Elites

A big problem with the shallow, vapid, navel-gazing personality driven politics-as-theater and political-journalism-as-theater-criticism coverage that we get from the likes of Maureen Dowd is that it lures many people into thinking that this is how politics should be thought about. After all, Maureen Dowd is a premier columnist in the premier newspaper in the country. Some people pride themselves on the fact that they take the time to follow "serious" news - the New York Times and NPR - and thus over time become convinced that this is exactly what "serious" news is. They probably didn't start there, but over time they become convinced that this is exactly how very smart people should think about politics.