{"id":10975,"date":"2007-05-04T08:53:52","date_gmt":"2007-05-04T15:53:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2007\/05\/04\/the-one-true-litmus-test.html"},"modified":"2007-05-04T08:53:52","modified_gmt":"2007-05-04T15:53:52","slug":"the_one_true_litmus_test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/05\/04\/the_one_true_litmus_test.html","title":{"rendered":"The One True Litmus Test"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>UPDATE<\/strong>: <em>My serious goof. The pols were actually asked about their favorite reality show. That doesn&#8217;t make their answers any more honest, but it makes them slightly less creepy. Though &#8230; is CSPAN really Reality TV? (Avoids obvious &#8220;Jackass&#8221; jokes &#8230;)<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"img-shadow-right\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"TV!\" height=\"183\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/tv-philco-predicta.jpg\" width=\"144\" \/> <\/div>\n<p>Can a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/uslatest\/story\/0,,-6603760,00.html\" target=\"_blank\">candidate&#8217;s favorite TV show<\/a> tell you something about them?&nbsp;<em> (Comments mine.)<\/em><\/p>\n<p>DEMOCRATS:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li> Delaware Sen. <b>Joe Biden<\/b>: &#8220;Don&#8217;t have one.&#8221;&nbsp; <em>It&#8217;s hard to trust someone who says they have no &#8220;favorite TV show.&#8221;&nbsp; Do they not watch TV (and, if not, how do they keep any sort of pulse on popular culture)?&nbsp; Or are they just afraid to commit?<\/em><\/li>\n<li> New York Sen. <b>Hillary Rodham Clinton<\/b>: &#8220;American Idol.&#8221; <em>I should not be surprised by the number of pols who find a big, overrated, abusive talent contest to be great entertainment.&nbsp; Seems a bit incestuous to me.<\/em><\/li>\n<li> Connecticut Sen. <b>Chris Dodd<\/b>: &#8220;&#8216;American Idol.&#8221; <em>See above.<\/em><\/li>\n<li> Former North Carolina Sen. <b>John Edwards<\/b>: College basketball. <em>Honestly, even though I hate watching sports on TV except as a last resort, I have a lot of respect for someone who fesses up that&#8217;s their fave.&nbsp; And college basketball isn&#8217;t a bad choice.<\/em><\/li>\n<li> Ohio Rep. <b>Dennis Kucinich<\/b>: C-SPAN coverage of the U.S. House of Representatives. <em>Ego much?&nbsp; Or maybe just humorless wonkishness and an inability to maintain a life\/work balance.<\/em><\/li>\n<li> Illinois Sen. <b>Barack Obama<\/b>: &#8220;Other than the U.S. Senate on C-SPAN? I don&#8217;t watch them too often.&#8221; <em>See above.<\/em><\/li>\n<li> New Mexico Gov. <b>Bill Richardson<\/b>: &#8220;Fox News.&#8221; <em>Oh dear Lord &#8230;<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>REPUBLICANS:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li> Kansas Sen. <b>Sam Brownback<\/b>: &#8220;None this season; too busy. Last season it was &#8216;The Amazing Race.&#8221;&#8217; <em>Okay, minus points for life\/work balance, but at least some honesty.&nbsp; AR is a vaguely interesting show, and I know some clever people who watch it, but the parallels to political campaigning (as with &#8220;American Idol&#8221;) are amusing.<\/em><\/li>\n<li> Former New York Mayor <b>Rudy Giuliani<\/b>: Baseball. <em>See above.&nbsp; <\/em> <\/li>\n<li> Former Arkansas Gov. <b>Mike Huckabee<\/b>: &#8220;Nashville Star,&#8221; USA Network&#8217;s country music competition. <em>See &#8220;American Idol,&#8221; though I like the local\/genre touch.<\/em><\/li>\n<li> California Rep. <b>Duncan Hunter<\/b>: Watches Versus, previously called the Outdoor Life Network. <em>Which looks to be ESPN on bad steroids.&nbsp; I&#8217;d be interested in whether he prefers the yachting competition or the World Cage Match Federation.<\/em><\/li>\n<li> Arizona Sen. <b>John McCain<\/b>: Arizona Diamondbacks baseball. <em>Minor plus for sports, offset by a sense of pandering to the local population.<\/em><\/li>\n<li> Former Massachusetts Gov. <b>Mitt Romney<\/b>: &#8220;American Idol.&#8221; <em>See above.<\/em><\/li>\n<li> Colorado Rep. <b>Tom Tancredo<\/b>: &#8220;None.&#8221; <em>See above.&nbsp; Who&#8217;d have thought that Tom Tancredo and Joe Biden had something in common &#8230;?<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>So now I want to know more.&nbsp; How much TV do they actually catch?&nbsp; Is it live, taped, or TiVoed?&nbsp; How do they occupy themselves in their down time?&nbsp; Do they have strange hotel requirements (&#8220;The TV must be turned onto the Verge network; if not available, a special Verge satellite feed will be arranged&#8221;)?&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Or, conversely, I&#8217;d like to toss out a handful of my favorite shows and see if any of them have ever watched any of them, and what they thought (including gauging the honesty of the sentiments provided).<\/p>\n<p><small>(via <a href=\"http:\/\/j-walkblog.com\/index.php?\/weblog\/posts\/favorite_tv_shows\/\" target=\"_blank\">J-Walk<\/a>) <\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>UPDATE: My serious goof. The pols were actually asked about their favorite reality show. That doesn&#8217;t make their answers any more honest, but it makes them slightly less creepy. Though&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[54,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-elections-2008","category-media-tv"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":128143,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/09\/23\/pope-francis-is-a-catholic-pope-which-is-why-he-makes-american-pols-uncomfortable.html","url_meta":{"origin":10975,"position":0},"title":"Pope Francis is a Catholic Pope. Which is why he makes American pols uncomfortable","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 23-Sep-15 4:09am","format":false,"excerpt":"Americans tend to see our politics as some sort of Universal Spectrum of Ideological Reality. Right vs Left. Republicans vs Democrats. Conservatives vs. Liberals. Each position on each political and social question in the world can be neatly pinned to that spectrum, and people are expected to treat it as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16902,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2010\/03\/14\/unblogged-bits-for-sun-14-mar-2010-301pm.html","url_meta":{"origin":10975,"position":1},"title":"Unblogged Bits for Sun, 14 Mar 2010,  3:01PM","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 14-Mar-10 12:01pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries .... Lake Mead Drought Plastic plywood substitute - If the amount of recycled material indicated is true, and it's both cost and energy-efficient, then this could be pretty darned useful. Better controls for buzz in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Potpourri&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Potpourri","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/potpourri"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11710,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/07\/10\/something_for_your_readin.html","url_meta":{"origin":10975,"position":2},"title":"Something for your reading list for the next 16 months","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 10-Jul-07 8:24am","format":false,"excerpt":"As we hurtle headlong into the Presidential Election Season (or six seasons or so), FactCheck.org needs to be on your regular Internet reading list (visit the site, subscribe to...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Elections 2008&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Elections 2008","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/elections-2008"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/voting-butterfly.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4159,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/01\/27\/clearing_the_ai.html","url_meta":{"origin":10975,"position":3},"title":"Clearing the air","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 27-Jan-03 10:52am","format":false,"excerpt":"As the NTSB begins its probe into the causes of the mid-air small plane collision that occured over Denver last week, all the local pols are getting in on the...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Politics &amp; Law&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Politics &amp; Law","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2525,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2002\/06\/10\/goofiness.html","url_meta":{"origin":10975,"position":4},"title":"Goofiness","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 10-Jun-02 1:03pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Republican activists are compiling dossiers of lobbyists to identify which ones are Republicans, which are Democrats, and how they have been making personal contributions to candidates in the past. The...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Politics &amp; Law&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Politics &amp; Law","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":128139,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/09\/23\/what-im-waiting-for-from-the-popes-visit-to-the-us.html","url_meta":{"origin":10975,"position":5},"title":"What I&#039;m waiting for from the Pope&#039;s visit to the US","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 23-Sep-15 1:08am","format":false,"excerpt":"At the very least some uncomfortable moments with some of the pols who have been suggesting that Francis should pipe down on stuff he \"doesn't understand\", Originally shared by +Sabeena LoBello: Pope TalkBy: Steve Sack \u00a0 View on Google+","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/15%2B-%2B1imgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/15%2B-%2B1imgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/15%2B-%2B1imgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10975\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}