Silliness from Colin James

This is from today’s Waikato Times – I can’t find the column online at Stuff; maybe it will be there tomorrow. Anyway, under the heading “National’s success bad news for Labour” – you don’t say – Colin James is trying to explain National’s high poll rating and Labour’s conversely low poll rating:

The fourth reason is Labour’s invisibility. That is not Labour’s fault. It has an innovative website which is scoring well. It pours out press statements, many of which make a real point. It joins protests and organises meetings. Labour is not silent.

Who but a political journalist would think that voters might rate a political party on the basis of how many press releases it produces or how “innovative” its website is? Who but a political journalist would even look at a political party’s website?

All of us outside the beltway detest the expression “inside the beltway”, but that paragraph is so inside the beltway.