Swarming

I was writing up another entry to meet the promise that I made below to post something else before the evening was out, but I was thwarted by a power outage. I don't know if the new monitor is pulling more power, but it was the only thing I'm aware of that's different from any other night. I don't believe I'm using any more appliances than I usually do. I hope it's nothing more than a fluke. Anyway, back to our regularly scheduled post.

Until I was so rudely interrupted, I was wondering with my keyboard about the identity of the next likely subject of a press swarm. I'm not sure what causes the liberal media to clamp onto one story and hold on until they've drained all the life from it. Whatever the story de jour is, it pushes almost everything else out of the news, sometimes to the extent that you can't tell anything else important is even going on in the world. I'm developing some theories about it that I may share later if they seem to add up to anything, but right now I just want to speculate on what might come next. These have been happening more and more frequently, but it's been about a week since the most recent one, the Pope's funeral, and frankly I'm starting to miss it.

One possibility is the selection of the new Pope, but there are a number of variables at play there. First of all, it depends on how quickly the cardinals make their choice. The liberal media is no doubt hoping for a selection in a day or two because, as long as the cardinals are in conclave, there's effectively a media blackout on the whole story. We're just left sitting there, watching the chimney, hoping to see white smoke. That's not the most scintillating TV you'll ever encounter. And remember, whoever does come out of the conclave with the keys to the popemobile will, in all likelihood, be relatively unknown, particularly by the US-centric liberal media.

It may be interesting if Cardinal Ratzinger gets the nod, with the recent revelation of his involvement with Hitler Youth (he would have been entering his teens during World War II). Another wild card, which I consider so unlikely as to be virtually impossible but is worth mentioning, would be the elevation of Cardinal Law. His prominence during the run up to John Paul's funeral upset a number of people in the U.S., but I don't now how it played overseas.

The next swarm that everyone was surely expecting has completely fallen flat. The Michael Jackson trial has been one big bust from a media point of view. Even though he's had a freakish reputation for a number of years at this point, for quite a long time Michael Jackson had a huge fan base, by whom he was beloved. He was such a familiar and welcome presence on the pop charts that I think a lot of people find the circus of his trial truly distasteful. The public seems to be reacting to the whole situation as if an old friend had taken an unfortunate wrong turn. I don't think there's a great deal of questioning the evidence, but people just don't want to know about it. That makes the whole spectacle lose its voyeuristic appeal.

Tom DeLay is another subject of the next possible swarm, but I don't sense enough blood in the water at this point. New developments could change that, but I see DeLay fighting, probably unsuccessfully in the long run, but effectively enough to keep the press at bay.

It's always possible that the next press swarm could be over something that's barely on the horizon. I doubt many saw all the interest that was displayed in the Terri Schiavo case until it was already upon us. Or am I missing something? Anybody have any suggestions?