| The most entertaining political story of 2010 so far. One week before the Aug. 3 primary, sex, drugs and lies have moved to the fore in a state Senate race in Macomb County.
This, friends, is why the mainstream media is dying, not some perceived backlash by consumers over bias. You have a story involving a candidate accused of making salacious phone calls saying that he rejected the accuser's sexual advances, and of accusations of drug use, and also of sodomy, and this is the best lede that the writer and editors could come up with? Events have literally conspired to present them an opportunity to splash illicit sex and other evidence of human failing all over the front page, and the best they can come up with are muted references to a primary race. The newspaper that steals my headline and runs it huge across the top half of tomorrow's edition is the newspaper that will be deep into its third run by the time most folks are finished with breakfast. Highlights: What's more, Gratz claimed that Brandenburg phoned in January 2006, pretended to be a reporter and asked, "What do you think of oral sex?"
(In his defence, Brandenburg said that the only reason she came forward with this is because he rejected her advances, which strikes me as basically the same thing as asking a woman you've just made angry if she's "got a friend in town.") A political ally of Brandenburg went to Gratz's Facebook page and posted a comment about Drolet's support of legalized marijuana. Political commentators Joe DiSano and Joe Munem began the Facebook page, Citizens Demanding Republican Jack Brandenburg Submit to Drug Testing.
And, to top it all off, everyone covering this story has failed to hit one of the best angles, which is that shortly after the Two Joes offered to pony up the dough for drug tests, someone with Jack Brandenburg's campaign responded by calling Leon Drolet a Sodomite. Said person has followed up by appearing wherever this story has run, denouncing his support for same-sex marriage as GAY MARRIAGE (that is, yelling it in all caps). Since we're all into teachable moments right now, here is the one we get from this ... high-minded is boring. If you want to bring in the peoples and save your industry, give them what they want. And, what they want is that if we're all screwed -- and by now, I assume everyone has concluded this, either in group activity or quietly by themselves -- at least send everyone out with a smile. |
