Heard the music
And learned to dance
To someone else's song...
- "Another Friday Night" - David Ackles (1972)
Norman Lear's excellent post on Sunday "Where is the Outrage During the Presidential Debates?" nails it.
"Tuesday night, when the Democrat candidates debate, am I going to hear them clawing at each other once again -- or am I going to see some representation of the pent up anger and bitterness and outright disgust most Americans are feeling..."
The Democratic candidates are being goaded by media pundits to claw at each other instead of taking on the true enemy.
Oh the pundits gussy up their reasons for requesting the claws. "We need a valid debate..." Yeah. Right... That's the reason they bay for the claws to come out.
That is disingenuous guff. There are two motives that prompt pundits to push for a cat fight. It makes for better ratings now. And later. The more that Democrats scrap among themselves trading personal insults in a prolonged campaign -- the juicier their coverage. That motive has no ideological basis. It's about ratings and money. Just as much of the media's Clinton impeachment coverage was fueled by ratings lust.
In addition to that financial incentive there are also media pundits who are overtly (or covertly) rooting for a Republican victory. And they want nothing more than for Democratic candidates to maul each other. Not least because the maulings will be hauled out during the General Election -- and effectively used against the eventual Democratic candidate.
The duty of Democratic candidates is to make the case why this nation cannot afford another Republican regime -- run by a politician who endorsed Bush's election in 2000 and 2004 -- and still endorses George W. Bush. And to make clear his or her own credentials for being President. By extolling his/her own policies and his/her virtues for that job.
If one of the main ways a candidate does this is by attacking other Democratic candidates - that exposes a poverty of vision and character. And that goes for Clinton, Obama, Edwards et al.
Such negative campaigning demonstrates that those candidates have learned to dance. But they have -- as the late American chansonnier David Ackles once wrote -- "learned to dance to someone ELSE's song..."