IT'S A BARNUM AND BAILEY WORLD

posted by sam 7/13/2015


My previous unread post (see below- or don't for that matter) suggested with tongue firmly planted in my cheek, a way the "lower" roster of Republican presidential candidates may make the oh so important Great Fox Debate Cut next month, but upon further snoozing in front of my trusty TV - waking occasionally upon a brief Mets inning or a quick visual bite at yet another amazing diner meal on the cooking station -

 I realized that even my unhelpful advise isn't really necessary and to trump matters, neither is the debate. While entranced by a somewhat jovial middle-aged mid-american man wearing a pirate bandanna mixing enormous amounts of granulated garlic, black pepper, cumin, and Hungarian paprika, about 5 pounds of sugar and a boatload of crushed tomatoes into what must be two tons of brown meat he has just spent 4 days pushing through a hand-grinder I suddenly realized as I say, that this "debate" and the others that are scheduled to ensue and the campaigns themselves with all that money raised and donated, all that traveling back and forth between Iowa and New Hampshire ( imagine the fate of the free world depending on people who voted for that horrible Joni Ernst and that bigoted know-nothing Steve King) is not really necessary - all the candidates ( and their many friends) have already appeared again and again and continue to show up on the Fox Propaganda Shows and on the  old Network Sunday shows and those not-so upstart cable news shows: CNN & MSNBC. And along side these Koch anointed candidates are the usual mob of TV-genic advocates. Every week you can catch any number of these worthies either in prime time or during the days talking news shows and I don't believe any of them had to PAY for the privilege. Come Sunday morning its a veritable festival. On all three (once?) major networks, CBS, NBC, ABC- and FOX

Whats My Line?

on any given Sunday you will find interchangeable panels as if they were interlocking boards of directors attended by ( and not in any specific order)Republican mastermind, Karl Rove, corporate lobbyist posing as a "journalist", Cokie Roberts, Ebola expert and rape apologist, George Will, Reagan fetishist, Peggy Noonan, Irving Kristol's boy, William, and a small contingent of liberal commentators that seem - perhaps with the exception of my old sweetheart, Katrina Vanden Heuvel,  to sit on egg shells whenever they appear as "guests" - Truth to tell I would not be so accommodatingly well-mannered if I was sitting on these shows with many of these people who have to my mind aided and abetted war and murder over the many years that they have appeared on our TVs and have been handsomely rewarded with money, prestige, and

I've Got A Secret?

even professional prizes. There is also the regular auxiliary guests such as the great family values champion and Ceo of Newt, Inc., Newt Gingrich, who now has a regular show of his own - I'm told. There is also Patrick Buchanan still sitting in with that "other" Sunday show. He sits across from a guy whose a regular too on the show, Morty Zuckerman, one of the richest men in America- a Democrat and a Jew and I doubt that as he sits across from a white supremacist and Holocaust denier like Buchanan he even considers for a moment of turning to the camera and denouncing this man for what he is and then walking out- for god's sake he can buy his own show -why sit there giving legitimacy to this Nazi? AND all these programs are mere frameworks for the candidates themselves. Why just this past Sunday there was Carly Fiorina who was fired from her position as head of Hewlett-Packard and now she's presidential material spewing forth on ABC- laying out her anti-everything Obama did and does agenda for free; on Meet the Press, after all these years

To Tell the Truth?

an "American institution", there was Chuck Todd  chastising the NYTImes for not having Ted Cruz's book on their bestseller list. By the way Chuck and NBC have already decided that Bernie Sanders won't be President- A year and a half away from the national election before any primary and they have decided- so save your breath Bernie. Bobby Jindal and Jim Webb were also featured on one of these shows- c'mon you can't BUY this type of airtime and exposure.  Donald Trump wasn't on any of these shows this week but his image and racist rantings were well served up on all of them. On CBS little Peggy Noonan ( I think it was CBS, oh well) sat in apologia for him saying things like, " My gosh, there is so much to say about Trump."- Not really but no matter, because nobody ever holds her to what she stupidly utters- across all three ( and more) of these networks. She's treated like "TV Journalist" royalty. Do the network producers really live in anticipation as to what our Peggy will elucidate for us this week. Does anyone actually read the Wall Street Journal to find out what she's thinking? And every week the candidates come by- many already have-perhaps all have already sat in as a guest or have been interviewed by one of the crack interviewers - either Chuck or George S., or Old Bob and now Tom D., a second generation TV "journalist".  Our worst instincts are pasteurized and blended for our comfort on Sunday mornings- nobody is wrong or causing harm or being a bigot or lying or exploitative or disingenuous or deliberately misinforming- its free air and its their time and they know they won't be called out for their idiocies and racism and warmongering lies because there is product to sell and they're it.
So why all the campaign money? Why the hundred debates? Quite frankly- if you don't know by now what each and every candidate stands for you'll never know- and there's a year and a half to go. Whats wrong with us?

4 MONTHS LATER:

from the NYTimes

Donald Trump Advertises Rising Value of Free Political Publicity

By ASHLEY PARKER

NOV. 9, 2015

Photo

Donald J. Trump appearing on "Saturday Night Live" with the singer Sia, left, and Kate McKinnon. Credit Dana Edelson/NBC

• 
  

Donald J. Trump hosted “Saturday Night Live” this past weekend and gave interviews to at least four national television networks on Sunday. The result: an opportunity to reach millions of potential voters, without spending a dime.

In fact, while many of his Republican presidential rivals have poured money into the airwaves in search of such exposure, Mr. Trump has not spent any money at all on television advertising since he announced his candidacy in June. Yet he has remained at or near the top of most national and state polls for months.

“TV ads are necessary, they can be effective, but in terms of overall value, being the host of ‘Saturday Night Live’ is probably going to get you a lot more as a candidate than 20 ‘super PAC’ ads,” said Dave Levinthal, senior political reporter at the Public Integrity.

• Thirty-second television commercials were once signs of a confident, well-financed candidacy for the White House. Now they are seen as a last resort of struggling campaigns that have not mastered the art of attracting the free media coverage that has lifted the political fortunes of insurgent campaigns like those of Mr. Trump and Ben Carson, a retired neurosurgeon who has surged to the top of the polls.

Mr. Trump’s ability to command media attention and reach voters without depleting his campaign funds is just the latest example of the way that his campaign has upended the conventional approach candidates have used to communicate with voters.

In addition to having done countless interviews, Mr. Trump has been effective in using social media to attack his rivals, and many of his acrid and controversial quips on Twitter are rebroadcast by traditional news media outlets.