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EDITOR OF REDSTATE

An Extra Note on Pundits

Let me add a bit of extra “get off my lawn” bile to my morning post on young pundits who don’t know their history.

There’s another disturbing trend and it has both Matt Lewis and me extremely aggravated. I’m not sure he’s written on it yet so I will. He and I were lamenting this a few weeks ago at dinner.

The number of pundits on television, radio, and the internet who have decided to mouth off about political campaigns and have no freaking clue how to run a political campaign is really out of control. The other day I was listening to some young pretty pundit on television who was described as a Democratic strategist mouth off about campaigns. I had never heard of her. That’s not a big deal as there are lots of people I’ve never heard of down here in Macon, GA.

But I googled the young lady and found out that her resume consisted of pretty much nothing, which was self-evident from the clueless way she spoke about campaigns. It really is rampant.

I got my start in politics in earnest in 1994 doing grassroots coalition building on a voluntary basis for a guy running for congress. I moved up to helping with fundraising, press releases, GOTV, etc. By the time RedState started, I was flying around the country helping people run for office, scripting commercials, reading poll data, and doing precinct by precinct turnout estimates based on historic data.

You would be shocked how many so called campaign experts on television, radio, and the internet have never so much as phone banked for a candidate, let alone run a campaign. This is not to say a person cannot become an expert or sharp analyst on campaigns who has never actually sat in a campaign office stuffing envelopes at 3 o’clock in the morning. But it is to say that many who pose as authorities are not.

In an effort to get the youngest, prettiest people on television and build blogs around campaign analysis from which one hopes to derive some level of reputation, the left, right, and center have started getting information about the political lay of the land from people who really don’t know much more than those relying on them for the information.

Now get back off my lawn, please.

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COMMENTS

  • http://www.thestandardcandle.com Justin Spagnolo

    The less inside baseball the MSM has to deal with… the less likely a narrative is deflated by “what’s happening on the ground” analysis.

    Isn’t there a profit motive in finding an expert that will confirm any bias or narrative you throw at them?

    A heartfelt thanks for all you do… you’ve made me a better debater, a better arm chair analyst, and a better person, and that really goes for all the Redstate team…

  • BuckeyeTexan

    Erik,

    I requested a Diary at Red State. It was granted, but when I click “Created a New Diary Entry”, the system displays a page with the message “You do not have sufficient permissions to access this page.”

    I’ve emailed contact@redstate.com twice asking to have the issue resolved. I’ve received no reply. The problem still exists.

    How does one go about getting technical support at RedState? I would like the ability to participate here beyond posting comments on articles.

    Regards,
    BuckeyeTexan

  • http://www.erickerickson.org Erick Erickson

    n/t

  • Victor_Purinton

    “the youngest, prettiest people on television …”

    Look who’s talking!

  • Ausonius

    Really, Mr. Erickson, do you expect anything else from people schooled to believe that their possibly stupid opinions are good enough to get an “A” ???

    I about strangled my pro-MAObama colleague today, who teaches Socialist Studies in our Catholic school, because she said that for an assignment on American History she had told the 8th Grade not to worry about the essay part, “Since an opinion can be never be wrong.”

    AUGH!

    Yes, it CAN be wrong, it can be the wrongest thing ever heard in 17 counties! If in your opinion you think Beethoven made kitchen cabinets for a living, you are WRONG!

    But such is the whirlwind we are reaping today!

  • rednation

    Your basic premise is well taken, though it’s true one does not have to have done legwork for campaigns to have some clue, the larger issue is why the MSM consistently uses such folks and limits their guest lists to just a few well known suspects like Karl Rove, and then ascribes expert authority to them.

    The other is asking if such person have an agenda that may be at odds with the best interests of the country.

    Many folks are unaware of how “Establishment” some pundits are, and their histories. Karl Rove comes to mind.

    There is no diversity of opinion, and that may be intentional.

    All one has to do is watch many many hours of Fox News, for example, and count the variety of guest speakers.

    It’s the same handful of commentators…

  • rednation

    We have them in public schools feeding living constitution dogma into kids below age 15. I’ve seen it personally.

    What do you expect?

  • Finrod

    Tell her that the opinion that Obama is a Muslim and was not born in the US can’t be wrong then.

    I bet she’ll change her tune real quick about opinions never being wrong.

  • http://www.thestandardcandle.com Justin Spagnolo

    A mastery level understanding of Viagra and its benefits, Gold and its investing options, and a few phone numbers for Tort and Tax lawyers.

    It does not in any parallel universe provide you the ability to draw on any experience… that HAS NEVER happened.

  • Joshua Persons

    This rant isn’t directed at you, Ausonius, but I need to get it off my chest.

    OPINION IS AN EVIL WORD.

    Preferences and beliefs are different things.
    Preferences and facts are different things.
    Beliefs and facts are different things.

    A fact is a statement with a truth value: it’s either true or false.
    A belief is a person’s understanding regarding the truth value of a fact.
    A preference is a subjective statement with no truth value beyond the mental state of the speaker.

    The word “opinion” is such an ill-defined thing that it allows debaters to treat an idea as a preference, belief, or fact depending on the rhetorical need at hand.

    “That’s just my preference.” Ok, fine, but who cares beyond you?
    “That’s just my belief.” What have you done to test or prove it?
    “That’s just my fact.” Silly nonsense.

    But “That’s just my opinion.” Suddenly, the idea has all the subjective defensibility of a preference; all the interpersonal importance of a belief; but still the truthiness of a fact.

    ARGH!

  • kowalski

    Redstate needs to go commentless on certain entries and give that option to people who create blog entries as well.

    That’s not just a practical observation, I think it comports very well with what you’re saying here.

  • mixplix

    In my life time I’ve experienced many who had a conversational knowledge about a subject as we all do about auto insurance until we meet someone who makes their living selling it. We know the buzz words of a subject and let them roll off our tongues like we know what we are talking about. These are dangerous people who have BS’ed their way into positions of power and are making decisions not knowing the first thing about the subject. Usually they come with certifications from unknown sources that are very rarely checked. Blessed are the fact checkers who dot the I’s and cross the T’s that do their work usually in silence. I’ve read many resume’s and interviewed their authors and with a few sword pointed questions separated fact from fiction. Be careful with the buzz words.

  • Juggernaut

    the typical talk points and empty rhetoric. She’s one of the zealots behind the Boycott Rush idiocy. Her resume proves she is a jack of all trades, master of none including a failed House campaign loss. I prefer the more educated calm professional analysts over the fly by nighters, ERSS is in the same league with the pros. The rest will never earn radio show nor be a regular on tv or in print.

    http://www.krystalonline.com/about Self written biography.

    Krystal Marie Ball is a 29-year-old former Congressional candidate and current Democratic Strategist; in addition to being a Certified Public Accountant, software engineer, small business owner and mother. Krystal was recently named by Forbes Magazine as number 21 on the magazine?s ?Most Powerful Women in the Mid Term Elections? list.

    Krystal was the Democratic Nominee for US Congress for the 1st District of Virginia in 2010. Although she did not win, her electoral performance was exceptional given the overall climate for Democrats in 2010. Her campaign displayed an unusually strong fundraising prowess and excelled in the use of social media in politics. The campaign raised over $1M as a first time candidate from more than 6,000 donors in all 50 states.