If anyone else thinks it strange that presidential campaigns are not only starting WAY too early, but that they are becoming nothing more than talking heads relaying the same sound bites over and over (and I am talking about the candidates, not the pundits) you are not alone.
Today I heard the whole situation described with intelligence and brevity by none other than Newt Gingrich. Here's how he characterizes the recent GOP debates, which, like the earlier Democrat debates, happened about 1 1/2 years before the next presidential election.
"We have shrunk our political process to this pathetic dance in which people spend an entire year raising money in order to offer non-answers, so they can memorize what their consultants and focus groups said would work. ... This idea of demeaning the presidency by reducing it to being a game show contest ... is wrong for America, and I would never participate in it." (Source: AP, May 17 2007)
Of course, he was referring to the process, not the elections. I have no doubt in my mind Newt will throw his hat in the ring and be in the running for the Republican candidacy by the end of the year.
He just has to wait for some of these game show contestants to get their parting gifts, first.
