Pas de Dupes

Not long ago, Sen. John McCain's campaign mantra was, "It's about experience."

"Nonsense," came the familiar reply from Sen. Barack Obama's campaign. "It's all about judgment."

Then Sen. Obama named Sen. Joe Biden as his running mate, touting -- you guessed it -- his 36 years' experience in the U.S. Senate.

Last Friday, after picking Gov. Sarah Palin, the McCain campaign was forced to downplay her insubstantial résumé -- suddenly, it's her judgment that matters.

It's as if the campaigns got together, swapped talking points and kept going. Over the last few days, it's been especially embarrassing to watch talking heads for the Republican ticket, doing their best Vinnie Barbarino, pretending that no one remembers months of strident criticism of Sen. Obama's lack of experience -- both by Sen. McCain and, during the primaries, by Sen. Hillary Clinton.

If the contradictions are so obvious, then, how can the campaigns expect us to buy what they're selling?

Because we do -- every time.

Most of us are under the spell of party affiliation or crippled by ideology. We ascribe credibility based on whether an (R) or a (D) appears beneath the moving image. When one of those mechanized surrogates pops up in front of us, we listen carefully to how they're introduced -- "conservative," "liberal," or "supporter of."

As long as it's someone who shares our ideology, it doesn't matter if their rhetoric insults any reasonable person's intelligence -- we remain numb to it. When someone with the "wrong" philosophy says something that (heaven forbid) actually makes sense, we're deaf to it.

What the hell is wrong with us?

More than ever before, this year's presidential campaign is a grand dance for fools, and we're all invited -- but don't blame the candidates for hosting the ball. They're in the business of doing what works, and history has shown that blatant manipulation works just fine on our simple-minded electorate.

Maybe it's best if we just stop thinking about it -- after all, that's what we do best.

The candidates, in fact, are counting on it.