The punditry game

3 September 2008, 2057 EDT

The youtube video of Peggy Noonan and Mike Murphy saying what they really think about McCain’s pick of Palin as VP will obviously get a lot of play among left-wing circles. But it is probably more significant as a window (if not a particularly surprising one) into the nature of contemporary punditry.

As Taegan Goddard points out, Noonan’s frank assessment of what Palin’s pick means–“It’s over”–directly contradicts her “own column in today’s Wall Street Journal. Noonan clearly views her job as boosting her party rather than calling it as she sees it. I’d wager that outlook is pretty common across party and ideological lines.