Shapiro On The Debate: “All The Substance Of A Beavis And Butthead Marathon”
April 17th, 2008, 3:19 PM EDT
That’s Walter Shapiro in Salon.
Broadcast to a prime-time network audience on ABC and devoid of a single policy question during its opening 50 minutes, the debate easily could have convinced the uninitiated that American politics has all the substance of a Beavis and Butt-Head marathon. If the debate was a dress rehearsal for the Oval Office, then the job of a 21st-century president primarily consists of ducking gotcha questions.
“This is the kind of manufactured issue that our politics has become obsessed with.”
So what is Barack saying? We’re obsessed. The media is obsessed. Politicians are obsessed. Well guess what? Obsession is in the 4th Ed. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
DIAGNOSTIC CRITERIA FOR OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE DISORDER
1. recurrent and persistent thoughts that are experienced as intrusive and inappropriate and that cause marked anxiety or distress.
2. the thoughts are not simply excessive worries about real-life problems.
3. the person attempts to ignore or suppress such thoughts or to neutralize them with some other thought or action.
4. the person recognizes that the obsessional thoughts are a product of his or her own mind.
So what does this say? We’re insane. The media’s insane. The people running for office are all insane. And if you doubt it then go look up “delusion”.
April 17th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
I agree. The debate was an embarrassment. I watched intently the first hour, then started to drift away during the second. I don’t care about flag lapel pins or Rev. Wright or the Weathermen. All silly nonsense stuff. I want to know how either one of them will restore this country to its former greatness before the Bush/Cheney years.
April 17th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
Indeed, the debate was a total sham.
It only served to prove that Obama can take a punch with the best of them and can do it without losing his cool or going negative in response.
That Hillary when pressured about her opponent’s ability to win the Presidency, actually will to tell the truth. Yes, Yes, Yes!
It also spoke to the major difference between Obama and Clinton, that being that Barack prefers clean politics and talking about the issues and Hillary prefers old school politics, getting down and dirty.
And lastly, it showed that ABC News does not have a clue about what makes a good debate.
April 18th, 2008 at 12:03 am
duckworth — actually the debate “proved” that Obama can NOT take even a mild slap without whining. Unless he’s scripted to the nines he is exposed as a pretty vapid lightweight.
He can’t even get his insults straight. It does help that if you accuse voters of being bitter and clinging to being “anti-trade” that you yourself haven’t recently gone on record as being anti-NAFTA (Uh… TRADE) and, disgracefully, spitting in the face of America’s biggest ally in S.America and supporting their commie, narco-terrorist neighbors instead.
If you think that because YOU don’t care about who a candidate chooses to align himself, nobody else does, then you’ree even more deluded than Oblarney.
Oh… uh…yes… uh… he’s uh… also… uh… totally… uh… lost……and uh… painfully…uh…slow….without…uh…his…uh …teleprompter…uh… like… you…uh…
April 18th, 2008 at 5:44 am
I do realize that some people care more about peripheral issues than they do about character, political positions and real issues. Obviously you are among those people – but hey, what ever floats your boat.
My prior post was not an attack on those people or you, it was a statement of what I devised from the so called debate.
As for understanding the bitter comment, I suggest you take a look at the Charlie Rose PBS interview of Sept. 23, 2004 – a copy of it is available at the Alan Colmes website at:
http://liberalland.com/2008/04/15/obama-said-it-better-with-charlie-rose-in-2004/
It should be noted the Alan is a Hillary supporter.
May 10th, 2008 at 12:20 pm