you'd think that 'pundits,' people who are professional expounders of their own opinions, would reach for something original. some do: most assure their position by repeating 'the common wisdom': you'll hear or read twenty all using the same sentence on any given matter. this reveals their overweening insecurity and that of the publications or broadcast outlets that host them. the reasoning is that the common wisdom might be wrong, but no one can really blame you any more than anyone else for expressing it, so you're safe. one piece of the cw i like over the last few months is 'the non-romney,' who's the person republican voters can't settle on. (e.j. dionne leads with it today, but you can hardly blame him in that he's just saying what everyone else is saying; on the other hand, there's no point in reading him, for the same reason; this is why someone like hitchens is of great value; he dared to say something, which of course risks being individually responsible for saying something wrong, as he often did.)
anyway, the non-romney motif is a completely manufactured artificial creature of the media coverage itself. the only reason the cw pundits think of everyone else in the field as non-romneys is because they themselves assumed that romney would be the nominee, with very little reason. and they were comfortable with romney; they understood him because he was like themselves: a non-entity. treating everone else as non-romneys just puts romney at the center of the caucus/primary process by a priori stipulation.
i think of them all as non-pauls, which is a useful frame because they actually disagree with paul (it is not possible to disagree with romney). and it truly astonishes me that paul is atop the polls in iowa: i.e. that he is the non-bachmann. really, even this much is an amazing moment in american politics, one i never thought i'd live to see, one in which the power of the state - growing all over the world for centuries - is actually coming in for doubt, in which it is possible to raise fundamental questions again.
there are very few ways in which people might express their disgust for our politicians, for our political process, and for our government. but this disgust is well-nigh universal, as well it should be, as it must be because of the way these people and institutions actually behave. well, voting for ron paul is an actual way to express that, and also at once to affirm the fundamental american political tradition of small state and individual liberty. every cw pundit in the country is still saying hardy har he can't win. the 'republican establishment' must be absolutely shitting bricks, trying to design a non-paul. but we actually do have a chance to teach all of these folks a lesson.
