively popular incumbent, the economy is not doing terribly, and traditionally, the candidate who has a major fundraising advantage almost always wins, and Obama has raised a lot more money than Romney has.
Could Romney win? Yes, it's possible. I just don't think it's likely and that takes a lot of the suspense out of the race.
Q: But didn't you hear James Carville the other day? He said that many people feel similar to what you described and that's dangerous because he thinks Democrats could lose.
TAIBBI: Yes, that's possible. But one of the things we have to remember [is] I think we all in the media get caught up in this. There are very few political taboos in American journalism. But there are a lot of commercial taboos, and one of the big ones is you can never say that something is a foregone conclusion. It's our job in the media to try to drum up interest in this. We have to sell advertisers and we have to get viewers and ratings.
So we can't just come out and say that this thing is over six months before it happens. So there's a strong incentive by all the pundits, including people like me, to come out and say "Well, this could happen, that could happen." Romney has a legitimate chance - it's just a subconscious poll that works in all of us in the media that drives us to make those kinds of comments, I think.
[But] it's still the presidential election, it's the most powerful office in the world. There's always going to be some kind of drama about it. And there's quite a lot at stake and I'm sure we'll come up with something that will make it interesting before the end.
But this election feels a lot like 2004, when you had a very powerful and relatively popular incumbent and kind of an uninspiring challenger who was nominated reluctantly by his own party, all which leads to an anti-climatic ending. And I think that's where we're headed for in this race.
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Come on!... Just remember all those gossips when Obama got elected after Bush? USA still needs more time to recover from Bushes to reinforce much needed structural gaps if you ask me. If you see it as a boring short term for USA, many others might say that it is a promising future for the world. Maybe its time for the USA media to open up to the world or non-political matters for sensation. But I suppose it is a bad year for the domestic politics writers
• If you think that the republican party will give you back what they already took you for (a ride), you need to do your homework. Did the distribution of wealth shift from middle class to the extremely rich under the previous administration? Would you believe it was all a big mistake? or did some wealthy people illegally manipulated the stock market and cause the income shift and the consequential economic downturn. Maybe you are intimated by the republican tactic to hold you hostage by voting against any attempt by the current administration to improve the economy. Mittens is a coward, are you?
Romney rolled a pha-gg. BWaaaaaahaahaahaaahaa!
Apologize to Tinkerbell, Mitt.
Really? That's all you got? Vote if you have to, but please try not to reproduce.
Someone want to translate this to English for me?
Obama 2012!
I don't like either option, seriously. Neither the president or the nominee intends to withdraw troops fast enough, or cut spending.
Well put, Fuyuko. Thank you.
I did not make this statement.
The more you harass us, the more we show your sorry as sed comments to be most mo ron nic.
We are not going away ever.
Keep harassing us so that we keep our resolve to make you look like the lo sers you are and always will be...
To identify people in these bloggs, please use your iphones/androids as each participant has been assigned a colour based on their email address.
This year's presidential election will be the most boring ever! Neither Mitt Romney nor Barack Obama are any good.
Well said, Patrick. I'd rather see Ron Paul get in as President!
Marine/George Patton/J. Foster Dulles/Joseph McCarthy/Marine 5484/Yacobi – whatever your name is!
It does not matter what you call yourself, it's all about what you say.
You as swipe are a total i diot.
Marine, you are so absolutely s tupid that you used your own email address to steal my name and make that i diotic comment.
I got you good, and sent the info to CNN!
Ron Paul if offering free training in Mandarin if he gets elected. You'll need it for your next job.
S c rew off a sswipe and get your own name.
I did not make this statement.
Him?? What about YOU! Go get your own name and stop using mine "Wannaba Patrick"
Harassment is a reportable offence.
Lack of intellect or heart, unfortunately, is accepted and/or ignored.
RZ/Big Ben/Major/Shahin
I feel threatened by this method of harassment used by this person CNN.
Could you please help me?
Patrick
Him?? What about YOU! Go get your own name and stop using mine "Wannaba Patrick"
May 10, 2012 at 6:48 pm |
Which one of you above is the true Patrick?
My children, stop fighting over such meaningless KRAP.
The more you harass us, the more we show your sorry as sed comments to be most mo ron nic.
We are not going away ever.
Keep harassing us so that we keep our resolve to make you look like the lo sers you are and always will be.
The people who would be best at leading our Country wouldn't touch politics with a ten foot pole. They're too smart. We don't get the best and brightest in these contests, we get the most power-hungry.
Until November 6 many things can still happen. We live in a volatile world and foreign policies might pre-occupy the six coming months.
Boring? I'm sorry, I don't think politics and entertainment should mix.
There is a state called adrenaline-mania. People do get addictict to their adrenalin surges. Do check out the case.If you want to live high on an adrenaline produced stage you may as well try alternative sports like skin diving or white water rafting to begin with and not politics. Taking chnaces do not go well together with governing.
Neither candidate is all that great. Its down to "Who do I vote against"–
I am so stoned right now
Sure thing Rz
My youngest grandchild is more mature then you
Travis/Warren/Anonymous
We do not know how old you are; however, it is obvious you are a bratty child.
Best tell your parents what you are doing before the police comes knocking at your door.
Geez Patrick, here we go again. There's a lot of these things (and much much worse) happening out there. Cool your jets and notify Amar or Fareed directly via outside channels. There are means to help avoid handle duplication and make things more difficult for "Moniker Jacking Doosh Bags", as the problem is spreading and can recur too easily. Read up in it.
Thanks RZ.
I have notified CNN.
Of course it's boring, but necessary in democracies. But... it is even painful to hear ideas and sugestions about how politics should be and that the very very old values of America should be rescued....
Why don't the Americans understand that there doesn't exist any eternal idea called America and that times of American frontiers are definitly over? This would shorten the debates and left the pathos with false patriotism out!.... But without being truely American by heart and even born in the country with birth certificate, I will probably never understand and always miss the point! `.-)
I see that some Tea Partying jerk hijacked my name on this web page, trying to make a fool out me. Therefore, I'm no longer going to use this screen name. These Tea Partiers as ignorant as they are do know to steal other peoples' names. I had enough!
I did not make this statement.
As previously, Marine's English is so poor that you will not have a problem identifying the difference between "it" and me.
Marine, grow up I d i o t!
As the true Patrick here, I want everyone to know that some Tea Partier stole my name so I will no longer use it, like I said before. The next time you see any right-wing drivel posted under my name, I want you to know that it never came from me!
The only reason that the 2008 election was worthy of remembering was because it featured a frontrunning African American running for the Presidency and a female moron on the ticket with the GOP.
Sorry the election bores you Mr Taibbi. It is, after all, just a "realioy show" and it's only purpose is to keep so-called journalists amused.
Thank you, CNN, for doing your usual crap job of reinforcing the worthlessness of today's media.
What an idiot ... the Presidential race is not reality TV and it is not meant to entertain us ... it is supposed to inform us so we can make an educated decision regarding our vote ... and hopefully end up with someone who is at least marginally qualified for the role ... that did not happen in 2008. Instead we had a charismatic megalomaniac who gained support through divisive speech and unrealistic promises.
So far, no one has pointed out one thing he has done that actually makes this country stronger and clearly indicates a brighter future. He has done several things to appeal to certain groups of voters, but nothing substantially positive.
Instead he keeps feeding his supporters the same BS about taking care of them by taxing the rich ... ultimately, if the democrats have their way we will have a caste society.
Jim, people like you are part of the problem, you live in a box. The media DOES NOT report the facts, the media reports what their masters TELL them to report. Such as that the frontrunners in the GOP were Perry, Bachmann and Romney in 2011 after the Ames straw poll with no mention of who won second place. The do very little to fact check the candidates, do not report on their voting history vs. what they say on the stage. They do not report on third parties at all!
They tell you America has has choice of Coke or Pepsi when what it needs most is an enema.
Good ol' Liberal denial. These idiots said the same thing about the 2010 mid-terms and look what happened. I will be saying, "I told you so" again when Romney kicks Obama's Marxist butt in Nov.
Obama's record is far more centrist than Romney's, Romney has legislated like Michael Moore but talks like Rush Limbaugh.
Ya, fate of the free world's economy is boring...until we throw in some irrelevnt gay marriage stuff, then it suddenly becomes a very thought provoking election year. This says it all.
Ooops no postings, I guess I am in the black list....
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"There are very few political taboos in American journalism. But there are a lot of commercial taboos, and one of the big ones is you can never say that something is a foregone conclusion. It's our job in the media to try to drum up interest in this. We have to sell advertisers and we have to get viewers and ratings."
Maybe the media should instead go back to its original mandate of reporting facts instead of telling people their opinions disguised by pundits such as yourself as facts. Maybe then people could once again learn to think critically and make their own conclusions. Stop feeding people bull$#!t!
They should, but they won't. Because people won't pay them to just report facts. Just the facts doesn't make exciting headlines, articles, and TV specials.
It's kinda boring because Obama is obviously going to win.
I'm curious on whether or not folks will riot if Obama ISN'T reelected.
IT'S NOT SUPPOSED TO BE ENTERTAINING YOU MORON! NOTHING IS AS IMPORTANT BEYOND YOUR OWN PERSONAL AFFAIRS THEN CHOOSING WHO TO LEAD YOU AND PRODUCE LAWS YOU WILL LIVE UNDER AND SPEND YOUR MONEY!
"CHOOSING WHO TO LEAD YOU AND PRODUCE LAWS YOU WILL LIVE UNDER AND SPEND YOUR MONEY"
I wouldn't want anyone to do that. I'm not 10 years old, ya know.
Romney has no charisma, no convictions and is unlikeable, he is a boarding school kid whose grandfather was a poligamist – thus completely unrelatable to the average person. As a governor his state was almost last in job creation and his business was financed by his dad's rich mormon friends – and contributed to jobs being moved overseas and the lowering of workers wages. He is nothing but a Repub/corporate puppet. Hopefully seniors realize how devastating his/Paul's budget will be to them and the repubs deservable lose this voting block.
The GOP solution: Turn all the Old, Sick, Poor, Non-white, Non-christian, Unemployed, and Gay people into slaves. Then whip them until they are Young, Healthy, Rich, White, Christian, Employed, and Straight. Or until they are dead. Then turn them into Soylent Green to feed the military.
Only stupid people vote.
The United States has posted its first budget surplus in almost four years.
The Treasury Department said Thursday the country took in more money last month than it spent for the first time since September 2008, just before the global economic recession.
Americans pay their yearly taxes in April, so an increase in revenue is not unusual. The country is also expected to post another trillion-dollar deficit this year. But some economists believe the first surplus in nearly four years is a sign the U.S. economy may be coming back to life
The government also said Thursday that the U.S. trade gap widened in March with the country importing more goods than it exported.
It says the $52-billion increase in the trade deficit is a 14 percent jump over February.
Officials cite higher prices for imported oil and a greater demand for foreign-built computers, cars, televisions, cell phones and clothes. U.S. trade with China accounted for about 40 percent of the overall American shortfall.
In a separate report, the government said that the number of first-time claims for jobless benefits was slightly lower last week from the prior week. Analysts said the level of initial claims for unemployment compensation signal that the U.S. is poised for modest job growth.
The U.S. jobless rate dipped in April to 8.1 percent, but partly because some workers stopped looking for new jobs and were not counted in the monthly employment survey.
http://blogs.voanews.com/breaking-news/category/nd/
And as an added note, don't forget that the total number of workers that have gone completely off the radar (population of unemployed ?) now stands at over 86 million since 2008. The total will be decreased by those actually leaving to find work abroad, but I haven't seen any reliable stats on that yet.
No one seems to care about this election because this time around the electorate can be divided into three groups. First those that hate Obama for various reasons from his policies to him personally. Second, those that love Obama for various reasons. Third those that are neutral to Obama. From this you can see that the reason no one seems to care is that everyone knows that no matter what happens he will be re-elected for the simple reason that everyone(Republicans, Democrats, or Independents) looks at Mitt Romney and says there is no way in hell that anyone would elect someone like him president.
Spoken like a true Democrat. He referred to Obama as a "popular" candidate but the numbers have not reflected that in the approval ratings. Romney needs to cash in on some important points, like the fact that though the unemployment rate has dropped, the only reason is due to people leaving the job market.
Obama is a populist president, however, and will pretty much say what is needed to get reelected. Buffett rule anybody? He does a good job of focusing on things that he think will gain him popularity, but many not be of much importance in reality.
I think alot will depend on the mood of people in the fall, and that is related to the current economy. It all hinges on the sentiment at the time.
Only a pinhead like Zakaria can think this is a boring election. America is at the crossroads. We either re-elect Barack Obama and follow the path of France, Spain, Greece, the UK, Italy and all the other failed European quasi socialist states, or we decide it's time to get back to doing what America does best - growing an economy where people can find real jobs in the private sector, with a limited and balanced public sector.
The voters in Wisconsin got it right.
One of the most serious problems in the US at the moment is the blatant attempt by the Republicans to steal the election through voter suppression nation-wise, with the most outragous being in Ohio. This poses a huge danger to the concept of a free America and affects all of America. I suggest a nation-wide movement of demonstrations [peaceful] to protest these attempts at voter suppressions as quickly as possible. Perhaps starting on Sunday (Sept 2, 2012), Lets see if there are any real Americans left. Please pass this message on to every internet activity you can. We can show the power of free Americans and communications.
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