The Undecided Voter
Oct. 22, 2008
How, after 20 months of non-stop coverage of the presidential campaigns, can anyone possibly be undecided, you ask? Well the New Yorker’s David Sedaris tries to dissect their mindset:
I look at these people and can’t quite believe that they exist. Are they professional actors? I wonder. Or are they simply laymen who want a lot of attention?To put them in perspective, I think of being on an airplane. The flight attendant comes down the aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat. “Can I interest you in the chicken?” she asks. “Or would you prefer the platter of shit with bits of broken glass in it?”To be undecided in this election is to pause for a moment and then ask how the chicken is cooked.
The Daily Show holds a debate night undecided voter focus group and the correspondents get a little frustrated:
Trevor Timm is a Blast Magazine staff writer
I love David Sedaris, but in this case he is making the same error as others who take easy shots at we “undecideds,” mistaking thinking about the election (which, by definition, undecideds are still doing) with not thinking about it (which decided voters need to do less of, having already made up their minds). Anyone interested in what a real, live undecided voter is thinking about can visit a blog I created (www.undecidedman.com) and see if there is still more to talk about than chicken vs. sh*t sandwiches.
I love David Sedaris, but in this case he is making the same error as others who take easy shots at we “undecideds,” mistaking thinking about the election (which, by definition, undecideds are still doing) with not thinking about it (which decided voters need to do less of, having already made up their minds). Anyone interested in what a real, live undecided voter is thinking about can visit a blog I created (www.undecidedman.com) and see if there is still more to talk about than chicken vs. sh*t sandwiches.