Why Dems and Reps Both Want a Midterm Election About Nothing

Less than two weeks away, the midterm elections
seem like an episode of Seinfeld: They’re
about nothing.

I’ve got
a new Daily Beast column up about the midterms. Here’s
a snippet:

The most riveting stories so far deal with trivial matters that
sound like deleted scenes from a George Costanza fever dream. Did
Charlie Crist break the rules by having a fan blowing on his
crotch during the Florida guberntorial debate? Is Texas’ Greg
Abbott anti-dildo and anti-interracial marriage? Did Colorado
Congressman Cory Gardner really play high school football?

Neither the Democrats nor the Republicans mustered the
strength to articulate a unified vision for the country, and
individual candidates are mostly running on a variation of the
theme that they’re not as completely contemptible as their
opponent. Sadly, but predictably, most of them are lying.

The tragicomedy of U.S. politics is that we really do get the
government we deserve. But even a nation of idiots that is
paying Social Security to Nazi war criminals deserves
better than the content-free snarkfest that will come to a pause on
November 4—before starting up again on November 5, as the
preparations for the 2016 presidential election get underway.