Thursday, April 17, 2008

BITTER-GATE

I am not naive when it comes to the media and politics, but I was still appalled that last night's Democratic debate wasted nearly forty minutes of our time on Bitter-gate, Reverend Wright-gate, flag pin-gate, Bosnian sniper fire-gate, and ex-Weathermen-gate. I know that these ostensibly burning questions are determined by the narrow preoccupations of the news media and their insatiable desire for a "gotcha" moment. (Since Nixon and Watergate, reporters and readers alike have become incapable of separating scandal from pseudo-scandal.) Personal innuendo passes for political insight. Trivia masquerades as substance. And all too many Americans tune out substantive policy discussions as boring and prefer the "reality TV" politics of name-calling, guilt-by-association, and smarmy apologies.

In my ideal political world, both candidates would have told Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos to shut up and change the subject. Obama tried in his cautious way to point out that these issues are a distraction from what really matters. But he was way too much on the defensive to come out strong, for fear of being accused of dodging questions that he's already answered again and again and again and again and again. And Clinton sees these petty flaps as her last chance to grasp the ring and prove her electability. Fortunately, the debates finally turned to matters of substance. What worried me most was the assumptions that both candidates made about taxation and class. Both Hillary and Barack were painted into the corner of pledging not to raise taxes on Americans making less than $200K. But both cling to the dubious, wholly inaccurate assumption that people making over $200,000 or $250,000 per year are "middle class." By any measure, these are not ordinary, middle Americans. They are not just rich. They are, by any sensible economic measure super rich. I'll post more on our strange assumptions about class later.

For now, I'll just keep screaming at my television.

5 comments:

illyrias said...

Glad to know I wasn't the only one screaming at my TV last night.

Arbitrista said...

People look at me like I'm crazy when I tell them I don't watch TV anymore, and I just smile.

Lindsay said...

Hi Tom,
Sorry to leave a comment - I couldn't find an email for you. I want to invite you to participate in the Primary Pittsburgh project. More details at www.PrimaryPittsburgh.com or email me.

Unknown said...

The Clintons facing Fraud charges: 04/25/2008 at 08:31 am in department 47 at 111 North Hill Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012

The first lawsuit to haul a President and a Senator into Court for defrauding the Senator’s largest donor as part of a conspiracy to illegally win and keep a US Senate seat will begin discovery in May, 2008 as it proceeds to trial as confirmed by the California Supreme Court.

The discovery will expose an ongoing cover-up of the campaign finance crimes and the obstructions of justice directed by Hillary Clinton with the help of Bill Clinton and former DNC Chair Ed Rendell. The cover-up rivals Watergate in its corruption of each branch of government and the media.

Case Number: BC304174
PETER F PAUL VS WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON
Filing Date: 10/14/2003
Case Type: Fraud (no contract) (General Jurisdiction)
Status: Pending

Future Hearings
04/25/2008 at 08:31 am in department 47 at 111 North Hill Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012

You can go to this page for La Superior Court and type the case number: BC304174

alg said...

Yes, what bizarro world do we live in where someone making $190,000 a year can kid themselves that he's middle class?

Are these people totally unaware of how the rest of the country lives? Or have they just defined rich to be "50% more than whatever I make," so that they can always see themselves as the scrappy homespun salt-of-the-earth underdog?

It offends me.