The Nature Of Politics

Glenn Greenwald seems to share my opinion of the nature of the political commentary landscape, and he expresses it more elegantly than I do. He describes Mark Halperin, for instance, as “nauseatingly vapid.” Has there ever been a more perfect description of Mark Halperin than that? He goes on to ask that paragon of political commentary, “How, as a journalist, do you hear yourself uttering such obsequious, demeaning tripe and not jump off the nearest bridge?” Awesome.

The flaws in that question are that a) Halperin is most certainly not a journalist and b) he almost certainly does not hear himself uttering anything because it is paradoxically true that people who are totally self absorbed never hear what they say at all. They hear what they think is profound thoughts and great oratory.