Beware pronouncements without factual backup wherever you see them, this website included. Pronouncements without factual backup constitute the media act called “punditry.” TV pundits have the look of knowing wisdom down pat, and blog pundits have the vocabulary of conventional wisdom that puts us back on our collective heels. They’re on the inside, we’re on the outside. They know what’s possible, what’s practical, what’s next on the agenda. We watch or read and bob our heads along.
But just because someone has the insider “sources say” lingo and attitude down pat doesn’t mean they aren’t full of shit. Consider this gem from late 2005 at the partisan Democratic blog mydd.com:
…any time Barack Obama’s name is mentioned in reference to 2008, even as a possible VP pick, I figure the story doesn’t carry much weight. Obama’s certainly a rising star, but most serious observers of the Democratic Party agree that it’s too soon for him to wind up on a national ticket.
Now Obama shares the presumptive front-runner status with Hillary Clinton — a status granted him by yes, that’s right, the pundits. The same pundits who in the fall of 2003 were already calling the Democratic nomination for Howard Dean.
Look for a fact to back up a claim. If there isn’t a fact there, why should you believe a claim?
