The Yelp
Come now. Is a yelp that big of a deal? A politician shows a little emotion and self-professed pundits are sending him to the couch, feet up in air, asking him if he had a troubled childhood. I don't get it. In fact, I wish more politicians would show some ECG spikes here and there - it would instill a sense that Washington is alive and kicking like it was meant to be. We need to see how crazy these people are before they take office rather than discover the nasty secrets when it's too late.
Speaking of which, "debates," at least since I've been cogently watching television, don't seem to be just that. I was on the Lincoln-Douglass Debate team in high school (yes, I'm that much of a geek), and believe you me, we actually debated things. Argument, rebut. Argument, rebut. These days, candidates have to beg some news anchor for a simple 30-second rebuttal (which is rarely granted). Instead, televised "debates" turn out to be a four-person moderator team jousting for the most clever questions, seeking for once to be the source of headlines instead of the vermin that feed on them.
And the bells. Oh, the bells. "Ding Ding, your time is up." All this accomplishes is a guarantee that the stodgiest of candidates utilize canned responses that don't actually...respond to anything. They're 30-second soundbites designed to be edited after the fact, sans-question, and posted to poopforpresident.com as if to say, "Hey, he said this...again."
Wake me up when it's all over. I hate to hate on the media, but they're fucking this one up big-time.
Speaking of which, "debates," at least since I've been cogently watching television, don't seem to be just that. I was on the Lincoln-Douglass Debate team in high school (yes, I'm that much of a geek), and believe you me, we actually debated things. Argument, rebut. Argument, rebut. These days, candidates have to beg some news anchor for a simple 30-second rebuttal (which is rarely granted). Instead, televised "debates" turn out to be a four-person moderator team jousting for the most clever questions, seeking for once to be the source of headlines instead of the vermin that feed on them.
And the bells. Oh, the bells. "Ding Ding, your time is up." All this accomplishes is a guarantee that the stodgiest of candidates utilize canned responses that don't actually...respond to anything. They're 30-second soundbites designed to be edited after the fact, sans-question, and posted to poopforpresident.com as if to say, "Hey, he said this...again."
Wake me up when it's all over. I hate to hate on the media, but they're fucking this one up big-time.