Really Pissed Off!

Charles Gibson of Good Morning America and George Stephanopoulos of “This Week” continued to prove that The American Media is more interested in looking for their own talking points than asking substantive questions of candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. A debate is only as good as the questions asked, and ABC struck out on this one! It was nearly forty-five minutes before a question that might define one’s candidacy was asked. For those who might want to refresh themselves you can read the debate in its entirety. This is definitely a sure cure for insomnia!

One would expect that two of the top names in ABC’s arsenal of reporters could conduct a meaningful debate? Well, in Philadelphia on April 16th, that was not the case. What we heard, as well as saw were two Media elitists, who decided to show both the candidates and the audience that Pennsylvania voters were going to vote on media sound bites and not the issues. After asking about sharing the ticket…good luck on that one…. Gibson, once again, had us listen to Obama’s explanation about Pennsylvanians, and the rest of us “being bitter and clinging to institutions, such as guns. Obama has explained his remarks so may times that he probably repeats them his sleep. That was followed by the tired story of Rev. Jeremiah Wright, which as been covered like a thick fog. Next was Clinton’s turn to, once more, explain her erroneous recollections of landing in Bosnia. We’ve heard this story so many times that I wished she had landed under fire! Not to be undone, Obama is asked by a Pennsylvania voter to explain why he doesn’t wear and American Flag on his lapel? Obama has been explaining this since he came to public office. Even I don’t wear one! The final idiotic question came from Stephanopoulos when Obama was asked regarding his relationship with “Weatherman/Terrorist” William Ayres, as they had both served on a board of the Woods Foundation, which is dedicated to welfare reform and juvenile justice! When you work in the “inner city,” sometimes you don’t get to choose who you work with! As a retired Assistant Chief Probation Officer, I worked with ex-cons as they were the only people willing to start programs in the “inner city” to keep kids from breaking the law and going to jail….especially having been there!

What took nearly an hour to get to were questions of substance: the questions regarding Iraq, let alone NOT getting to the problems of the Economy and Health Care! This charade of a debate was just another opportunity to distract the voter from the real issues facing Americans in this up-coming election. The media has, time and time again, tried to focus on fluff instead of fact. No matter where you turn, whether it is Fox, CBS, ABC, NBC or MSNBC, the pundits are diverting the focus of this election into talking points for their particular commentary. Let’s cut the crap, and get into the issues! America, this is your last chance in changing the direction of this country. You blew it in 2004 when you continued to choose the guy you would rather have a beer with, than the guy who might reverse the direction of where this nation is heading. The Huffington Post did a survey of the last four debates, two on CNN, one on NBC and this one on ABC. The results speak for themselves, with ABC’s being the award winner on fluff. Of the fifty-nine questions asked by our much touted panel of idiots, 32 questions were on Policy, 14 on Non-Policy and 13 were on Scandal! Just to add insult to injury, Obama has a 17 to 4 edge on questions related to Scandal over Clinton! God help the voters of Pennsylvania. I only hope that they, and the voters of America, can cut through all the fluff and bullshit and to decide on the issues. It's "The Issues, Stupid!"