Yes, our shoddy voting system was exposed to global ridicule. Operating in a spirit of equal-opportunity derision, popular culture once again was able to prick the pretensions of the nation's movers and shakers. Pop culture is nimble and facile where democracy is slow and plodding. Pop culture's role in tempering angst went beyond comic potshots. Partisan politics may divide the electorate into squabbling factions, as the Founding Fathers feared.
Popular culture creates order out of chaos.
The farcical, slapstick nature of the Florida fiasco probably demanded a low-culture response. While the Beltway fretted and fumed, the pop merchandising machine swung into high gear. Chad earrings and cuff links began selling on the Internet. While Washington insiders were transfixed by the Leon County Clerk of Courts web site, millions of their countrymen were firing up their SUVs and heading off to the malls. A Comedy Central publicist says Stone and Parker had been waiting to see which candidate won before casting and scripting the show.