There was an interesting discussion of Maureen Dowd between APF pundit Sam Seder and Eric Boehlert. It was essentially talking about how she diminishes politics by focusing on trivial matters, like how macho a politician appears rather than focusing on the substance of their policy etc..
It is a particularly striking discussion because that is essentially what this blog is, but hopefully more self aware and critical. I have always been conscious of the fact that I may be trivialising politics. To my defense, whilst Maureen may be touching on Politicians and would-be Presidents who have the potential to shape American and World policy. I mainly touch on pundits, I in effect discuss the discussers.
As I have stated before the main reason I have created this blog is to expose people to other pundits from the left and right. I use analogies and tangential references to separate pundits from any ideological preconceptions. I want the APF audience to view the links and explore the pundits with an open mind. Ideally by being exposed to a pundit's style and depth of knowledge people may be curious to hear more regardless of their ideological leaning.
I have stated that there is a part of punditry I do find troubling and harmful to political discourse. I do feel there is some value in partisan punditry however as it can also inform more incisively as it brings to the fore the key points of difference and base emotions and motivations behind each sides opinion. It is left up to the viewer to exercise due diligence by exposing themselves to these arguments as well as looking for the facts and weigh the evidence behind them.
Here is a question for the readers: Like Maureen Dowd (as Sam and Eric contend) do you think this blog's approach to politics is harmful?
Listen to Sam and Eric talk about Maureen Dowd
Update: October 10, 2007
Sam speaks with Evgenia Peretz who writes in Vanity Fair about how Maureen Dowd and other columnists played a pivotal role in shaping the public's perceptions of then presidential hopeful Al Gore.
Listen to Sam's interview with Evgenia here.
Read how Newsbusters, the Conservative blog feels about Evgenia's contention
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