Method Politics: It seeks-nay, it demands-Applause-just for effort that its performers put into it

[kpete]

Fig. 3. This cartoon pictures William Henry Harrison, Martin Van Buren, Hugh Lawson White, and Daniel Webster as horses in the 1836 presidential election. Each is ridden by a jockey emblematic of the candidate's background, with "Old Tippecanoe" bearing a rugged frontiersman on his way to victory over Van Buren's ties with lame duck Andrew Jackson, followed by the Southern gentleman White and the proper New Englander Webster. The title of the cartoon furthers the metaphor, referring to the election as part of the "Fall Races" at the "Union Track." Racing events were clustered into biannual week-long race meetings, one in the spring and one in the fall. "Political Race Course—Union Track—Fall Races 1836," lithograph, engraved by H.R. Robinson (29.3 x 44.3 cm.), New York, 1836. Courtesy of the Political Cartoon Collection, American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts

I'm all for political stagecraft. Occasionally, it's some of the only truly great live theater we have left that we can still see for free. And I don't blame any politician for posturing for the cameras. We decided long ago -- perhaps at that moment when Superman came to the supermarket, perhaps the moment when William Henry Harrison's get-out-the-vote operation cracked open its first keg of hard cider -- that a lot of our political business was going to be showbiz as well. But I have never seen a collection of people like these guys who can create a part for themselves and then bury themselves in it. It's Method politics. It seeks -- nay, it demands --applause just for the effort that its performers put into it. Scott Garrett must have your new health insurance simply because he has worked so hard to take it away from you. All have tried. All must have prizes. Have you no appreciation for the psychological torment Scott has endured to create this role for himself? Have you no appreciation for art, you philistine bastard with your pre-existing conditions? Do they all wear capes every night over their footie pajamas?

more (tee hee hee):
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/The_Heroes_In_The_Mirror