Survivor: White House

Yeah, I know, I'm not blogging today about AI even though it was on last night. I watched it but did fast forward through some of the bad ones because I'm just so over that. Hollywood round starts next week so I'll be more interested in it then.

So instead I'm gonna talk politics! Yikes!

Well, I'm not gonna dive into it too much. Frankly, I'm just not knowledgable enough to say too much but just wanted to get some of my thoughts out there.

A few months ago there were quite a few candidates on both sides vying for the chance to be President. But little by little most have dropped out. I didn't even know much about most of them. And you know why? Because the media has set up the political campaign like the show Survivor.

Ok, I know that sounds a little crazy but there is a reason for this analogy.

If you've ever watched Survivor (or most any other reality show for that matter) you see typical patterns on the people you are watching.

Our first group is the people that stand out the most. They're loud, obnoxious, or controversial but there is something about them that gives them the most camera time.

Next there's the guy who is strong & good-looking & you think at the very beginning that he's got this game in the bag but the obnoxious guy outsmarts him & handsome guy goes home packing.

Then there's the people who are quiet & don't ruffle any feather & to editors are considered boring so they don't get much camera time. They usually get voted out but viewers don't really care because we didn't really know much about them anyway.

But then there's also the "dark horse". He/she is similar to the quiet contestant but will make a small victory like catch a fish or be the backbone for winning a challenge & all of a sudden he/she starts getting more camera time & you think maybe he/she has a chance to win the million dollars.

I promise, I really am going somewhere with this.

For the first group I would include the following: Clinton, Obama, McCain, Romney. They have obviously had the most media attention. Clinton is the first woman to have a chance at the presidency. Obama is the first black man to have a chance (I know Jesse Jackson ran years ago, but really, did he have a chance?). McCain has been out there 8 years ago (he can be like the guy who's always watched Survivor & says he knows the game like the back of his hand). Romney is a Mormon. Religion can always cause issues, especially one like Mormonism that people don't know much about.

For the handsome man I'll place John Edwards in that position. Back 4 years ago I could see why people liked him. He's handsome, young, has cute kids, & ha that great southern accent that makes people so much more likeable. It seemed to me that he had a chance. I wasn't going to vote for him but could see why some would. But he didn't get enough support & recently dropped out of the race. I'd put Guilliani in this one as well, though I don't think he's necessarily handsome but did think at one point he had a chance. He had a lot of popularity after 9/11 but in the end it wasn't enough.

There are quite a few to go into the quiet players: Duncan Hunter, Sam Brownback (anyone heard of him?), Jim Gilmore (or him?), Tom Tamcredo (I vaguely remember his name somewhere), Mike Gravel (I think he's still running though I don't know why), Joe Biden, Chris Dodd, Dennis Kucinich, Bill Richard, Tom Vilsack. They had very little if any media attention. Fred Thompson kinda falls in this category. But he was very slow in getting into the "game" & by the time he started to get more aggressive it was too little too late.

And for the "dark horse" I give that place to Mike Huckabee. He was one I don't remember hearing much about at first he's slowing getting more camera time & once he started getting some wins people started paying attention to him more. And now we wonder if he has a chance to win the nomination.

So there ya go. This has just been my own observation of the way the election is going this "season". The media tries to convince us who are the more interesting "contestants" to watch & leave the other ones in their dusts.

As for who I'm "cheering" for to win, well, that's for another post.