Media stupidly call Kentucky Senate race for Rand Paul while Jack Conway has the lead

The traditional media's stupidity seemingly knows no bounds.

Apparently convinced by polls and exit polls that Rand Paul has the Kentucky Senate contest in the bag, the geniuses who handle analysis at the major news networks have decided to proclaim Paul the victor even though he is currently behind in the official tally of votes cast.

Now, it's true that Conway may not maintain his lead. But it's premature to call a race for one candidate while the other has the advantage in the official count. That's just as dumb as pretending to own a crystal ball several months out.

As of just before 5 PM Pacific Time, Democrat Jack Conway was leading tea party Republican Rand Paul by more than ten thousand votes.

See for yourself:

Rand Paul: 46.48% (140,953 votes tabulated)
Jack Conway: 53.52% (162,314 votes tabulated)

So the problem here isn't that the media is wrong, it's that the media is trigger happy. Talking heads and political junkies employed by the networks are simply obsessed with picking winners and losers as soon as they possibly can. They won't wait for anything. Their desire for instant gratification is sickening.

Here's the reality: We don't know if these projections are going to bear out. They very well might, in the end. But they're inappropriate to make as long as the actual vote tally doesn't support them.