August 19 Democratic Presidential Debate
Shortly after waking up this Sunday morning I realized that the Democratic debate from Iowa was on. My posts about previous debates centered on the format and approach of the moderator and this one will be no different.
George Stephanopoulos as moderator did an excellent job of highlighting everything that is wrong and destructive about how the national television news networks cover Presidential campaigns.
At the start of the debate George reported the results of the latest Iowa poll, perhaps as an immediate justification for spending the first 12 minutes asking all the other candidates to share in the news media's obsession with talking about Obama and Clinton to the near exclusion of everyone else. Rather than asking about issues, he demanded that all candidates discuss the already cliche pundit narrative of the race about Obama being for change and Hillary having more experience.
Stephanopoulos citing the poll to open the debate is indicative of how the TV pundits use polling data to influence and manipulate the election rather than simply reporting on it.
Twelve minutes of conversation about Clinton and Obama passed before Edwards spoke. By my watch, Dennis Kucinich wasn't called on to speak at all for the first 25 minutes. Dennis later responded to a question about prayer by saying he had been praying that he would be asked a question for the past 45 minutes.
The extent to which moderators have given more time to certain candidates in previous debates is well documented and I suspect Stephanopoulos was worst of them all. But his snubbing of Kucinich isn't surprising. Stephanopoulos has been battling and badmouthing liberals in the Democratic Party for the past 16 years.
Worse than his intentional effort to benefit certain candidates, Stephanopoulos' revealed the irresistible urge of all TV political pundits to focus on conflict rather than substance. The more shallow and trivial the conflict the better. Stephanopoulos asked question after question designed to get the candidates to attack and insult eachother, while candidates consistently refused to take the bait.
Eventually Edwards said, "I know you're trying to create a fight up here," to which George replied, "I'm just trying to get some answers." No George, if you were trying to get answers you would ask straight forward, detailed and substantive questions about the issues. Instead, most of his questions were along the lines of a junior-high school lunch room instigator. I had to suffer through at least half a dozen questions along the lines of, "I heard Hillary say so and so about Barack! Isn't that just scandalous Bill? Do you think its true?"
This is no different than candidates giving a major speech which goes completely unreported except for the one sentence in which they attack another candidate. The TV pundits have no idea how to report an election unless it involves poll numbers, fund raising totals, or ugly attacks. Actual issues people care about are an afterthought at best.
Let's be clear. The voters want campaigns to be about issues, not ugly attacks. The candidates passed on the chance to badmouth eachother despite constant goading from Stephanopoulos. After this debate it looks clear that the ones primarily responsible for pushing the Presidential campaign season in an ugly, nasty, and shallow direction are the national television news outlets. No one is asking for that kind of campaign coverage. Its a force-fed diet.
I think what John Stewart said to the hosts of Crossfire applies just as well to this debate:
"But the thing is that you're doing theater, when you should be doing debate." "...it's not so much that it's bad, as it's hurting America. Stop, stop, stop hurting America."