The pragmatic husband of the programmatic Marina

One of the funniest quotes of the week comes from Marina's husband, Fábio. It was the triumph of pragmatism over programmatic thinking, to use an expression that Fábio's wife has repeated ad nauseam.

“I’m not going to resign,” Fábio wrote on Facebook. At 51, Fábio holds a good position in the government of Tião Viana, a member of the Workers' Party (PT), in Acre. A few days earlier, also on Facebook, a PT leader in Acre had asked Fábio if he wasn’t going to quit his “great job” in a party that, according to his wife, is “Chavista” and was vital in the process of denying registration to the Sustainability Network (Rede de Sustentabilidade).

Pragmatically, Fábio said he's staying. And programmatically, he argued that the PT in Acre is still "dreaming," unlike the national PT.

It's an almost anecdotal episode, but one that grows in importance due to the revelations it brings. First, it shows how difficult it is to separate programmatic thinking from pragmatism, no matter how much Marina has been making significant efforts to do so in terms of rhetoric.

Secondly, this leads to a question: how could the mainstream media be so incompetent on a subject that, after all, is linked to the 2014 presidential elections?

Newspapers, magazines, television news, radio, all with copious armies of reporters and editors – nobody reported that Marina's husband works for the PT (Workers' Party). The origin of the news is on Facebook.

The local press broke the story first, a few days ago. The family paradox remained ignored by the mainstream media until a small news item appeared. In a bovine manner, everyone rushed to catch up – with remarkable slowness.

Finally, this is our mainstream media, in quotes.

In the coming days, it will be interesting to see Marina's explanation of the distinction between programmatic thinking and pragmatism when it comes to her own home.