Why Fluff News Hurts Voters

Mustang Bobby points to a horrible op-ed by Maureen Dowd on the price of John Edwards's haircut. These kind of news stories bother me because they turn attention away from more substantial issues like domestic and foreign policy. We are talking about the next possible President of the United States. This kind of coverage is better served for Us Weekly and not the New York Times.

During the 2000 campaign, the media kept writing about George W. Bush being the kind of guy you would have a drink with. Hardly was there serious discussion about his lack of foreign policy knowledge. We are finding out now how the Fourth Estate did the voters a disservice in their coverage with the President's handling of Iraq.

Now we see that the St. Petersburg Time's blog The Buzz picked up on the Edwards nonstory. They went as far to write an article comparing the price of Edwards's and Charlie Crist's haircuts. The editor who approved this story should stand up and take credit for such fine uses of media resources.

Robert Wright of Bloggingheads.tv brought up John Edwards lack of foreign policy experience. I like Edwards, but think the question is newsworthy. Is Edwards haircut or foreign policy skills more likely to come into play in the Middle East?