« Previous Post | Main | Next Post »

Yes, Virginia, John Edwards Does Take Pisses

Scholastic News breaks it all down for you

Remember this name: Ben Silberman.

Silberman is a 12-year-old reporter for Scholastic News who attended the John Edwards appearance in St. Paul yesterday and stayed for the "press avail" held afterward for us honorary members of the political establishment. It was young Ben who delivered the definitive verdict on the event and on Campaign 2004.

My City Pages colleague Paul Demko likewise attended, and files this note:

"Probably the most illuminating comment came from a 12-year-old reporter for Scholastic News. Upon word that the candidate was using the john, the kid said:  'I didn't know he was allowed to use the bathroom.' It kind of gets at the android-like qualities of the man, with his unwavering hair and perfect skin. Edwards answered four questions, two of which were from the scholastic news kid, and then was ushered away by his press people. 

"Incidentally, the print and TV media were cordoned off into separate rooms. Edwards answered questions for the TV folks first and then gave us five minutes. 'There are two press corps in America,' one of his campaign people quipped. Undoubtedly true."

One reason I love kid-reporter Silberman's observation so much is that it also underscores something that occurred to me months ago when Arnold Schwarzenegger was being elected. The point isn't that celebrity trumps politics; the point is that politicians have become an exotic subspecies of the genus Celebrity, as remote and exquisitely unreal as all the other celebs in the world if only occasionally as interesting. They're People On TV.

Posted by Steve Perry at February 22, 2004 1:08 PM

« Kerry: Going All Soft? | Main | Bush v. Bush »