In Praise of Kathleen Hall Jamieson

Kathleen Hall Jamieson from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania is a regular guest on Bill Moyers Journal on PBS. I discovered her by accident, and have made a point of seeking her out ever since: she has a sort of insight into the process of electing a US President that is absent from almost every other venue.

Her brilliance lies in her rejection of the usual sports play-by-play metaphors in discussing the process; rather she parses the language and the positions and the spin of the candidates to get at a deeper level of what’s going on.

Here’s a video of a recent appearance where Moyers and Jamieson discuss the aftermath of Super Tuesday.

Jamieson is also involved with the excellent FactCheck.org website, “a nonpartisan, nonprofit, ‘consumer advocate’ for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics.”

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