Friday, August 12, 2011

It's a Primary Debate. Not a Freaking Prom. Morons.

Sorta weirdest story of the week. But when dealing with wing nuts it's dealing with morons. Oftentimes.

And some of them were upset with the tough questions Chris Wallace was asking the wannabes, last night. Go Here.

Granted, when confronted about that on "Fox and Friends," he made the NFL analogy instead of my fave, there's no crying in baseball. But the message is the same. This is politics, and that a rough sport (even if not one with actual physical contact, in the USA at least.)

Now I linked to Mediate. And the "editor," Ms. Fran Martel (so I hear it, she's almost a home girl for me,) makes a very specious argument. But she is a true believer wing nut. Anyway, she argues that," Wallace’s assertiveness and frankness in his questioning helps undermine other media outlets’ criticism that Fox News merely acts as a “mouthpiece” for the Republican Party."

And that's some ripe, nasty bullshit. Firstly, intramural GOP politics is every bit as much a vicious blood sport as the GOP vs the Dems. Republicans eat their young, there aged, and any game that can be taken down and chewed on. Implying otherwise is a big fat lie. Therefore either covering or hosting a GOP Debate has to have some adversarial content. As much as the wannabes might want to run against P. Obama now, they have to shred each other to be declared GOP champ, earning the right to be the one to challenge the Democrat Incumbent.

Next, only a fool would think that there's no commercial value in hosting a more pugnacious debate than one that so full of softballs it's like Sean Hannity interviewing a favorite politician.

Next, never underestimate that Fox Mgmt. might be subtly behind someone already and the rest of the pack are just there for dramatic filler.

Lastly, Chris Wallace never seemed to me to be a wing nut. He knows who signs his paychecks, and all, but he's the rare true hunting hound over there in the Fox Kennel. I don't want to continue the metaphor, so I will just say he's one of the few real journalists with his own show, there. And that is the role he plays. He's Mr. Legitimate. Even if his frequent smirks belie the fact he's well amused by the bullshit game his networks got going, there.

So trotting out the "Not a mouthpiece" editorial comment is really bullshit, not because that is a lie, but again, that's Wallace's role there. And during a primary, he gets to play. Good for him! But that does not change the fact that Fox News is the cable TV equivalent of one of those old time biased local papers that routinely side with one party against the other. This is an ancient game, Fran. Don't pretend it is more than that.

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