The media has it wrong. When it comes to reporting on the GOP presidential debates, the media treats them like a network promo plug for The Amazing Race. Right now, all the networks are breathless over Rick Perry's deer-in-the-headlights moment at last night's debate; as if everyone didn't know Perry's an empty suit who's probably unfit even for the relatively low-demand job he currently holds. A formal debate is, by definition, the presentation of logical arguments with the purpose of discovering truth. Currently, political debates are the media's self-generated content; stories created by the media for the media to report on. For candidates, they aren't opportunities to make valid points and logical arguments. They're a platform for talking points, spin, soundbites, and just plain lies.
And meanness. While everyone else is pretending to be amazed by what an idiot the known idiot Rick Perry was, Jonathan Bernstein points to the real low point of the evening:
No, that would be Herman Cain. Look, he wasn’t going to be the nominee at any point during the cycle, and he certainly wasn’t going to be the nominee after it turned out he was an alleged serial sexual harasser. But after dragging American political rhetoric to a new low, referring to the House Minority Leader and a former speaker as “Princess Nancy,” it’s about time that Cain was called to account for insulting the American people and the political process for the farce that he’s engaging in. Whether it’s not knowing that China has nuclear weapons, or repeatedly botching his own position on abortion, or any of a number of other gaffes, Cain has made Perry look like a well-briefed genius throughout the campaign. And Wednesday night, he was even worse.
Yes, he’s that bad...[CLICK TO READ FULL POST]
