Jim Geraghty of National Review Online exposes a little-discussed fact involving mainstream media coverage of Republican politics.
A liberal New York Times columnist laments that Republicans in Ohio and Pennsylvania can choose between the President Trump-endorsed J. D. Vance and Mehmet Oz “or a half-dozen alternatives without reality-TV careers.” It seems like a particularly disingenuous complaint, since I figure if you were really troubled by celebrity candidates, you would bother to learn the names of at least one or two of the alternatives. …
… I think New York Times columnist Gail Collins said a lot more than she realized yesterday when she offered a recent summary of the Ohio and Pennsylvania Republican Senate primaries.
I guess we should move on to politics for a bit. Next month there’ll be big Senate primaries in places like Ohio — where Republicans will have to choose between the newly anointed Trump favorite J.D. Vance of “Hillbilly Elegy” fame and a bunch of noncelebrities — and Pennsylvania, where they’ll have the option of selecting Trump’s man, Dr. Oz of Oprah fame, or a half-dozen alternatives without reality-TV careers.
Those non-celebrity, and non-reality-TV-star Republican senatorial candidates may be a lot better or more qualified, but Collins can’t be bothered to learn any of their names. She chuckles that “the Republican Party is going to become the Home for Unwillingly Retired Entertainers” but doesn’t bother to tell readers anything about any of the other options. Too much work! Too much effort! …
… Lots of people in the left-of-center mainstream media fume about shallow, uninformed celebrity candidates and how these fame addicts aren’t truly committed to doing the work of being a legislator, and then give all their attention and airtime to shallow, uniformed celebrity candidates. …
… [Collins] isn’t genuinely concerned that the Republican Party is too enamored with celebrity candidates. She has just heard about Vance and Oz, and that’s what’s shaping her perception of the party.
