Well, he is not in office yet and the tearing down is already in progress. I have watched, especially during the Clinton and Bush years, the process that the video, audio, and print media carry out to try to impune the character of our President. While sometimes quite humorous (comedians handle this so well), the mean spirited practice of burying a politician with his or her gaffs has gotten really old. This process can destroy someone's career or at least make them the laughing stock of the nation, unable to be taken seriously.
For the last 8 years, Bush has been belittled for his lack of command of English, and it moves the discussion from a serious one about the facts to a useless one about his bumbling. The shoe is on the other foot, now. Our newly elected President, in his first press conference after the election, made a gaff ... he mentioned that he had spoken with all the living presidents, quickly realized his error (he obviously meant "former" Presidents), and then clumsily tried to handle it with a quirky remark about Nancy Reagan and seances. So, it was mishandled, but give the guy a break. I did not vote for him, I don't like his politics, but I hate the media, now the conservative media, piling on over a gaff. We have serious problems and these folks are saying it was poor judgement, shows how mean he is, etc.
The new President handled it just fine, in the end. He did not apologize in public as politicians so often do. He called Mrs. Regan and apologized personally. Everyone will make gaffs. Let's start treating them as such, cut these folks some slack, and get down to discussing real issues.
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But there are so many PR and journalism jobs on the line! We'd have to bail them out like Morgan Stanley or AIG or even Ford and GM.
What would we do without 24-hour coverage on Fox and CNN?
Probably have fewer cases of high blood pressure ... more open bandwidth on cable and sattelite services ... less of a tendency to have our politics steered ... just to name a few.
I take your point. It is mainly the public's fault though. The fact of the matter is that only those high voltage shows where names are dragged through the mud can draw in the right kind of numbers for the advertising to work out. If you want reasonably honest news on television, you have to go to Jim Lehrer and the boys at PBS, but no one watches them because it is boring. I told you a while ago that I watch CSPAN when I can (and when it is not playing things that are utterly irrelevant) because I prefer to take a politician at his own word, rather than through the echo chamber. Moyers I think is not bad either, by the way, but you have to stay up until God knows when at night to hear him. Bryan Williams on the NBC nightly news, I think, aspires to neutrality, but does not always succeed. I think Bryan is right to single out that it is the 24 hour stations in particular that have screwed it all up. That and talk radio, of course.
I think you are right about it being the public's fault. If they did not watch, advertisers would flee. If they did not believe, the accusations and characterizations would not stick. I guess I just yearn for discussion of issues on a higher level.
I've been yearning for a high level of discussion on any topic. You'd think that at least with politics some would be interested.
But what I've found is that once people are out of their school years, they only want to talk about sports and music. If I want to discuss history, I am told that I'm boring. If you ask me, always talking of music and sporrts make a very boring person.
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