It doesn't even seem to matter anymore if a candidate has a good grasp - or any grasp at all - on the big issues of the day, but whether they "appear confident" or seem like the type of person with whom average Americans would like to have a beer.
This is certainly the case in the Iowa senate race between Democrat Bruce Braley and Republican Joni Ernst. The two went head-to-head in a debate last evening, and Ernst apparently showed that she knew nothing about the relevant issues of the race. The Des Moines Register writes:
[Ernst’s] low point was “stubbornly pushing the claim that Obamacare cut Medicare benefits, an argument repeatedly debunked by nonpartisan fact checkers, and her confusion on a question about current ‘job-killing’ regulations, where she cited cap-and-trade, which is not law,” [Kedron Bardwell, an associate professor of political science at Simpson College in Indianola] said.[Dennis Goldford, a Drake University political scientist] said Ernst is “an excellent performer.” “She looks right at the camera. She seems to radiate a certain kind of confidence,” he said.But Ernst didn’t often say anything of substance, Goldford said.
Source: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/2014/09/28/braley-ernst-debate-simpson-college/16396423/
The same article was quick to point out that Ernst "looked directly at the camera" and "seemed to radiate a certain type of confidence". I'm getting flashbacks from the 2008 election, when Sarah Palin didn't know shit from shinola but captivated conservatives because she was folksy and winked at the camera during her debate with Joe Biden.
Do the American people really fall for this style-over-substance malarkey? Apparently so, because as the Register also reported, Ernst's performance was characterized by mischaracterization after mischaracterization of the issues at hand:
She used federal cap and trade rules as an example of factors undermining job creation, though there never has been federal cap and trade legislation.
Asked to explain her support for bills that would have banned forms of birth control and in-vitro fertilization, Ernst simply said that the legislation she supported "didn't pass" (which, of course, beside the point).
Ernst also admitted to not understanding the science of climate change and whether global warming is man-made or not (there's a lot of that going around) and claimed, speciously, that Social Security was set to go bankrupt in twenty-odd years.
She is also beating her Democratic opponent by six points, according to Iowa polling.
I know that members (and prospective members) of Congress can't be experts on every issue when they're trying to run a campaign. Not all of us are economic wonks or climatologists. However, before I elect someone to represent me in Congress, I would want to make damn sure that they first know what the hell they're talking about when they discuss their platform. We don't need more idiots in Congress who wouldn't know how to pour piss out of a boot if the instructions were written on the heel* - we have enough of those already (most of them are in the Republican caucus). What we need are smart policymakers who have a basic grasp on the issues and are willing to tell the American people what they may not want to hear - "folksiness" be damned.
Or to put it another way: who would you rather have as a pilot of your airliner - someone who flunked a basic aeronautics test, or someone who knew their way around the cockpit? Ernst appears to be an example of the former.
*This quote is attributed to Pres. Lyndon Johnson. It is unfortunately not original with me.
