does this mean ryan is the jim lehrer of reality shows?

[jlh]

So I'm listening to The Takeaway, talking about the history of presidential debates—apparently debates are second only to super bowls in terms of ratings—and Hockenberry says: "Jim Lehrer has become like the Ryan Seacrest of debates." And then later, he said that "Jim Lehrer gets better ratings than Ryan Seacrest; that says something good about the Republic." Hilarious!

I hope the debate happens tonight, because if it doesn't people will get really pissy. There's a reason my reaction to all the hysteria (and hello, Obama is up in the polls, but I'm sure everyone will discount that too) has been "wait for the debates" because all those undecided voters are waiting for that, too. Most people are not completely sure about the candidates' stances on various issues because they haven't been paying attention and the debates are their opportunity to find out. (I mean, the media isn't going to tell them; the media only cares about the horse race.)

By the way, if you do want to find out about the issues, the Brian Lehrer show on WNYC is once again doing "30 issues in 30 days". They started on Monday but the archives are available on the website. It's bound to be a little New York-centric, but hopefully it's an idea that will spread and grow.

Comments

[annearchy.livejournal.com]

Maybe McCain will stand up the debates the way he stood up Letterman, who was still pretty upset about it last night.

Oh, great quote from Tony Norman (http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08270/915174-153.stm) at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: "Overheard at my radical church on the South Side: "Democrats brought us the War on Poverty. Republicans brought us war and poverty."

[jlh.livejournal.com]

ha. The talk is that McCain can't stand up the debates, so now they'll have to find a cover story for him. Also, the people actually negotiating in DC are like, "he's not helping." I mean, he's not on the finance committees so why the hell does he need to be there? But people will be pissed off if he doesn't show up to the debate, for reals, and he's already sliding in the polls.

[annearchy.livejournal.com]

Well, he's there now. But he's sounding pretty vague.