Sunday, September 20, 2015

You Call These Debates?

In the last GOP debate, CNN moderators pitted one Republican against the other all night long. If your name was mentioned in a previously stated criticism of Donald Trump, you got to speak. If you had the restraint not to put him down, you didn't get called on as much. Such became the new rules of debate for the GOP as seen through the prism of the liberal media. Trump this and Trump that.

Did we hear about the candidates views on the economy and how to generate jobs, reduce govt dependency, bring down the debt and deficit, lower our taxes, and strengthen our currency? Nope. It was as though there was nary a thing to discuss regarding the economy, since things, in that liberal world, are moving along swimmingly.

Did they discuss healthcare and how Obamacare has caused millions to lose insurance, premiums to rise, deductibles to skyrocket, and doctors to retire early? Nope. It was as though Obamacare was a huge success and now all Americans have affordable health care.

Did they discuss the divisive culture which has been fueled by an administration, who once promised to unite all people, and instead, has fomented resentment among its citizens in many different ways: race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, politics? Nope. It was as though Americans were all holding hands, singing "Kumbaya" and living in purple states.

More important for CNN, the so-called neutral and objective news channel for all Americans, was that the Republicans fight amongst themselves, that they make each other look foolish in front of the world, that one by one, they are invalidated in the eyes of the voters, so that the eventual Democrat nominee will have a clear path to the White House.

Additionally, the Fox News debate was not much more elevated. Those moderators (whom Republican voters had prior expectations of fairness and objectivity) were vicious in going after each and every one of the candidates. Unabashedly they went for the jugular - finding their respective weaknesses and bringing them to the surface. Don't kid yourself Republicans: Fox has an agenda too, in that they have a dog in the race. Their dog is anyone from the establishment of the party, not the outliers, not the oppositional voices. The only difference is that Fox is not looking to bring them all down, just most of them. As a result, Fox viewers were left feeling betrayed and angry at Fox hosts for not rising above the smut. We expect it from liberal media, not from our own.

Here's a prediction: you won't find moderators in the upcoming Democrat debate pitting the candidates against each other hoping to incur as much infighting as possible, as they did with the others. No, you will find the moderators pitting them against Republicans, so as to give voters yet another chance to smear the GOP candidates. They will invoke Republican statements about Clinton or Sanders, thereby offering the Dems an opportunity to respond to their Republican opponents and straighten out any voter 'misperception', unlike in the GOP debates, in which the candidates all did the job for the liberal media by criticizing each other.

The media has become (for a while now) advocates and participants in the political process. This must end and the viewers and prospective voters must demand it. GOP candidates must learn not to take the bait from any media, liberal or otherwise. Don't want to answer another Trump question? Then don't. Insert your own viewpoint on an important issue and force the moderators to do their job fairly. Call the media out on their nonsense. Raise the bar and let's really find out where these candidates stand on real problems facing this country.

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