Just like every other Super Tuesday. Another chance for an end to this endless Democratic nomination race. It won’t happen, but hey, what else can (or will) our the Cable Guys talk about? They’ve worn out Rev. Wright brouhaha, and the Gas Tax holiday bamboozle. They’ve worn out talking about teh Math. They’ve worn out talking about if the super-delegates will finally jump in an end the race, and about seating the Michigan and Florida delegations despite the rules violations, and about [pick your own favorite trivial media pursuit and insert it here]. But that won’t stop them. For they have the Indiana and North Carolina primary elections to cover all day and all night, even if I’d prefer they’d cover some real news, too.
Like the festering sore of death, waste and corruption that is Iraq. Like the Bushies’ continued warmongering for military action against Iran (now it’s supposed to be a potential air strike against a terrorist training camp based in Iran — where exactly nobody will say, but, hey, when has Bush ever lied to you before about a casus belli for war in the Middle East?) despite the lack of solid evidence (according to the Iraqi government, anyway) that Iran is the major arms supplier and promoter regarding the current outbreak of violence. Even a mundane mention of the consequences of global warming would be appreciated (here in western New York Spring has arrived earlier than ever this year, which is nice to look at -lotsa flowers – but not so nice to breathe if you have allergies like I do).
Or what about the higher and higher, ever ascending crude oil and gasoline prices? Or all the unemployment, foreclosures, bankruptcies, etc., arising from the collapse of the US real estate and mortgage bubbles? Stories about those on our Nightly News might be nice.
Or stories about our pending arms sales to the Saudis, and whether we should cut them off from all that super sophisticated, high priced “Made in the USA” military gadgetry if they don’t pump more oil for our benefit (like that would ever happen). Or news about the continued killing in Darfur, or the killer cyclone that devastated Myanmar.
Hell, I’d even suffer through an entire day of election related nonsense, if they’d just spend 10 minutes on the great voter purge of over a million people in Indiana in addition to all the other trivial blather that represents their standard election night fare. I know disenfranchising over a million people in a state holding a critical primary election isn’t as sexy, as say, which candidate is winning the “expectations game” but surely it deserves a passing mention. We are nominally a democracy, after all. You know, the political system where everyone is supposed to have the right to vote to decide who will be selected as our new masters of the universe.
But, not today, I’m afraid. This is an election year, and today is an election day. So it’s far more important to pontificate about the ever more obscure and arcane details of the Obama v. Clinton death match, than it is to provide Americans with reality based news that might actually be as important as whether Clinton can claim a “victory” if she keeps Obama under double digits in North Carolina.
Admittedly, reality is, for the most part, rather depressing stuff. Not as exciting as whether working class, white Reagan Democrats will save Hillary’s campaign from Barack’s elitist waves of African American, student and effete liberal activist hordes. Now that’s great drama! And far better for television ratings (and ad revenues) than all those other stories journalists and pundits could be talking and writing about. Not to mention it wouldn’t be half as much fun. When else could our media mavens pass off their own lunatic, racist and misogynistic bigotry, not to mention their anti-liberal, pro big business bias, as cogent political analysis?
Only in America during another madcap Race for Teh White House! Reality? It will just have to wait until next year.
This whole election business is becoming somewhat of a joke. Here the administration is sending all kinds of mixed signals as to whether there will be war against Iran, potentially an economic and cultural earthquake, and we worry about “gotcha” politics.
On the economic front, the world is drifting closer and closer to what may be a major depression and the candidates spar over whether there should be a temporary holiday on the federal gas tax. Meanwhile, more people lose their jobs and their homes and general suffering as well as malaise ratchets ever higher.
As to the connection to terrorism and “blowback”, it’s like taboo to ever mention the misdeeds of the US as a cause of this vicious retaliation. Yet, we kill millions of people in places like Vietnam and Iraq and throw our weight around in so many places of the world that the sun never seems to set on the American Empire.
Are we daft? Do we think that denial of the horrible things we have done to others earns us a pass from their everlasting hatred? Time for Americans to wake up and smell the carnage. Time for national repentance and undoing the damage that we have visited upon our neighbors. Time to change our ways in a major fashion.
Or must we drink to the dregs, the cup of Divine Wrath?
Too old to change? Better hurry. There’s not much time left.
If you want the media to behave differently, you have to 1) tell them what you want (by letters or phone calls), 2) be willing to take action (boycott sponsors) and 3) turn off the TV.
So long as we participate in the madness, it will continue.
But it could and would change if we did all of the above. I’ve seen other groups make this happen.
The great Indiana voter purge is a terrible thing, but I’m not sure who it would hurt more, Obama or Hillary.
99% sure it will help Hillzilla.
well, if they were interested in an informed electorate/public…which they’re clearly not, then they’d have to report on things like this:
when the head of the governmental agency responsible for bringing excesses and corruption to light, and others in his department, are under subpoenas, l think it’s NEWS.
especially with an administration as secretive as BushCo™.
hopefully, this will blast a hole in the stone wall that they’ve erected during the past 71/2 years. maybe sibel edmonds’ accusations will finally see the light of day.