Smiles of an Autumn Night

Who was the idiot among President Bush’s advisers who told him to keep smiling during his third and final debate with John Kerry? This morning Tom Shales reported in the Washington Post, “Last night, it looked as though his (Bush’s) handlers had told him to smile, smile, smile, especially when Kerry was trying to make points, points, points.” The men who wind Bush up and point him toward the stage apparently have never heard the line in Hamlet , “...one may smile and smile and still be a villain...”. Listen up, BushMen, when Bush grins like a fool despite the content of what he’s saying, he looks devious and worse, moronic. All the instant polls are giving the edge to Kerry in last night’s debate. Slate.com has given the edge to Kerry in all three debates. Letterman is having a field day over the mystery bulge on Bush’s back. Leno asked VP Candidate John Edwards about it and Edwards said it’s “Bush’s battery”. CNN asked its viewers what they thought the bulge was. Eighty-eight percent said it was an electronic listening device. And yet...the ubiquitous TV pundits and analysts won’t touch the issue with a ten-foot pole. And they uniformly contend that despite instant viewer polls to the contrary, Bush and Kerry are neck-and-neck in the race for President. TV anchors have colluded to engage in an annoying “on-the-other-hand” way of reporting. It’s not balanced or fair-handed. It’s deceitful, mealy-mouthed, and cowardly. As long as the sponsors of news shows control content and as long as officials in the government use fear as a tool, TV news will have no credibility and will not reflect the news. Currently, TV news reflects the way sponsors and the Bush administration want the news to be reported. They seem to think we are easily-lead sheep. Are we?