Today a few thoughts on presidential debates.
Why do we need to suffer the interference of celebrity moderators? By their actions they show us they feel they are the stars of the debates. Tonight! Mr. and Madame Moderator starring in the Presidential Debates. Included in the performance will be people running for the White House.
I wish we had moderators who just asked questions. And otherwise stayed the hell out of the way. Out of the discussion. Robot moderators will get my vote.
The moderators feel this way because they are stars elsewhere in TV-land. Many are news stars. Where they feel they are the prime reason viewers watch their news. Their contracts reveal this.
Have you read about their contracts? They require that their mugs are on your screen for so many minutes every newscast. Or every week. The big news may be that Siberia was wiped out in a nuclear holocaust. We all want to see the videos. No matter. The stars must be on screen for certain contracted minutes. They are nearly as important as the commercials.
The attitudes reflected in these contracts give us distorted news. And debates where moderators stick their biased noses into the discussions. Their attempts to fact-check are disgraceful.
As for the debaters, people can easily grow confused. Millions go to bed convinced Candidate A shellacked Candidate B. Commentators and analysts and columnists agree. Then the surveys come out. They show that viewers feel the very opposite. People wonder if they only dreamed they saw the debate the night before.
Why such variances? Methinks analysts and commentators and columnists focus on trivial things. Things like policies. And tax proposals. And candidate’s positions on the problems and crises of the moment. And their experience. Pah! Who needs to know this garbage?
The bobbing heads take careful notes of these petty things. They study replays to get their facts right.
Meanwhile, millions of viewers focus on the really important things. The vital, essential things. Such as the kind of smile a candidate flashes. Or the curl of a lip. The shifty eyes. The hairstyle. The pout. The scowl. The exaggerated laugh. The hand gestures. A look of flustration. The tanned or pasty complexion.
Without realizing it, millions react to the color of a performer’s dress or suit or tie. Colors evoke feelings in us. We are built that way.
These critical items tell us things about our candidates. Such as who can best handle the Russians. And whose policies will juice up the economy. Hey, how can we expect you to lead this nation if you have a double chin?
Meanwhile, meanwhile, the moderators smooth the wrinkles from their clothing. And fluff their coiffures. Awaiting the most important segments of the debates. That is, the moments our screens are filled with their glittering images.
Triple meanwhile, they often fail to ask questions most important to us. To whom? To us, the viewers. Happened in the last debate. Plenty of polls listed items we said were most important to us. Items like immigration. The Wall-to-be or not-to-be. Emails. Benghazi. Lies.
Virtually none of them made it to the moderator’s list. Ahh, but we did spend ten minutes on the birther issue. A subject of zero interest to most folks.
Well, it was utterly important to the moderator. That was the important thing. I can hardly wait to see what style dress our next moderator will wear.
From Tom…as in Morgan.
You can write to Tom at tomasinmorgan@yahoo.com.