Is it just me, or is this election making us all a bit crazy? I know that, for my part, I’m obsessively checking RealClearPolitics several times every day (thanks a hell of a lot for that, Tom!!), memorizing their Electoral College counts, not to mention that on my commute home last night, I actually listened to the third debate instead of the Dodgers game.
Of course, that commute was made much longer by the residual traffic created by the Dodgers game, which is never fun.
It has been like this forever. In fact, I’m not actually sure that I can remember a time before this campaign started. Way back in March 2007, (over a year and a half before Entertainment Weekly said the same thing on their cover) I asked if this campaign was going to be the best reality TV show ever, and I think that it has ended up that way.
One small problem: I hate reality TV.
It’s making me crazy. And I know that I’m not the only one. Check out this IM exchange I had last night with “ELitella”:
ELitella: Mr. Loper, What’s all this talk during the third debate about Joe Strummer? And who’s fiscal policies would be better for Joe Strummer? And who Joe Strummer would vote for? Don’t John McCain and Barack Obama know that Joe Strummer has been dead for years? And that, when he was alive, that he was a crazy radical musician who would find both of their policies to be too middle-of-the-road? In fact, he wasn’t even an American citizen in the first…
barefootjim: Wait a second, ELitella, they weren’t talking about “Joe Strummer,” they were talking about “Joe The Plumber,” a guy in Ohio whom McCain trotted to try to score economic points. He won’t say for sure, which is admirable, but he sure seems like he’s a McCain guy all the way.
ELitella: Joe the Plumber? Not Joe Strummer?
barefootjim: Yeah.
ELitella: Oh. That’s different. Never mind.
Just 19 more days of this madness. I can’t hardly wait. Thank gods that I’ve got the World Series to distract me. And since the Dodgers aren’t in it, my commute won’t be nearly as bad as it would have been, which is something.
Umm, that’s an old Gilda Radner bit that you fell for, pal.
Weirdly enough, I happen to have an IM from Gilda Radner herself. And she has a message for you, @GildaFan.
GildaRadner: @GildaFan, you know nothing of my work.
barefootjim: Actually, Gilda, he’s got a point. I totally stole it from your routine. I figured that everybody would get that, but obviously, the endless campaign has made them crazy, as well.
GildaRadner: Whaddya want from me? I’ve been dead longer than Joe Strummer. Hey, did you know he’s a Saint?