Who Let the Dogs Out?

Wading through the nontroversies of Campaign 2012

By James Poniewozik Monday, May 07, 2012
    • Photo-Illustration by Wes Duvall for TIME; Getty Images (3)

    Who Let the Dogs Out? Wading through the nontroversies of Campaign 2012.

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    These nontroversies make it into the news with assists from the campaigns, which now battle each other with Internet memes the way they do with TV ads. But they also offer political reporters and cable-news bookers a more come-hither topic than offshore corporate tax rates. If the stories push people's buttons, so the rationalization goes, they must resonate with larger concerns.

    As with many nontroversies, there's a tiny grain of truth in that. Yes, anecdotes and gaffes can tell you something about a candidate, but not nearly as much as what they've done--or say they will do--as actual elected leaders. Yes, associations can be telling, but if we judge presidential hopefuls by their loudmouthed idiot supporters, that will pretty much rule out everyone.

    And yes, there's room in political news for offbeat stories. But when these kinds of flaps increasingly become the news itself rather than a sidebar, the tail--to use a political clich that will never sound the same again--is wagging the dog.

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