From George Packer, explaining why politics is covered as spectacle these days:
How many times and ways can you say that the Republican Party has descended into unreality and extremism before you lose your viewers and readers?
In my case, I imagine the answer is “several thousand.” And if I kept up Friday Catblogging, I’d probably keep a fair chunk of my audience even at that.
Still, Packer has a point. Hell, it actually makes my blogging life sort of miserable. Nearly every day I face the same decision: do I pretend to take Republican crankery seriously and write a few chart-laden posts about why they’re wrong, or should I instead write a couple of rants about how lunacy has become mainstream and can hardly be fought with yet more wonkery and tedious empirical evidence?
Obviously, I usually opt for the former. But not without qualms just about every single day.
