The Very Serious Debate, Starring The Very Serious George & Charlie
Read more reactions from Huffington Post bloggers to ABC's Pennsylvania Democratic debate
We like to joke about the "very serious" traditional media. The truth is that while they claim exclusive lordship over integrity and professionalism -- not to mention a corner on the world's supply of pants made of smarty -- they're really a freak show with serious haircuts and suits. They're a wing of the Republican corporatist conspiracy against America. And the very serious moderators of last night's Democratic debate couldn't have been less serious if they had been wearing clown suits made of dildos while simultaneously tickling each other with monkeys.
I don't really even need to write this. The nation has witnessed, firsthand, George Stephanopoulos and Charlie Gibson for who they really are: pandering yellow journalists. Carnival barkers. They're Penn & Teller without the talent or insight.
To wit... 50 minutes without a single substantive question. Fifty.
Hell, a 50-minute episode of America's Funniest Videos, for example, is at least good for a talking cat or a sucker-punch to the nards. Of course, that's not meant to impugn either of the Democratic candidates for their part. Here we had two members of the very serious traditional media going after two Democrats in ways which they have never challenged members of the Bush administration -- despite the Bush Republican record of disaster after disaster after disaster. In fact, George and Charlie made the FOX News Channel debates, with all of their Love American Style graphics and fire alarms and wacky fart sound effects, look like the goddamn Continental Congress.
I was just waiting for Charlie Gibson to hurl a fist full of lapel pins at Senator Obama while shouting, "Where's Natalie Holloway, Senator? Where?! Prove to me that you don't have her locked inside of your Silence of the Lambs dungeon, you pinhead!" Then Stephanopoulos with the inevitable, "Senator Clinton, do you think Senator Obama is more patriotic than the dreaded Bat Boy?"
Whether the questions were about Wright and Bosnia, or about guns and Iran, every single topic was framed from the perspective of the Republicans, with an eye on what the Republicans might say about him or her in the general election. So, I have to ask: since when did this become a primary race about which Democrat most resembles George W. Bush and John W. McCain?
It confounds logic that, on one hand, Senator Obama is repeatedly asked to explain why rural America is bitter, while, on the other hand, his qualifications for the presidency are being evaluated based on his goddamn bowling skills. Seriously, what the hell is going on here? The Bush Republicans are responsible for perhaps the worst economic crisis since World War II. They're responsible for a $3 trillion occupation and decades of future blowback. They're responsible for selling our sovereignty to foreign governments. They're responsible for trampling our liberty and national character. And there was Senator McCain on Hardball the other night talking about war in Iran, while pledging to make permanent the Bush tax cuts for the super rich. Both of which would make matters far, far worse.
Meanwhile, how are we evaluating the would-be Democratic nominee? Based on orange juice, of course. Why? Because the Republicans say so.
After the beating we've taken regardless of party or ideology, we ought to be demanding -- as a nation -- that the Bush Republicans shut up and sit down for a while (in a figurative sense of course). In other words, the party that spent this decade masturbating to videotape of George W. Bush clearing brush while America was raped and beaten into a transcontinental buffet of shitkebobs, doesn't get to dictate the rules this time. No sir. And shame on Stephanopoulos and Gibson for allowing it.
Last night exemplified the pathetic truth that the very serious traditional media would otherwise be lost and confused without its Mad Libs script for presidential elections. It's a script that's been systematically and deliberatively co-written by Rove-style operatives in conjunction with corporations for the purposes of ratings, ad revenue and ever-narrowing control over the government. The script serves, first and foremost, to help the Republicans, and it takes the painful burden of "original thought" and "insight" off the shoulders of pundits such as the two hack/sock puppets who hosted last night's debate. Win, win.
What we have seen recently -- and especially last night -- has been nothing less than the very serious traditional media attempting to sculpt and shoe-horn the narrative based on what has been previously scripted by their authoritarian, oligarchic bosses. That is... The Democratic nominee has to be elitist and effete. The Republican has to be a cowboy (a maverick IS a cowboy, by the way). Democratic gaffes help the Republicans. Republican gaffes are silly "senior moments" or "plain-spoken" talk. Diplomacy is weak. Endless war is American. And on and on and on.
The most disappointing aspect to this Bush Republican script is that Senator Clinton is pandering to it, and her recent performances are almost as transparently bad as the George & Charlie Puppet Theater last night. The goals, at the end of the day, are similar. For the television news media, it's about ratings no matter what. For Senator Clinton, it's about winning no matter what. She has abandoned her integrity in favor of Republican tactics. I fail to see anything which is admirable or redeeming when Senator Clinton invokes "San Francisco" (which is Republican code for "gay"); or when she implies that Senator Obama isn't ready to protect us from the evildoers; or when she chugs a shot and beer in plain view of an entire nation of impressionable teen girls (while inexplicably attempting to ban video games with her friend Zell Lieberman).
Senator Clinton's desperate pandering to the Bush Republican script notwithstanding, the debate last night proved that the very serious traditional media is only "very serious" about distraction and superficiality. But those flaws are only the means to a larger end. Last night's debate proved what we've all been observing. To paraphrase the great Naomi Klein: it's increasingly impossible to tell where Karl Rove ends and where the very serious traditional media begins.
The ABC switchboard phone number: 212-456-7777
Read more reactions from Huffington Post bloggers to ABC's Pennsylvania Democratic debate
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I thought ABC did a GREAT JOB.
Obama has been coddled and allowed to say what he wants to say, associate with who he wished to with impunity.
He is running for President for Gods Sake.
They were 100% right and I congratulate them.
Yesterday Hamas endorsed him his campaign chief stated that Obama was flattered because they also compared him to John F Kennedy.
Why isn't that todays Headline???
Because the media are chicken!!
Well done ABC. The media critics are because they have hidden the truth and asked him nothing but fluff questions.
I also respect Joe Scarborough, I wonder if his MSNBC contract is up?
Rachel is a talking head who says what MSNBC wants her to say, sad really, when a person loses their self respect for the lousy almighty dollar.
I stopped watching MSNBC because of the hateful things they are constantly saying about Hillary Clinton. I appreciated your video of the Rachel and Joe.
I would like to know more about this man Obama- but I will have to wait for Carl Rove.
ABC only scratched the surface.
"I thought ABC did a GREAT JOB." Liver2
LiverforRoveAlso: Cut the crap and stop worshipping Karl Rove. You fool no one.
In case you hadn't heard, Karl Rove has his own problems. He is about to fall into to some of those ditches that he has dug for others.
not a chance
Good post, Liverp2! I agree with you ...
Obama is saying that those people in small town America cling to the Bill of Rights instead of government, and that they have antipathy toward any people who cling to government instead of the Bill of Rights.
Obama is right, but like any politician, he lacks the balls to directly say what he really thinks. What else can he do if he wants to get elected? Gosh darn it, even those oh-so-noble and enlightened people in San Francisco still kind of like the Bill of Rights.
Of course Obama is also way out of touch because he thinks Americans cling to the Bill of Rights because they no longer have faith that government will provide them with jobs - and all that is good. Obama intends to restore that faith.
Obama has a dream - that one day Americans of all colors can stand up together and say that the Bill of Rights was standing in the way of progress.
http://www
Why is the governments job to provide you with a job? Go out and get it yourself or start your own business.
Notes about the ABC Big Debate:
Weenie Stephanopolous was typically smug and vapid; he is not a journalist, not even close.
Charlie Gibson finally dropped his Wizard of Oz mask and the only thing behind the curtain was an empty suit with elephant ears and an American flag lapel pin.
The debate was a fiasco, insulting to anyone with an IQ over eleven (that means all non-Republicans) and the prime example of what ABC has become. Let's not forget that ABC is responsible for The Bachelor, otherwise known as the Sluts for Mutts show. The now familiar premise? ABC pimping for rich white guys. Yawn.
Why is anyone surprised that they couldn't pull off a political debate?
Gramma Rose
Gramma Rose: The scary part is that some people actually watch the show (must be the IQ below 11 people!) ;-)
Poor Gramma Rose, I guess you were insulted then???
ABC = Disney
Except that Gibson's empty suit wasn't wearing a flag pin either.
It's a damn topsy turvy world when we can trust a politician, someone running for president even, more than most of our previously much trusted news reporters. I never thought I'd see this day.
This is nothing new. The MSM has been doing this for years. They put words in Al Gore's mouth in 2000 and repeated the misquote ad nauseum while handling Bush with kid gloves. They labeled Kerry a flip-flopper but never pointed out Bush's own flip-flops or his bait and switch tactics.
Even supposedly "liberal" media hacks like Frank Rich eviscerated Gore and kept putting out the lies about him that had been proven false. It's just depressing.
The very best writing on politics, Iraq and the issues is not in mainstream media but on blogs, in Vanity Fair and Rolling Stone. I haven't read the NYT since the Judith Miller debacle. I just refuse to support them anymore.
this is so spot on. bravo for stepping out and saying this!
Whats really amazing about the post debate analysis is that there seems to be hardly a peep about Senator Clinton's rather off hand remark that we should form some kind of defense "Umbrella" with an entire region of wacko unstable countries in the middle east in order to deter the evil Iranians (with the threat of "massive retaliation " ). Eight years ago this would have been front page news if a Presidential Candidate would have suggested such a thing.
These days the 'story' is flag pins, Bosnia 'war stories' and associations with 60's radicals. Is it really possible that the American Electorate (and the American Press) have been dumbed down this much in such a short period of time?
Yup.
No one gave a damn about American flag lapel pins until Bush & Co. made a big point of wearing them all the time after 9-11. Now, they seem "de rigour". Perhaps Obama is making a retro fashion statement to a time before the worst presidency ever aka the Bush Administration.
BTW - it sucks that comments here are limited to 250 words, as I had to gut my previous post in order to make the limit.
Hitler felt the same about swastikas.
Both Stephanopoulos and Obama are graduates of Columbia College (Columbia University) and both were political science majors. Stephanopoulos graduated in 1982, Obama (a transfer student from Occidental College) in 1983, and both were poly sci majors.
They may have actually shared a class or two, but at any rate, both were on the NYC campus at the same time.
Obama speaks and acts like a Columbian; unfortunately, George Stephanopoulos has adopted the Republican talking points attack mode that his former bosses the Clintons have told him to use.
Maybe if both of these people had gone to college in the 70's - like I did (Columbia 77) they would have by now totally eschewed Reagan and Republican tactics as unprincipled and abhorant. Perhaps if they had to have had a draft card for their 18th birthday like I did in 1973 they would never, ever allow themselves to ever support a war like the one in Iraq.
Wait a minute! Obama IS and HAS BEEN against the war from the beginning. What about George? Oh, that's right, he's a bought and paid for TV "journalist.
The ABC debate was a sham - so bad that I turned the channel to the final regular season game of the Denver Nuggets. Right now I'm listening to Amy Goodman's review of the debate questions on her radio program "Democracy Now!" and I'm about ready to puke about the questions asked. Shame on you, ABC and the rest of corporate media - SHAME ON
DISGUSTING!
E.xcellent
"And the very serious moderators of last night's Democratic debate couldn't have been less serious if they had been wearing clown suits made of dildos while simultaneously tickling each other with monkeys."
It couldn't have been more appalling. I thought I was watching a male version of "The View" with gossip columnists hopped up on Kool Aid direct from Neocon HQ.
I'm glad they totally smeared their own reputations while intending on smearing Barack.
Perez Hilton could have done a better job at Q and A. Hell, Paris Hilton could have done a better job than these overpaid, over-rated sycophants.
Absolutely, YELLOW JOURNALISTS!! ICK!!
Spot on, Tryker! All I've got to say after Charlie & Georgie wasted precious air time with the latest spin cycle news (except the cycles were weeks old) is DOI. What have we become? People will vote because of the lapel pin or lack thereof...
I'm surprised that george and charlie didn't have flag pins on and with the number of pants suits Hillary wears ,why doesn't she wear a flag pin on her lapel? Since watching this debate of no substance and i've decided that all Americans should have the American flag tatooed on their forehead so the mainstream media will know we are a patriotic country without having to ask. I just want to thank george and charlie for bringing up something like the weather underground ,something that happen in the sixties that i could give a shit about. The mainstream media is lazy and it shows in their reporting, McCain gets the free pass even when he says things that wrong just because because they consider him a maverick, this so called maverick help get this country in the mess we are in now,but i guess the media are to lazy to figure it out. The mainstream media should pull their heads out of McCain and the Republicans ass, they may come to their senses if they do, it will sure smell better.
spydero3: Excellent post!
Totally agree with your post !! I emailed ABC and told them I didn't give a "rat's ass if Obama did or didn't wear an American Flag Pin". Couldn't get through their phone line. I haven't watched network TV since Bush got re-elected in 2004. This was the 1st debate I'd watched, and my husband was so outraged he lost his voice yelling at the set (which is why we quit watching political shows in 2003/2004 -- thought the neighbors would confuse the yelling at the TV with domestic violence!!)
Are we really so in the minority that these shows/moderators keep getting by with this garbage?
I find that hard to believe. One only has to talk to the person next to you at the gas station to get a feel that the tide is changing, the worm turning -- fill in with appropriate metaphor. ABC network, you are FIRED!!!
The Bob Cesca article was frigging hilarious. I am truly concerned that America is really falling for this cheap crap, that a man who does not wear a flag pin is somehow not patriotic. I guess women who run for office don't count. This is like a chapter out of a George Orwell sci-fi nightmare. Am I really in America? Maybe it was a ghost from the old Soviet Union that took possession of George and Charlie Tuesday night? Dear God please I pray for the end of Hillary Clinton's evil reign of terror. That debate was a tragedy. and how dare people call Obama a pussy. And how dare Hillary say that if you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen. And then to say, like a little rat terrier, " I like the kitchen. " Remember Hillary you don't like to stay home and bake cookies. God almighty I wish you would.
JoanAustinblack: I'll second that!
Thank you saying so eloquently what was in my mind.
Good post Bob!
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