This Isn't Good Journalism or Good Politics

 

On last night's exclusive ABC interview with the president of the United States, we saw a very confused man ask a question, lose track of the answer, then ask that same question moments later as if he didn't ask it at all. Many, many times. (See how this works?)

I'm talking about George Stephanopoulos, of course, who sounded like he trying to take the car keys away from Daddy while Pops was trying to win the Indianapolis 500.  I don't know what it did for ABC's ratings, but I know what it did for my opinion of journalism today.  That's right--my priors were reinforced. And if you thought Biden was an old man in denial about the approach of time, you probably came away the same way, and if you thought he was doing a good job as president and to leave him the hell alone about one debate, you probably didn't see anything that worried you--

Except for the fact that this wasn't journalism. It was a staged event with false stakes imposed on it--every bit as much a media presentation as a softball interview. It didn't have to be "adversarial" in tone to keep the question of whether the Reaper was playing keepsies with the Commander in Chief's marbles. If Biden sounded confident, he was too confident. If he sounded dismissive.... etc. 

But how you deny you've lost it without sounding in denial? (A-hah! A "Non-denial denial"!) How do you dismiss the results of a debate vs. the results of a strong legislative agenda? (The time for dismissing the debate and pointing to the scoreboard was probably before the debate, but then we would have had chin-stroking about "Why is Biden avoiding a debate?" Bad faith is bottomless when the floor is shame, and people stop having any.) 

So, The New York Post will declare it was a gibberish interview. And serious people will take that criticism seriously knowing where it came from.

We're dealing with fascism, and I'm telling you, the only winning move is not to play. But the media is still playing. And the talking head political "experts" who are running their mouths because they don't have a more vital place to be than television, like Tim Ryan who lost to Neville Chamberpot in Ohio, are going to speak out of turn because they don't have access to the person whose face I don't think they'd tell it to.

And here are the sleazy SOBs you are playing with:

Right-wing hoaxers like Laura Loomer, Dinesh D'Souza, Monica Crowley, etc. who claimed there was a MEDICAL EVENT!!! on Air Force One. 

So, here's the deal. Let's say the jackals get their pound of flesh, and Kamala Harris is the Democratic nominee. They've already got their stories for her lined up. How long was she keeping Biden's "condition" a secret? And of course, every kind of bullshit they put on Hillary Clinton. 

It's not enough to draw a line and hold it--you got to push through. The story is we have a white-collar fraud treasonous rapist running against a successful Democratic Administration that is trying to keep the world the fuck safe for democracy.

It simply isn't playtime anymore. It never was.