such a waste of time, money

The entire industry of political analysis (pundits, commentators, talk shows, etc..) can be compared to the following scenario:

renting out a large and expensive convention center and bringing in decorations, music, entertainment, and cameras, then gathering pieces of excrement from a variety of land mammals (cats, dogs, horses, goats, etc..) and laying them out on display tables throughout the convention center, and then hiring well-educated professionals to walk through the convention center analyzing the differences in texture, odor, shape, and color between each piece of excrement.

WTF are people thinking devoting so much time, energy, and money to analyzing the differences between different pieces of fecal matter? I mean for crying out loud - it's all sh*t.