Politics

Ebola Fade?

Mickey Kaus Columnist
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Faster Ebola: Ebola — and the administration’s non-reassuring response to the threat — seems to be the hot issue now in the midterms. There’s even talk that the Republicans, previously (and perhaps intentionally) themeless, will be able to nationalize the election around the issue. The trouble is that the election is 15 days away. Will the Ebola meme last until then? The Feiler Faster Thesis says no! The ability of voters to process information with increasing speed means they will have grokked Obama’s epidemiological performance in fighting the disease and be ready for a new issue long before November 4 — at least unless new cases of infected Americans emerge.

The question, then, is what will replace Ebola as a potential mind-changing subject? I can think of one issue. …

P.S.: I’ve been wrong before! [Search for “Thanksgiving”] But that’s Feiler’s thesis and I’m sticking to it.

P.P.S.: The most conspicuous counter-trend to the Feiler argument is early voting. If voters have already sent in their ballots, the dialectic of decaying memes has stopped. And if they vote this week, they will probably have Ebola on their minds.

Mickey Kaus