n whose political process grinds to a halt as the ability to talk about issues, or sell them, actually replaces the issues themselves on radio and TV talk shows. Politicians are forced to worry more about winning the short-term, weekly “opinion” of the talk shows and hosts than they do about any type of long-term strategies. If a politician is good at selling something on a talk show, it is more advantageous than the actual merits of the initiative he is selling. What occurs is that the interaction of talk among politicians, talk shows hosts, talk show guests and the American public who frequently phones in slows any actual progress where the very issues and initiatives being discussed are concerned, “The talk show environment has given us a talk show government, presided over at the moment by the talkiest president of modern times. Journalists and politicians jabber at each other while the country slowly sinks into a morass of social and economic problems. The spectacle has fueled the cynicism of
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