Questioning

I noticed in the entry about my encounter with Rick Perry by Will Wilkinson at the Economist that some people don’t take too kindly to questioning politicians. I saw the same in the comments for the YouTube video. One guy on the Internet compared me to Joe the Plumber and said that “ambushing politicians is pathetic.”

I have two things to say about this. One, as Rick Perry’s record suggests he is representative of the mainstream party system, and the problem is his record is not being questioned by the media. He needs to be taken to task at every opportunity about spending increases, reckless debt, and pandering to corporate interests because these are the issues the Republicans and Tea Party are hammering. Corruption and irresponsibility are on the radar, and Rick Perry is the poster child of these ills.

After the Ames straw poll, the media has created a narrative which specifically excludes Ron Paul to favor a race among three establishment-friendly candidates. While this exclusion is being addressed now, the media isn’t seriously questioning Perry’s record as a big government Republican in the vein of George W Bush.

Two, the larger issue isn’t Perry, per se, but the fact that people are against “ambushing” politicians with tough questions about their records, to the detriment of information in America. The mainstream media plays the role of gatekeeper in this system, and their unwillingness to question those in office or attempting to run for office has led to the state we are in today. Don’t believe me? Read about the Vice President’s beach party attended by the Very Serious Washington Press Corps last summer. They yuck it up and enjoy being around their sources, then turn around and give us the same Red Team vs Blue Team nonsense.