More Convention

Wow.  Talking about having to eat your words.  Yes, I still believe the Democratic National Convention (as is the Republican National Convention, beginning on Monday) is an exquisitely choreographed pep rally.  But I am very surprised at how much of it I’ve watched.  Some of that is because the beloved spouse is a political junkie.

I really don’t want to comment on the actual events - at least, not in this space.  My goal is to give you information and let you make up your own mind.  And while it’s true that my own personal biases are going to leak out (I know some folks who consider my philosophies somewhere to the right of Atilla the Hun, and others who figure I’m so far to the left, I couldn’t make a right turn if you paid me), I’d at least like to make the effort to respect your individual values by moderating the expression of my own.

That being said, we’ve been watching the PBS coverage at the old homestead, and one thing I noticed is that their talking heads are almost all academic historians, as opposed to political analysts and former players.  These guys (and, sadly, they are all guys) not only talk about what’s going on, but do it with the perspective of 200 years of American history.  Based on the clips I’ve seen on The Daily Show (Comedy Central, 11 p.m.), that is not the case with MSNBC, CNN and Fox News.

Now granted, given the amount of time these guys are on the air, you know someone is going to say or do something stupid, and finding those bits and pieces is the bread and butter of The Daily Show - as well it should be.  But host Jon Stewart and company haven’t touched anything on PBS.  Personally, I’ve yet to see the staff at The Daily Show shy away from poking fun at anything.  So I’m guessing that the PBS coverage is just that thoughtful and intelligent, which means it’s not that funny.  It does not, however, mean that the talking heads on PBS are boring.  In fact, they’re very engaging.  They just don’t say stupid things.

As for The Daily Show, if you’re got teens in your house, I highly recommend it - with parental supervision, of course.  Like I said, they don’t shy away from things, including the crude.  It is mostly funny, and for all Mr. Stewart swears he’s doing comedy, not real news, there is more real news on The Daily Show than most TV news programs.  It is true that there’s a decided liberal bias to the program, but I will say host Jon Stewart is a lot more polite to those of his guests with whom he disagrees than most TV hosts.  And Stewart is a lot more intelligent than most of his competition, too.

Anne Louise Bannon

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