Do Not Resuscitate

"O'Donnell calls extending jobless benefits a tragedy," blared the breathless headline in The Hill, an influential DC newspaper for political professionals. The O'Donnell referenced is Christine O'Donnell, the defeated senate candidate from Delaware and certified whack-job. You remember. She's the one who said "I'm you" but "I'm not a witch." Per The Hill, Ms. O'Donnell on Tuesday "compared the 'tragedy' of extending unemployment benefits to Pearl Harbor and the death of Elizabeth Edwards." The question here is not why she said such a silly thing (who cares?), but why her comments are being reported at all. Naturally, the story instantly went viral on a dozen major websites and spawned a thousand tweets. Absurd figures like O'Donnell (and Palin, Beck, etc.) thrive only because the media insist on giving them mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. What's needed is a "do not resuscitate document" that all aspiring politicians must sign as a pre-condition for seeking office. This living political will would bar any news media resuscitation attempt if, after losing his or her bid, a pol suffers "television arrest," a condition triggered when their 15 minutes of fame expires. Well, it's a nice fantasy, anyway.