Good Times ....
I was feeling somewhat disgusted with the citizens of the United States of America. After watching the ABC debate in Philadelphia moderated by Charles Gibson and George Stephanopolous, I now know I am actually disgusted with the "political machine" and the fawning sycophants in the media who feel they know exactly what the US populace should be worried about even if they claim they're actually worried about something else. I first saw this happening during the whole BJ-gate scandal back when the so-called liberal media (or SCLM) was united in their stance that Clinton had tarnished the name of the Presidency beyond all repair. Everyone (including the New York Times and Washington Post) were calling for a National purging through his resignation since he obviously had lost the faith of the people. Meanwhile, every survey and poll taken showed "the people" were actually more worried about things like losing their jobs to foreign competition, the sky-rocketing cost of housing, and health care that was becoming increasingly unaffordable to an increasing number of people. This did not phase anyone in the media. Instead of reflecting on their priorities, they simply turned on their audience. Then started a campaign of finger-wagging against a people too uninformed or self-involved to be aware of just how bad a President lying about getting a BJ outside wedlock was for the entire country. The rather tawdry and not all that ironic situation culminated in Congress finally admitting it would lose them votes if they spent more time attempting to oust Clinton when the country was facing a looming recession and rapid cost of living increases. For refreshing insight into this whole situation, I would recommend Joan Didion's essay, "Vichy Washington" published in the New York Review of Books but also available in her collected work, Political Fictions.
I saw it again played out over the past eight years as Bush the Lesser has been lobbed softball after softball by the SCLM in an attempt to drum up a story or not rock the boat too much. I turned off the media in disgust when a candidate (and then President) couldn't name a single foreign leader with whom he'd be forced to deal as a partner when asked, only to hear from the SCLM how he's "won the debate" by "coming across well ... Presidential, really."
Well the latest Democratic Party debates in Pennsylvania hopefully gave the SCLM a shot in the groin about what really matters to the people they supposedly are informing. After an hour of what is being called the least substantive (at best) debate in recent memory where the moderators were actually being fed "gotcha" questions by right-wing media pundits who support McCain, the people in the audience actually began to boo the moderators.
Yes, the moderators were being booed down by the audience for being idiots.
I love America.
I saw it again played out over the past eight years as Bush the Lesser has been lobbed softball after softball by the SCLM in an attempt to drum up a story or not rock the boat too much. I turned off the media in disgust when a candidate (and then President) couldn't name a single foreign leader with whom he'd be forced to deal as a partner when asked, only to hear from the SCLM how he's "won the debate" by "coming across well ... Presidential, really."
Well the latest Democratic Party debates in Pennsylvania hopefully gave the SCLM a shot in the groin about what really matters to the people they supposedly are informing. After an hour of what is being called the least substantive (at best) debate in recent memory where the moderators were actually being fed "gotcha" questions by right-wing media pundits who support McCain, the people in the audience actually began to boo the moderators.
Yes, the moderators were being booed down by the audience for being idiots.
I love America.