It only took a few minutes in the latest Fox News Channel “debate” for the four remaining Republican Party presidential contenders to descend into a pigpen.
Last Thursday’s exhibition in Detroit was yet another exercise in mud slinging instead of a discussion on issues and a real debate of positions regarding those issues.
Once more, fourth place runner-up Ohio Governor John Kasich attempted to do his best to stay out of the mire. The Fox News moderators, however, were again only interested in the “outsiders” (Donald Trump and Senator Ted Cruz) and their juvenile battles with “insider” Senator Marco Rubio.
The moderators did their best to multiply the sleaze and heighten the tensions for effect. Media-driven debates are no longer about educating the public to make intelligent decisions concerning candidate selections on Election Day. It turns out they’re all about personal attacks and destroying a field of candidates. So it’s more of a “duh-bate.” The intention is for the media to steer the election where they wish it to go, away from informed discussion and toward vulgar verbal personal assaults. After all, that’s what ratchets up the ratings. Citizen voters are expected to follow the advice of the network pundits, after the insults and the next commercial break.
This “show” degenerated into a Trump Rubio food fight, very little debris hitting Cruz and virtually none touching Kasich. It was obvious that Rubio’s debate coaches told him to verbally attack Trump, which he did, embarrassing himself and looking desperate. Trump punched back, as expected.
The media-driven debate circus is getting awfully tiresome and worthless to voters, aside from the TV entertainment aspect. As crème pies were thrown at the contestants by the moderators, they didn’t seem to do any appreciable damage to Trump.
There has to be a way to stop the circus.
If only more of the contenders for the presidency would use the same response John Kasich did, when a leading question was tossed his way: “I’m not biting.”
Repeating that response to ego-driven, “celebrity” moderators would be quite satisfactory… until the next debate.
Originally published March 7, 2016
inliberty.org 