Did anybody catch the show that happened Wednesday night under the bigtop?
Two headliners faced each other for the first time in a spectacle that many around the nation had been waiting all summer to see, the kind of spectacle that really gets people in the seats.
And then at long last, it finally happened.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry made his debate debut and joined the stage to square off against former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney to see who would get the upper hand in the race to the Republican nomination for president.
MSNBC pumped up its circus, I mean Republican presidential debate, as the headline event of the year as the greatest show on earth.
Unless you were in the Romney or Perry camps, however, you probably walked away from the two-hour show with a real sour taste in your mouth.
Who knows why MSNBC even invited the other six candidates to join the show. Every circus needs side shows right? Well, the network certainly treated them that way.
The others barely got a word in. MSNBC planted Romney and Perry in the center of the stage and questioned them for nearly 15 minutes trying to push them into a fight before even acknowleding that the stage was filled with legitamate candidates for the nation’s top job.
But in the minds of the debate’s host network, those people just don’t sell the tickets.
People don’t come to see the poodles line up and do a little dance, just like they don’t come to hear Michelle Bachmann talk about how she thinks the “one thing” her 23 foster children needed were jobs.
Spectators like seeing the World’s Strongest Man show his might, just like Rick Santorum thinks the US should continue to do around the world in place, like Iran and Syria. But, that still isn’t what people come to see.
Yeah sure, seeing the bearded woman is kind of strange because she’s an oddball, like maybe John Huntsman is a bit of an oddball for saying such far out things like Republicans should start accepting science and maybe civil unions wouldn’t be the end of the world. But still, the bearded lady won’t make the headline.
People want to see the trapeze artists balance a tight rope. It’s kind of fun to watch Romney walk the fine line between denoucing Obamacare and standing by his own Mass. healthcare law, which happens to be eerily similar to the reforms the president passed.
People like to watch Rick Perry strut around and roar like a bigtop lion, only he wants everyone to know he won’t be tamed. Maybe he’d like us to forget how he reminds us so much of the man he replaced in Texas, George W. Bush.
Do the people really want to see just these two square off? Have people honestly made up their minds 13 months away from the election? Probably not.
The MSNBC debate was a joke. The network had an agenda that became very evident shortly after Brian Williams asked his first question.
So called “fringe” candidates have a lot to offer. Ron Paul has been the model of consistancy in his beliefs, but the media has written him off.
Herman Cain makes some very good points, but its unlikely the media ever really cared about him at all.
There are more than just two Republicans in the race. For the next 13 months, it’s likely the national media will try to make you forget that fact.
When you have to fill 24 hours a day with “news,” it should be kept as honest as possible. Manufacturing conflict is not very responsible.
Don’t listen. You have the ability to make up your own minds.
You’re more than just a seat under a tent.
