The Super Bowl brings out the excesses of American culture through advertising and relentless media coverage of the irrelevant and banal. But with Super Tuesday also looming, a similar trend is emerging in politics. Self-promoters, self-styled experts, and advocates for various causes are clogging the Internet with e-mails, seeking a snippet of attention.
Journalists are always flooded by unsolicited e-mails, but with national primaries in both political parties looming in two days, there has been a torrent of advertisements, commentary, and - for reporters who have run out of ideas or sources - offers of interviews with academics and story ideas of marginal value.
Occasionally, some offer real news or useful information on high-minded topics, such as the Partnership for a Secure America, a bipartisan organization that includes many prominent former US diplomats and members of Congress. The group sent word that it is promoting a bipartisan agenda for the next president starting today with a new 30-second television ad about nuclear terrorism.
Then there are the releases from various public relations firms for their clients.
One in Hickory, N.C., is touting Roxanne Rivera of New Mexico, who is offering "Nine Tips to Help Hillary Clinton Win the Presidency" (Tip No. 1: "Acting like a lady will take you far.") Rivera, the release says, used $1,200 in 1981 to start what would became a $13 million construction service business and has since branched out into the consulting business.
Another release from an outfit in Chicago touts commentator Dr. Jessica Davis, who "has just completed a 30-city media blitz providing thought provoking commentary on the presidential race." Davis, who holds law and divinity degrees, is the author of "American Social Justice Report: Creating a Beloved Community" and believes that if the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. were alive today, he "would say we cannot let illegal immigrants continue drinking from the breast of America and not give back to her."
Then there is word from a Tennessee firm that country music singer Daron Norwood was "called upon to share his perspective on terrorism" at a symposium yesterday at Ranch of the Lonesome Dove in Southlake, Texas. Norwood, the release says, is also a humanitarian who started a drug and alcohol abuse intervention program for students and his song "If It Wasn't For Her, I Wouldn't Have You" was Billboard Magazine's most requested and played song in 1994.
From the American Bible Society, recipients are told that a nationwide survey shows a majority of those polled want a president "who mirrors biblical ideals of leadership" and a "whopping" majority reacts positively to candidates who cite Scripture. The survey was done by the polling organization of John Zogby, who in a separate release, reminds us that his polling in the Florida primary was "right on the nose," predicting almost to the precise percentages the outcome of the vote.
The American Management Association reports that "with Super Tuesday fast approaching, discussions about politics and the presidential election will heat up at water coolers in offices around the country." Among the findings: 35 percent of business people are uncomfortable discussing their political views with colleagues and 92 percent said no one in labor or management at their company has recommended voting for a particular candidate because it would benefit the organization.
Many journalists subscribe to periodic e-mails provided by the various websites of bloggers, commentators, and news aggregators. Other e-mails, however, arrive unsolicited. One of those is Roger J. Stone Jr.'s "The Stone Zoo/Political Punditry and Observation/Sponsored by Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler Attorneys at Law."
It features photos of Stone with Richard M. Nixon, who died in 1994, Ronald W. Reagan, who died in 2004, and Rudolph W. Giuliani, whose presidential campaign died Tuesday in Florida.
Some are more clever (and vicious) than others. Shortly before Giuliani's candidacy imploded, an e-mail arrived from RudyMarriedHisCousin.org, a site that mixes information with satire. It contrasts, for instance, the number of times it says Giuliani had mentioned the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks (5.8 million and counting) to the number of times he had mentioned that his first wife was his second cousin (zero). The site contends it is "dedicated to providing, objective, non-partisan information for voters and the media regarding cousin marriage issues in the 2008 Presidential Election.."
