Political Commentary by Hollywood Hacks?

It appears we have crossed a new threshhold in America's obsession with popular culture taking over for news. Even the local Albert Lea Tribune cannot resist the temptation of sensationalizing the news to sell newspapers.

Two of our esteemed political columnists are a comedian and a political satirist (definition: irony, sarcasm, or castic wit used to attach or expose folloy, vice, or stupidity. http://www.answers.com/satire&r=67). Let's call a spade a spade -- these folks do not deserve to be placed on a credible opinion page -- certainly not at the same time. Garrison Keillor, whose stories and voice enthral me -- has a political agenda. Here's an example of one of his tirades:

"The party of Lincoln and Liberty was transmogrified into the party of
hairy-backed swamp developers and corporate shills, faith-based economists,
fundamentalist bullies with Bibles, Christians of convenience, freelance
racists, misanthropic frat boys, shrieking midgets of AM radio, tax cheats,
nihilists in golf pants, brownshirts in pinstripes, sweatshop tycoons,
hacks,
fakirs, aggressive dorks, Lamborghini libertarians, people who
believe Neil
Armstrong’s moonwalk was filmed in Roswell, New Mexico, little
honkers out to
diminish the rest of us, Newt’s evil spawn and their
Etch-A-Sketch president, a
dull and rigid man suspicious of the free flow of
information and of secular
institutions, whose philosophy is a jumble of
badly sutured body parts trying to
walk. Republicans: The No.1 reason the
rest of the world thinks we’re deaf, dumb
and dangerous."

http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/were_not_in_lake_wobegon_anymore/


His resume is that he is extremely intelligent and spins a good yarn. I was actually enjoying Garrison Keillor's articles as he was keeping his comments away from politics. But, but . . .two liberal commedians on the same page. Please don't add Al Frankenstein to the editorial page!!

What about Will Durst? I was vaguely familiar with his name, but had to Google to really figure out who he was. One of my first hist hits was a webpage advertisting a video called "Voices of Dissent." Apparantly, Mr. Durst joined ranks with other well-known Hollywood "columnists" (described as "peace activists" on the website) such as Martin Sheen, Al Franken and Woody Harrelson. This video's tagline asks for buyers to view, "many of the surprising ways that Americans have found to express their views in dissent against the Bush administration policy of war in Iraq." http://www.voicesofdissent.us/Certainly, Mr. Durst appears to have obtained an informed view of his corner of the world from his home in California and he also tells a good joke. I do not question that these two columnist's are talented and are able to get their point across. However, do we really want to further "hollywoodize" how us mid-westerners obtain our political information?

Although, Mr. Durst does hail from Milwaukee, his comedy should probably appear on the comic page, not political opinion.

Imagine this conversation at the local Albert Lea coffee shop:Bernard: I hear President Bush is now trying to spin himself as an environmentalist. He's joining the "Green" party.James: No kidding. Where did you hear that?Bernard: From Will Durst!!James: Durst. Is that Crandall's neighbor?Bernard: No, No that's the guy from Comedy Central.James: Oh, I don't get CNN . . . cable prices just keep going up.Waitress [pouring 6th free refill]: I know who Durst is . . . he's that five-time emmy nominee that appears on PBS and NPR.James: Oh, I guess he does know what he's talking about.