Tuesday, October 30, 2007
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Who the Heck is Watching These Debates?
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Posted by:
Mary Katharine Ham at
3:42 PM
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It's gotta be just me, right? And, Instapundit. And, Stephen Green. Insty and Stephen and me, and Allah. And, Ace. All of us sitting around, blogging and drinking Stephen's vodka to numb the pain of the Democrats' rhetorical idiocy.
We were drinking every time they mentioned a tax hike, but we quit that game after it sent Ace to the hospital with alcohol poisoning before the first commercial break.
Nnnnnyway, here's who is watching, according to Nielsen: Far fewer than even the lowest-rated sitcoms pulls, but still a couple million. A couple million of the nerdy proxy-voters cleverly recruited by sitcom-watchers to keep up with this stuff until a couple months before the election, so that they can just King-of-Queens it up while we're bored out of our skulls.
Sneaky guys those American voters. Here are the Top 3 rated debates so far:
N.H. DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE- MANCHESTER, N.H.
06/03/2007
CNN
2,783,000
THIS WEEK’ DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE- DES MOINES, IOWA
08/19/2007
ABC
2,866,000 N.H. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE- DURHAM, N.H.
09/05/2007
FOXNC
3,141,000 people
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The problem with the "debates" is that the moderators only ask questions that allow the candidates to simply respond with their stock speeches. They don't call them on their various lies or misstatements, and they don't press them to defend their policies.
One way to correct that is to shame the MSM into asking better questions and trying to ask a series of questions of a candidate about problems with a specific policy they support.
However, since that's probably not going to happen, I suggest that everyone goes to campaign events, asks real questions about issues like immigration policies, and then uploads the responses. That way we can completely disintermediate the MSM. The DCCC is encouraging people to catch "Macaca moments" on tape ( http://lonewacko.com/blog/archives/007183.html ), I suggest countering that with questions about the flaws in the candidates' policies. |
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And here I've been burning through my stock of imported beer while live-semi-drunken-blogging.
Question; who's taking one for the team tonight? |
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Miss Ham, if you were to host a debate watching party, I'd wager you'd double the TV ratings (I'd go). |
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Finally, a bit of drama from the Dem end; Sean Hackbarth at The American Mind is reporting that Mike Gravel has been dropped from the debate tour - http://www.theamericanmind.com/2007/10/30/gravel-has-been- censored/
Looks like the opportunities to drink have been reduced slightly, though I don't doubt for a second the remaining candidates will continue to pander just as hard for the 0.3% of the anti-war left that was Gravel's base. |
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listening when there really is a debate. Everything up till now has been nothing more than Q&A sessions. After all according to Merriam-Webster Online:
Main Entry: 1de·bate
Pronunciation: \di-'bat, de-\
Function: noun
Date: 13th century
: a contention by words or arguments: as a: the formal discussion of a motion before a deliberative body according to the rules of parliamentary procedure b: a regulated discussion of a proposition between two matched sides. |
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I think I've spotted the problem....you're gong down the sensible path. Bad move....
This is politics....
The correct spelling is "de-bait." This is a metaphor. De-baiting occurs when a clever fish manages to feed himself, avoid the hook, and get away without getting caught....
If this doesn't say it all about politics, I don't know what does...... ;-) |
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Sorry, my mistake. Paddy you are so correct. Actually I have had fish do that to me. I had not considered politicians to be that smart. :-). |
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I just cannot listen to the Democrats. They are so predictable! They haven't changed their message since LBJ who wanted to buy his way out of everything. Bread and circuses.
I watch the Republicans talk after the moderators ask questions that usually don't get answered. Romney usually just says whatever his staff has told him to say no matter what the question was. He's masterful at not only NOT answering but winding you up so you forget the question.
Too bad they can't hold debates. One on one like Fred Thompson said he wanted until Mike Huckabee took him up on it.
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Really interesting statistic about the viewership of the debates.
Probably doesn't matter that five of the seven lowest-watched debates were from the GOP side, huh?
Or that the first GOP debate of the season drew 500,000 less viewers than the first Democratic debate.
That's just crazy talk, huh?
I'm sure hopeful that know one here actually thinks this woman is some kind of champion of the truth. Sure hope you understand that it's all about ratings and money.
She does, believe me.
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Just thought this was important to mention.
MKM's quote from her blog:
"...Far fewer than even the lowest-rated sitcoms pulls, but still a couple million."
Quote from that bastion of liberal thinking the New York Times
"...Far fewer than would watch the lowest-rated prime-time show, but, that said, they have at times drawn at least a couple of million viewers."
Could that get you busted for plagerism? No.
Can anyone guess what it does show?
By the way, punctuation counts. |
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"We were drinking every time they mentioned a tax hike, but we quit that game after it sent Ace to the hospital with alcohol poisoning before the first commercial break."
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M-Kat, I that's the Dhimmicrats' strategy !
They want us all to drink ourselves into a stupor so we won't realize how insane their policies are.
It's similar to 'beer goggles' near closing time at a pub, only, by the end of the evening, Hillary is hoping the alcohol will seduce us into wanting to get scr*wed by her policies !
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