Watch and Become Stupid

The American Theater of the Absurd continued in earnest last night.

I watched the Presidential “debate” on WTTW, but afterwards I felt compelled to watch the commentary and wrap-up on Fox News.

On every other station, the polls that asked who won the debate favored Obama by around 55%.

The viewers on Fox News must have seen something entirely different, because 87% of them think that John McCain won.

Where do these people come from? Are they willfully ignorant? Do they automatically assume that because their candidate did not foam at the mouth or say that we should nuke China that this means he won, hands down? Why so thoroughly biased? Even the “LIBERAL” news networks favored Obama by 20-30 percent at most.

The American Theater of the Absurd

I’m not even going to say that Barack Obama won the debate. All I’m saying is that if you think McCain won by an 8 to 1 margin in this entirely objective contest, you obviously were not listening to the debate and had decided in your mind beforehand that no matter what was said, John McCain would win.

Nevermind the fact that this whole format is ridiculous. You have 5 minutes to come up with a comprehensive solution to the world’s energy crisis, and GO!

Is it any wonder why we elect such brilliant people who are so good at lying?

Folks, they’re not talking about us. They’re talking down to us. Obama just happens to be much, much, much, much better at it than his opponent. What do I mean? One of the Fox pundits remarked that he thought John McCain scored big points with his Joe the Plumber metaphor.

Joe the Plumber is not a metaphor. He is a real person with real concerns, and I’m sure he’s dumbfounded by the way he was used by both candidates, tossed back and forth, then discarded like a sullied sock at the end of the night once their points had been made.

This is the level of political discourse in this country: we are not even people to them anymore.

The media wizards, spinmeisters, and wordsmiths skated around any conceivable notion of objectivity, and refused to entertain the idea that human beings who have not made their decision yet might be watching.

On every channel covering the aftermath, we saw madness spewing from the mouths of political insiders, campaign managers, and lifetime politicians, all completely incapable of telling the truth, even if it happened to be dick-smacking them across the face when they appeared on camera.

I sent a helpful e-mail to National Review correspondent Mona Charen yesterday about the different ways that voters seek out their news. In her column, Mona bemoaned the idea that a Democratic administration would re-instate the fairness doctrine, which would force equal time for political ideas. The legislation is supposedly meant to target conservative talk radio, which has done so much for democracy in this country. Just last week, two conservative commentators accused Magic Johnson of faking his AIDS, in order to gain sympathy. What boldness! What a wonderful way to use the first amendment! Bravo, gentleman! You are a credit to your species, and I hope some day you fulfill the dream of learning to breathe without gills.

Charen noted that liberal talk radio has never caught on. I had to tell her that liberals and independents tend to READ about politics, rather than listen to the radio.

I guess that’s the only point I can make through all of this mindless horseshit.

Don’t watch Fox News. Don’t watch CNN. Don’t watch MSNBC. Don’t even watch PBS. Don’t listen to Rush Limbaugh or Dennis Miller.

We’re never going to get smart if we keep getting our news from the TV or radio. Please, no matter what your party affiliation, find something to read. If you’re going to get pompous, biased manure shoveled into your brain, at least do it through a medium that requires a little bit of effort on your part to understand.