I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but this election and the way it’s playing out in the media is turning into a shitshow.
So far in this election cycle, we have covered these issues: the size of Donald Trump’s “hands”, the way Carly Fiorina looks, Ben Carson’s pride in almost killing a friend. We’ve seen Ted Cruz cook bacon on a machine gun and audition for the Simpsons. A 15-year-old punked America by showing up as candidate “Deez Nuts” on a national poll.
And that was just during the primaries.
Now that we are in the general election campaign season, the bias in how each candidate is portrayed and the dearth of substantive dialogue on the issues that matter is astounding.
The candidate whose statements Politifact – an independent, Pulizter-prize-winning fact-checker – rated as half-true or better 72% of the time is being hounded by the narrative that she is a liar. The candidate whose statements are rated half-true or better only 30% of the time is seen as the truth teller.
This morning I did a Google news search and these were the top five results: an article with a lead line suggesting that Hillary is a liar for not disclosing her pneumonia diagnosis, followed by four more related to her health, how it affects her candidacy, and the boost it’s giving Trump in the polls.
Noticeably missing were any articles covering immigration, foreign policy, domestic policy, social policy, or any duty or function relevant to the job of being the president of the most powerful country in the world.
I lost my will to soldier on in following this election when I reached the fourth article of today’s search, which led with this: “Donald Trump is on course to become US President as voters’ fears over Hillary Clinton’s health grow, new opinion poll show.”
Maybe things will change as we get closer to election day.
In the meantime, here are 15 things I’d rather be doing than following the election:
- Watch a Caillou marathon
- Hang out in the bathroom with my child who requires an audience to poop
- Stick my hands in room-temperature standing dishwater
- Help my 8-year-old with her homework
- Initiate small talk with a stranger in an elevator
- Comb lice out of hair
- Negotiate a fight over which daughter had the privilege of being hit more times during a pillow fight.
- Did I mention third grade homework? That needs to be here twice.
- Take a road trip with whiny children in the backseat and my traffic-weaving, exit-speeding husband at the steering wheel
- Listen to my daughters assault me with reasons why the other one started it
- Listen to my husband chew
- Endure a full sales pitch from a telemarketer
- Talk to a door-to-door Mormon missionary
- Drive through a WalMart parking lot at 2 pm on a Saturday
- Watch a Caillou marathon, while combing lice out the hair of a pooping child and listening to the other one whine about homework
The sad thing is – I know I won’t be able to resist that primal urge to know what is going on, even if it’s coverage of an election starring a xenophobic, misogynistic, lying, bullying reality TV host with a significant chance of becoming our next president.
And Another Thing, Hon 
There are a few things us guys would rather do, like sorting a box of mixed nails, screws, bolts, washers and nuts into little sliding drawers of a box bought at Home Depot!
That’s a good one!
Sadly this is where we are. I don’t like either the but one is way worse than the other. Can’t vote for Johnson since he doesn’t even know Aleppo (maybe smoking too much pot?). The only other one is Jill Stein….and the media won’t waste their time with her cause she doesn’t boost the ratings!! I was so hoping for Bernie Sanders to be in the running. Maybe a move out of the country for a while would be a good idea (Germany, Sweden, Finland).
It’s scary and depressing