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And another thing...

There's another rant that I need to get off my chest before I leave the subject of pundits. All year long we've been hearing from these looney tunes, tone-deaf guys and gals about how this election year will be come-uppance for incumbents. You see, according to them, Americans are mad as hell at incumbents and they are not going to take it any more. This will be the year when they throw the bums out and bring in new blood, according to the narrative of the punditocracy. Especially new tea party blood. The pundits really, really love the tea party, because it says and does outrageous things and gives them fluff with which to fill up their 24-hour news cycle.

So what has been the record so far of incumbents in this year of "throwing the bums out"? Well, roughly 99% of them have won their races. Only about four have gone down to defeat and two of those were turncoats who had switched party in mid-stream - one from Republican to Democratic and one from Democratic to Republican. What then will be the effect of this reality upon the pundits' narrative? Will they admit that they just made it all up out of whole cloth and will they begin actually reporting events as they happen rather than trying to fit them into their pre-set narrative mold? Is the pope Jewish?

Oh, they may be forced to make some minor changes. For example, this has now become the "year of the woman" because of all the women that are running - and many of them winning - in Republican primaries this year. (Thank you, Sarah Palin!) This is just a variation on the "throw the bums out" theme, because the bums, by definition, are almost all males and these women are now here to clean things up. Isn't that what women always do? The pundits, naturally, have missed the fact that women have been running and winning in Democratic primaries and as Democratic candidates in general elections for years! It only counts in the virtual world of the pundits if the the Republicans do it.

These may be unsettled times among the electorate and a lot of voters may be really unhappy with some of the people in elective office in Washington, (I know I am!) but I suspect, when crunch time comes, we will find that most voters are actually satisfied with their own incumbent and that they will not at all be interested in throwing him/her out.

But, never fear, I have no doubt that the pundits will find a way to spin that so that it fits the election stories that they have almost certainly already written.
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