If the 17th century philosopher Rene Descartes were returned and asked to assess the state of our TV news and political commentary, he might conclude with a variation of his “Cogito ergo sum.”
Instead, perhaps he’d leave us with, “I think, but not particularly hard.”
The application of common sense to news and its residual issues is so weak that if common sense were a commodity that, say, fueled our cars, there would be a critical shortage, odd- and even-day rationing. Our streets and highways would be littered with automobiles that had run out of common sense.
So here’s the story, at least how it has been presented:
NJ Gov. Christie tasked his in-house legal team to conduct an internal and costly — an estimated $1 million in taxpayers’ money — investigation to determine whether he was in any way responsible for the still unresolved scandal that turned the George Washington Bridge into a used-car lot.
Preceded by the media’s great anticipation, the report absolved Christie of all responsibility; he’s above and beyond even the slightest suspicion.
Well, that’s good enough for us. Next!
Still, that’s not the folly of it all. Sure, that’s some of it. Would Gov. Christie accept the findings of such a friends-and-family sale of one of his political opponents? As an ordinary citizen, would he readily and blindly accept such an inside move from his governor’s administration? Foolish as it is, that’s not the truly foolish part.
The craziest part — the part that went uninspected and unanticipated by the media before the governor’s team began its inspection of its master — is that Christie, street-hip and slick-lipped as he presents himself, would even consider, let alone allow such an investigation!
Where in the name of common sense did he think such a thing could lead beyond even greater suspicion and ridicule? As a former US Attorney, how many defense lawyers did he hear declare, “My client is guilty, and I will prove it in a court of law!”?
So why did such a savvy operator allow such an investigation in the first place? His lawyers weren’t about to conclude that he’s guilty, and those now-fired members of his administration who have defied subpoenas or invoked the Fifth weren’t deposed.
So where was Team Christie going with this? Why did it even bother?
He’s clean? Sez who? Even the reasonable and logical among his supporters could reasonably and logically predict that such a finding could only fail the stink-test.
But the news media and political commentators, national and local, were quick to seriously measure and weigh the results of this internal examination, most — logically — condemning or at least acknowledging the report’s conclusion as too incomplete and Christie-ized to be taken seriously.
But where were they when the investigation began? Like Christie, why did they allow such a predictable, transparent, money-wasting, blindfolded scavenger hunt to proceed without seeing and knowing where it would end?
Common sense, as opposed to name-calling, rationalizations and obligatory positioning from both the left and right, is rarely applied until it’s too late.
Instead, common sense is practiced as a matter of retrospection when it should be attached to the front of the story, perhaps saving us all the embarrassment and further reminders that good government has become a matter of accident.
“I think, therefore, aw, forget it.”
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My March 15 column asking where tilapia was for the first 30 years of my life evoked e-mails asking similar questions.
Reader Tony Roccamo wrote that he has long wondered the same about Chilean sea bass.
Don’t ask me, Tony, I didn’t even know there was a Sea of Chile.
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We’re inviting the singer Kesha (pronounced kesh-uh) to the first or second Seder. Yep, Kesha for Passover.