Unqualified Offerings

Somewhat modifying to what Glenn Greenwald said, the further issue is that the "moderate majority of the American electorate" can not possibly spare more than a thought and a half about Joe Lieberman one way or the other in any given election cycle, any more than most people know or care how good a safety Laron Landry is or isn’t for the Washington Redskins. Lieberman is a gigantic presence, for good or ill, in what we might call politics fandom. He’s on all the talk shows! He inspires controversy among pundits and partisans! He gets quoted in the newspaper! That’s all very important to people who follow politics closely, which is . . . people who follow politics closely. People like me and Glenn Greenwald and Jamie Effing Kirchick. The mistake, and it’s aligned with but not identical to the one Greenwald himself identifies, is to imagine that, if politics is important and I follow politics, most people must be similarly attentive to it.

But that’s just not true. Thus Republicans make fools of themselves by trying to run against "Nancy Pelosi." They hate Nancy Pelosi. They follow politics. They imagine not just that the electorate shares their hatred of Nancy Pelosi but that the electorate cares much about her at all one way or the other. Similarly with Lieberman. We’re talking about a losing (officially anyway) vice-presidential candidate from eight years ago with the physical charisma of Marty and a a voice like a garbage disposal that just won’t get up to chopping speed and really needs a service call dammit. No one cares except the fans. I’m not saying people don’t have political opinions in the broadest sense. I’m just saying they’re not buffs.