Right Wing Talkers Have Secret Meeting with Bush

[AKLes]

The change in Rush after his night in the Lincoln bedroom was noticeable and almost pathetically slavish.

Is it possible that Lincoln's ghost might have had a quiet word with him?

Shouldn't we blame a dumbed-down voting public for some of this? Rather than watch a "boring" debate between candidates or read "dull" candidate comparisons in the newspaper, voters choose to get their information from entertainers. And yes, radio and TV "news" people are entertainers.

Quite so.

Makes one wonder whether "news" has morphed into entertainment because that's what the public demands. Or, whether "news' having become entertainment has done the "dumbing down". Or have the "parties" worked at "dumbing down" the populus through the school systems (public and university-level) to make their agendas work better?

Unless you go back to the Lincoln/Douglas debate days (certainly pre-radio, let alone pre-TV) I think you'd be hard pressed to find there has been much in the way of audience for serious discussion. But I do think the "sound-bite" mentality has made it worse.

 

[fred flintstone]

Shouldn't we blame a dumbed-down voting public for some of this? Rather than watch a "boring" debate between candidates or read "dull" candidate comparisons in the newspaper, voters choose to get their information from entertainers. And yes, radio and TV "news" people are entertainers.

The fact that people get their information from talk shows and talk show hosts should be blamed on the public. How politicians are able to play people in the news media should be blamed on people in the news media.

Nothing new in either one except the talk show format. The voting public has not been dumbed down. It has always been dumb. Before talk show hosts, people were entertained and swayed by demagogues and yellow journalism. Go the library and look at copies of the Hearst newspapers (and others) from 100 years ago. After World War II the media entered a period of middle class dullness and respectability. They are now returning to form.

Modern TV debates - or campaign speeches - are nothing like what occurred in 19th century elections. These were fiery no-holds barred stump speakers who knew how to galvanize a crowd, often for hours at a time. Y'all are imaging some enlightened golden age of rational democracy that never existed.