I was feeling alright this morning until I heard a pre-debate "analysis" from Larry Sabato. He opined that tonight's clash between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin would be important because "Biden is a gaffe machine" and "Palin has demonstrated that she doesn't know much about foreign policy or domestic policy." (These are as close to direct quotes as my memory will allow.)
What the hell has happened to this country? Apparently, we have reached the point where the only thing that matters in elections is which candidate makes the fewest glaringly stupid statements.
Gaffes have always mattered in campaigns, but never before have they been the central focus of an election.
Charles Gibson and Katie Couric spent hours upon hours interviewing Gov. Palin. They aired a fraction of that footage, and then the media at large endlessly replayed a total of perhaps 60 seconds of tape in which she appears ignorant or off-balance. Thus it works out that the worst, most unflattering minute out of probably 20 hours of videotape gets all of the attention.
The emphasis is all wrong. What really distinguishes the two presidential tickets is not their personalities, their styles, the manner of speech, or how they look. It's where they plan to take the country. That's the debate we should be having. Instead, the media approach debates as if they were auditioning actors for an ad campaign. The economy is teetering on the brink of collapse and all anyone can talk about is John McCain's failure to make eye contact.
We desperately need a serious press in this country.
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