New Times / Letter To The Editor

The next presidential cycle (apparently) has begun

Buzz Kalkowski

Happy the election is over? While doing household chores not requiring concentration, I will turn on the TV, which, during daytime, means 24-7 cable TV: CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News (but the latter’s facts are seldom reliable).

Wednesday, Nov. 7, just after elections, while doing mindless household chores, I turned on the TV. One cable channel was spewing "voter fraud" accusations (history and investigations show that seldom happens, with few verifiable voter fraud convictions). Two other channels were talking about the start of the next mid-term elections and starting the 2016 presidential elections. Cable needs to give citizens an election break. No other country has continuous election campaigning. This constant election campaigning is one big reason our politicians do not get legislation done.

Cable TV programming featuring political pundits is inexpensive programming. All they do is get old retired people like me excited so they will continue watching TV during their retirement days, while throwing revenue-earning commercials in viewers’ faces (endless prescription ads). The more political stoking cable TV does, the greater are the political campaign advertising revenues.

Posturing for the 2016 presidential campaign began the day after the 2012 presidential election.