Politics, College Sports Now Completely Monetized by Broadcasters

[Commentary] "Our elections last six weeks," commented a man from Toronto, reacting to one of my Canada columns at MarketWatch.com. "How long do yours last now, two years?" Longer. But there are "only" 14 more months of pointless political punditry left on MSNBC, Fox News, CNN, Fox Business, CNBC, etc. Fourteen more long months of partisan, mindless yammering, meaningless polls, and regurgitated talking points. We have monetized our political system the same way we've monetized college sports, and for the same reason: The enrichment of broadcasters.

I caught a documentary on San Francisco-based Link TV recently about D.C. lobbyists. It raised a little-known but noteworthy point: Senators and representatives are actually in Washington only Tuesday through Thursday. (On Tuesday most of them are jet-lagged). The nation's business, if it gets done at all, usually is done Wednesdays. (Thursdays, they're packing and heading to Dulles). Where are our reps the other four days of the week? Back home, vacuuming up campaign money. Over 90 per cent of which will go to -- ta da! -- broadcasters, for campaign ads.