Bev Perdue said something stupid. Worth noting, but not really big news.

Stupid quote gets picked up by the noise machine, amplified through the news cycle...and that's front-page above-the-fold "news" in the local daily.

Binker's article is actually well done, but the editorializing-by-placement is not.

Geoff Baym, the UNCG prof quoted in the story, was on the panel for last night's discussion of the media and political polarization. I thought our session went well, but it would have been even better if we'd had a copy of this morning's N&R to hold up as an example.

Comments

[Joe Killian]

Wait...you think the placement was a political swipe by the N&R's editors at Bev Perdue?

Because they're so conservative?

Or you just think this is a good example of how things are so amplified for political reasons and the media doesn't guard against that but plays into it by making it noise because conflict is sexy?

Wish I could have made the talk last night.

[Kim]

She really needs to work on her delivery.

[Ed Cone]

Joe, the latter; the editorializing was not "Bev is bad," but "This is the biggest story of the day."

[Thomas]

I heard this non-story yesterday and my reaction when I unfolded this morning's paper was a big "WTF?".

[David Wharton]

I think it deserved its spot above the fold. Perdue seemed to mean what she said at the time she said it, and she's not the only person saying stuff like that:

This is why I believe that we need to jettison the Civics 101 fairy tale about pure representative democracy and instead begin to build a new set of rules and institutions that would make legislative inertia less detrimental to our nation’s long-term health....What we need, then, are ways around our politicians.

What's not so important about the story is what Rush Limbaugh said about it. What is important is that high-level public officials are seriously expressing doubts about the efficacy of representative democracy. That's front page news to me.

[Ed Cone]

Interesting, DW, thanks. It would be useful to know if Perdue was working from some body of thought, or just ripping a brain fart.

A serious story could tie the meme to yesterday's NYT front pager (linked here, with the awesome Tosh song) about people around the world losing faith in electoral processes, and California referenda, historical changes in the way we elect Senators, etc.

But that wasn't what the FPAF article was about, and sadly, that kind of article seems unlikely to grab such valuable newsprint real estate. Again, credit Binker with a smart take on the kerfluffle, but kerfluffles aren't worth FPAF.

[David Hoggard]

Agreed David.

I also agree with the Governor's sentiment, if not her suggestion. If our elected leaders weren't so concerned about scoring political points for a time, they might actually put the plight of the nation above their narrow self interests.

[Billy Jones]

So Perdue was dumb enough to state out loud what every incumbent left or right has dreamed for years.

[polifrog]

Good one, Billy. However, stupidity repeated often enough can lead to undesirable outcomes.

To add to DW's quote:

Peter Orsag, Obama’s former budget director wrote:

To solve the serious problems facing our country, we need to minimize the harm from legislative inertia by relying more on automatic policies and depoliticized commissions for certain policy decisions. In other words, radical as it sounds, we need to counter the gridlock of our political institutions by making them a bit less democratic.

Tom Friedman:

You know, that’s really what, what it’s come down to. So I don’t–I, I–I’m worried about this, it’s why I have fantasized–don’t get me wrong–but that what if we could just be China for a day? I mean, just, just, just one day. You know, I mean, where we could actually, you know, authorize the right solutions, and I do think there is a sense of that, on, on everything from the economy to environment.

Tom Friedman again:

Watching both the health care and climate/energy debates in Congress, it is hard not to draw the following conclusion: There is only one thing worse than one-party autocracy, and that is one-party democracy, which is what we have in America today

One-party autocracy certainly has its drawbacks. But when it is led by a reasonably enlightened group of people, as China is today, it can also have great advantages. That one party can just impose the politically difficult but critically important policies needed to move a society forward in the 21st century. It is not an accident that China is committed to overtaking us in electric cars, solar power, energy efficiency, batteries, nuclear power and wind power. China’s leaders understand that in a world of exploding populations and rising emerging-market middle classes, demand for clean power and energy efficiency is going to soar. Beijing wants to make sure that it owns that industry and is ordering the policies to do that, including boosting gasoline prices, from the top down.

Our one-party democracy is worse. The fact is, on both the energy/climate legislation and health care legislation, only the Democrats are really playing. With a few notable exceptions, the Republican Party is standing, arms folded and saying “no.” Many of them just want President Obama to fail. Such a waste. Mr. Obama is not a socialist; he’s a centrist. But if he’s forced to depend entirely on his own party to pass legislation, he will be whipsawed by its different factions.

Friedman has praised Communist China’s power to get things done before. In an August 27, 2008 column during the Summer Olympics, hosted by Beijing, he praised the “concentrated state power” of China.

China did not build the magnificent $43 billion infrastructure for these games, or put on the unparalleled opening and closing ceremonies, simply by the dumb luck of discovering oil. No, it was the culmination of seven years of national investment, planning, concentrated state power, national mobilization and hard work.

Woody Allen:

In an interview published by Spanish language newspaper La Vanguardia (that we translated), Allen says “I am pleased with Obama. I think he’s brilliant. The Republican Party should get out of his way and stop trying to hurt him.”

The director said “it would be good…if he could be a dictator for a few years because he could do a lot of good things quickly.”

Obama admits to the temptation:

The idea of doing things on my own is very tempting, I promise you, not just on immigration reform. But that’s not how our system works. That’s not how our democracy functions.”

And Purdue:

I think we ought to suspend, perhaps, elections for Congress for two years and just tell them we won’t hold it against them, whatever decisions they make, to just let them help this country recover, ...I really hope that someone can agree with me on that.

[Lex]

I'll start taking Republican complaints about Bev Perdue's remark seriously right after Republicans start taking complaints about voter suppression seriously, which will come right after the Justice Department starts treating it like the felony it is, which will happen when pigs fly, unfortunately.

[polifrog]

When an individual casts a legal vote but that vote is suppressed by an illegal vote of the opposing party, the illegal vote is in every meaning suppressed.

The suppression of illegal voting is not voter suppression, but rather the opposite.

Therefore, instances of illegal voting should be questioned not condoned.

[Ed Cone]

Woody Allen?

[polifrog]

Eeh, I debated including him.

[Ed Cone]

I think you lost that debate, although if the focus shifts to marrying one's stepdaughter, he's back in.

[polifrog]

So, maybe I lost a debate with myself and joined the club.

[Ed Cone]

On the other hand, J. Edgar Hoover did have his eye on the guy...

[bubba]

"I'll start taking Republican complaints about Bev Perdue's remark seriously right after Republicans start taking complaints about voter suppression seriously, which will come right after the Justice Department starts treating it like the felony it is, which will happen when pigs fly, unfortunately."

By what tortured stretch of logic (even for you)do those two things correlate?

I can't wait to read the answer.....this sounds like it's going to be lots of fun.

[greensboro transplant]

"I can't wait to read the answer.....this sounds like it's going to be lots of fun."

i'd also be interested in his opinion of the assassination of the two US citizens by the Obama admin in Yemen today. IIRC, Lex wanted Bush prosecuted for war crimes.

[Lex]

Glad you asked, GT. I first called for Obama's impeachment over this issue almost two years ago, I've done it multiple times since and I did it again today.

At least I'm consistent.

polifrog, nice try at changing the subject. Whoops, actually, it was pretty lame. Also: Why do you hate America?