Today's Political Speech (or am I just ferfe baiting?)
Brought to you by Al Gore.
Keep in mind he's a politician, ferfe, so we can't hold him to the same standards as journalists.... So come on, admit it: he comes across as more intelligent and awake than Bush.
Keep in mind he's a politician, ferfe, so we can't hold him to the same standards as journalists.... So come on, admit it: he comes across as more intelligent and awake than Bush.
Ahhh, yet another chance for me to pimp one of my favorite books on journalism: Corporate Media and the Threat do Democracy by Robert McChesney.
ReplyDeleteAnd come to find out he's written a book called Rich Media, Poor Democracy: Communication Politics in Dubious Times, too. I'll definitely have to check it out.
http://www.spjsofla.net/
ReplyDeleteA small glimpse into the Media back rooms.
Journalism, reporting news, is a subject far removed from philosophers, moralists and cults of personalities (like Ann Coulter).
On to politics:
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Gore no longer has to answer to constituants. He represents only himself. There is no burden on him to inform the reader of unbiased facts. He is pulling together information and presenting it in a way that makes a specific point and he does it very well. He is eloquent and intellegent. As an individual, I like him. As a politician, he is weak.
As far as I know, Bush has never written opinion pieces for the public. Chances are he can't, even if he were free to do so. I don't think I would like him on a personal level. As a politician, he is strong.
I haven't seen a great deal of post presidential writing from Clinton. Gore, Gingrich, and a few other former politicians were always pondering new ideas, stating their views of issues and working to make us agree. They are complex men with consciences. Bush is a very simple, white & black personality with some basic, preset goals. It nearly lost him the election - his intransigent mindset.
Had he been elected I believe Gore would have gone the way of Carter, bogged down by morals, a brilliant mind incapable of delving down to the dark side and doing battle with the scum he'd have to deal with on our behalf. He would have been determined to take the high road as the barbarians take the low road and cut us off at the knees.
What is right and logical works if everyone plays by those rules. They don't. I believe that is one of the reasons why Bush got elected not once but twice. That is why even the Torture issue isn't sticking to him. Americans were very tired of intellectual politicians pontificating while we were being kidnapped, bombed, on the losing side of back door trade deals and clean air treaties, etc.
France looks at politics with an eye to doing lunch with the enemy after the war is over. Americans want to serve the enemy as lunch when the war is over.
We are a mean, hard working, no BS country. That's how a majority of Americans see our country. No amount of "being right" followed by "on our knees" will appeal to a majority of the American voters anytime in the near future.