Iowa...

I watched the Iowa caucuses last night and two things struck me about media coverage:

1. Despite the process being about as interesting as watching cheese mold, the CNN reporters acted as though this were the second coming of the Beatles. One actually said, "We're watching history being made!" No, at that point we were watching people in Dubuque count to 47. Before that, we were watching an older lady tell a living room full of Iowans that they had to do the political business before they could have a glass of wine (remember: politics first, intoxicating substances second). That caucus had some yummy-looking brownies, though, which would have been more honest reporting than what we were getting.

2. Larry King is media's lead pirhana, but they're all following the pack. He decides what answer he wants his interviewee to give and won't let go until they say it. I noticed this first during his interview with Heidi Fleiss a year or so ago. He wanted her to come out and say she's had lesbian encounters in prison; she kept giving him variations on "none of your damned business," but he just wouldn't get the hint and move on to a more substantive topic. Last night, as he interviewed Howard Dean, he must have decided that Dean needed to be disappointed by a third-place finish in the caucuses. Dean was trying to tell Larry King that his campaign made a respectable enough showing to move on to the next race, and there are 49 states left. Larry King would not be content with that answer. He kept hammering until Dean said something to the effect of "Sure, we wish we'd come in first"--of course, Kucinich probably wished he came in first, too--and King and the others jumped all over it as proof that Dean was disappointed with his placing third, despite what Dean had repeated for five minutes before that. When Dean congratulated the first and second place finishers, he "all but conceded the race."

I have determined that, from now on, I am not listening to media analysis or looking at polls. Anything that affects my opinion on any of the candidates must come from primary sources.