I’m getting more and more depressed about our current political discourse. Last night, even PBS Newshour got on the Biden’s-too-old bandwagon. They weren’t claiming to express an opinion, of course; they were claiming to be simply reporting on things like polls and interviews of random people on the streets.
I can understand the media’s obsession. Biden’s performance, repeatedly and recently, has been shocking; but Trump’s Gish gallop of lies is just old news.
The discussion needs to move away from Biden to what the alternative is. I wish Biden would give a speech about the current state of the union in which he spells out, in considerable detail, what we’re likely to see given another four years of Trump and his handlers. Make it about Trump, not about himself; and he should take the gloves off.
And he shouldn’t shy away from observing what the Roberts court has done nor fail to mention their hypocrisy and sleaziness. For example, he could point out several horrible things that he could now get away with as a sitting president and then say something like:
But I won’t do these things because, unlike the Gang of Six, I care what the Founders had in mind.
I thought of another line that I’d like to hear:
I do not say these things to shame them: you can’t shame people who are shameless; that’s a waste of time. My purpose is to show just how vile these people really are.
But I fear that he’ll just speak loudly, maybe pull an angry face, but otherwise fall into the trap of keeping the discussion about himself. That strikes me as a losing tactic.
PBS Newshour has rebranded itself PBS News Hour (note the space) and has been disappointing me greatly lately. Their interviewers have been letting a lot of the loons get away with crazy talk without pushback and they’ve avoided covering anything negative about Trump, or the chaos at the Washington Post and New York Times. On Fridays they have one representative from both those newspapers, and they are conspicuously avoiding the topic.
Just noticed that. Thanks for pointing it out.
I agree that PBS seems to have moved right along with the Overton window; and I also find it disappointing.
I’ve written before, but I’ll say again, that I can remember a “Politics Monday” segment, back when Bernie Sanders was still a viable candidate for the nomination, when Amy Walter could hardly construct a simple declarative sentence without some version of “electable” in it. It wasn’t even subtle. Indeed, I’d call it shameless. The phrase, “self-fulfilling prophecy” comes easily to mind.
Washington Week with the Atlantic (which I still call Washington Week in Review if I don’t stop myself in time), can still be OK. I’ll watch that tonight to see what they say; or maybe if the Stephanopoulos interview is broadcast over the air, I’ll watch that instead and catch the Washington Week… repeat tomorrow afternoon.
I’ve been really depressed for several days. I hope that’s just an unexpected side effect of the chemo that I finished the other day. I wouldn’t want to feel like this all the way to November.
Yep, it’s the interview on ABC. It’s not starting well.
The Washington Week… headlines were all about the recent Supreme Court decision, so they’re probably not talking about Biden tonight.
I think Biden wound up doing OK…just. He did make some comments about what a scuzzy guy Trump is; but the interview was still almost entirely about Biden. I guess that was the purpose of it, though.
The ABC reporters who did the analysis after the interview were all just knee-jerk “Democrats are very worried.” Well, sure they’re worried. So am I. Is that really a surprise? Is that really news?
Politics Monday can be hit or miss, and I’m just so annoyed by David Brooks on Brooks & Capehart (or whoever they have filling in) Fridays. IMO, Brooks adds nothing of value.
I also watched Washington Week tonight, and it was not very clear or helpful. Usually I think they’re fine and occasionally very informative, but not tonight. They did talk about Biden, but only in a superficial way. Nobody seemed clear on what the latest Supreme Court mis-ruling would mean.
This might cheer you up: 10 minutes of Biden being Biden at a speech in Wisconsin (sound starts at 1 minute mark): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OKl4-rICcU&t=325s
I think this is just a rough time without adding in the chemo. Most of the country is far too hot and the news just seems awful. I do hope your spirits lift.
Hmm…I caught the repeat this afternoon on PBS’ World Channel, and I thought they did OK explaining many of the ramifications of the decision.
As I’m writing this, my local TV news is running a bit of an NBC report that’s basically nothing but “Democrats are worried about Biden.” I wish they’d compare Trump to Biden instead, but maybe that’s too much to expect from corporate media.
Maybe it was my frame of mind when I watched it: what I got was a lot of people saying, “Well, I don’t know how this will play out” and “Do you think it might affect…” and others saying “Maybe”.
I’m really sick and tired of the news right now; it’s just the latest, “BUTTER EMAILS!” The options are pretty stark: a petty, thin-skinned wannabe dictator who spent more time crime-ing, plotting an insurrection, and playing golf than his actual job when he had it, who’s promised to enact revenge on day one against anyone he thinks might have wronged him, someone who’s brain is deteriorating in front of our eyes…and a guy with a lifelong stutter who’s been running the country competently but is slowing down as a natural part of aging, a guy known for building a team of top-notch people and listens to them.
I mean, this is a classic “Death or cake?” situation, but the media has picked their man and has been desperately casting around for something to smear the other guy…and no matter how stupid, the base straight out of Idiocracy is going to lap it up.
Katydid: I actually agree with what you say; I just want to try to stay more hopeful right now if I can. Another Trump term is too horrible to contemplate.
Yes, I’m trying to stay hopeful as well. And to me, it’s astounding that people see a convicted rapist and multiple-count felon who committed treason and tried to start an insurrection, and think, “Hmmm, is this is the guy for me? I can’t decide.”
When even the sources that used to be neutral (e.g. The PBS News Hour” are selling the wrong side, it’s just tiresome.