Politico Discusses "Polebrity," Induces Nausea

Did you ever get the feeling that at some point in the past, political culture got inextricably combined with celebrity culture -- sort of like the legendary chocolate-and-peanut-butter collision that birthed the Reese's Peanut Butter cup, except that in this case, the peanut butter cup hurts to swallow and sours the stomach for several generations?

Well, duh, this is all true and it should make you sick to death with the world. The best case for traveling in time I can think of is this hypothetical: what if you could take clips of Tom Delay on Dancing With The Stars back to 1985? Millions more people would be alive today, I'm guessing.

This whole matter is covered by Politico today -- thank God, you know? -- who introduce the world to the vomitous term "polebrity." For a long time, Politico has been obsessed with the superficial side of politics, but they never really had a venue to just cut loose until they came up with "Click" -- this article's home -- which ably found a way to multiply politics and shallowness and clotted cream and nitrous oxide and tiny cars filled with clowns...SO MANY CLOWNS! HOW DO THEY ALL FIT INSIDE THAT CAR?!

Still, this particular article packs something of a surprise! Here are two differing bits of advice on how politicians should approach the trappings of superficial fame -- one from a Republican consultant, one from "a PR firm that represents Hollywood heavyweights." Names have been omitted, for fun:

1. "The tried-and-true methods to increased visibility are just as effective as ever, says __________________. 'Either get involved in a sex scandal, write a book (easiest way) or run for president,' ______ says. 'Accept every invitation to every cable outlet, learn how to master the art of the sound bite and spend a lot of time in New York and L.A.'"

2. "Although perhaps tempting, actively pursuing movie roles or reality-TV shows isn't the pathway to success, _____ says. 'I wouldn't tell someone to go out and do things to become a celebrity," he says. "If you want to be able to get more done and move up the ladder and do more about the issues you care about, the best thing you can do is raise money and go to one of the party committees. It's the quickest way up the ladder. You want to go out and achieve [name recognition], you have to go work your ass off.'"

As you've probably guessed from my tone, the first bit comes from Republican strategist John Feehery -- and the more lucid, pragmatic take comes from Shawn Sachs, the CEO of P.R. firm Sunshine Sachs. And while Sachs doesn't discount the power of a "YouTube moment" (or the wisdom of just marrying into a political dynasty), his sensible bottom line is just, "Having a broader appeal is a very good thing."

It's almost as if the machinery of celebrity wants to get the cancer of politics removed from its body. Which makes sense!

[Would you like to follow me on Twitter? Because why not? Also, please send tips to [e-mail] -- learn more about our media monitoring project here.]

Comments

[Tags]

This word "polebrity" must be poleaxed before powerful people become "pullebrities."

And then it only gets worse.

[ChiGuy]

We all know that Politico is the National Enquirer of political websites. So this raises, once again, the question I have asked over and over:

Knowing what we do know about them, why on Earth does HP cite and link to articles by them?
Why does HP associate with them in any way, shape, or form?

It only lends credence to their existence.

[illinoisan]

Yeah, they're shallow but the worst thing about Politico is the awful, awful writing. I think their ethos is that since it's just the internet, cogent writing and editing aren't required.

[Choicelady]

Jason - this is as vomitous as what Politico does since you're drawn quotations from people about whom the readers neither know nor care. It's the ultimate "insider" critique. Those of us who used to read Poltico mostly don't, but I think I'm going to have to stop reading you as well. Insiders just don't help us outsiders to understand much of anything.

[Mark Twaine]

I'm an Outsider too!

[magggs]

Thanks for the laugh--good send-up of an increasingly pompous website--sort of the David Gregory of the internet. I have to admit, I've gotten pretty fed up with Politico. They've taken punditry to a whole new level that can only be described in another 'vomitous' (nice word, Jason) phrase: 'infotainment." And their right wingishness is also getting away from them lately. Some of their articles are solid, but most of the time it's not worth wading through the bile-inducing comments from the wingnuts.

[seawolf77]

Tom DeGay. Boy is he ever a little light in the loafers. He better be careful he doesn't float away.

[mcmutter]

In his younger days, Tommy was quite the cruizer driving around Texas in his bug truck.

[Dbos]

You know this how?

[illinoisan]

I always imagine Dale Dribbel's truck from King of the Hill.