I did not watch the debate, but I followed it closely and spoke to family members who did.
Also, I did see and hear some pundits who did not fall into this trap.
In her Washington Post opinion piece this morning-The media keeps making these cringworthy mistakes , Ms Rubin rightly states-
... we are told “the debate” was a dumpster fire, “the debate” was a low point in American politics, “the debate” was incoherent. The worst appearance by a U.S. president in history is magically transformed into a non-personified event — the debate itself. Why do so many headline writers, anchors and pundits fall into this trap?
This poor sense of “balance” still afflicts too many journalists, who become nervous that by reporting what is plain to see, they’re taking “sides.” But the only side they would be taking is that of truth
[...]
If false balance was the major defect running through post-debate commentary, it was not the only one. Sadly, many of these media mistakes have gone unaddressed since Trump rode down his fake-gold escalator five years ago
my bolding
Truth- the orange, racist monster, “untethered from reality” completely lacks impulse control.
Pundits, for example, too often claim that Trump tries to scare suburban women, a large and critical part of the electorate, so that he can pump up his base — White males who have never abandoned him. This is irrational, but worse, it is almost certainly false. Trump does what he does because he cannot help himself.
...”His narcissism and lack of conscience — not calculation — lead him to do things that are self-destructive.” -
Good god, just has to look at the recent NYT pieces on his taxes and “business” for help on seeing that. Or 5 minutes of a Michael Cohen interview... or 200,000 dead Americans...or something! This “calculation” idea is something many of us have been pulling our non-$70k-coiffed hair out about for over 4 nightmarish years. (Along with the “Melania is a victim”. But I digress.)
Rubin continues by discussing what she observes to be pundits “habitual bad advice syndrome” to Biden about what he should and should not do.
Another excellent point-
the media image of “voters” as White men.The nondescript voter in the Rust Belt or in suburbia is a woman, statistically speaking... Rather than ask how their prototypical White male would feel about confirming a justice who would likely allow abortion to be criminalized, they would do well to ask a suburban mom or a 30-something single, working woman. It does reorient one’s thinking.
One more truth, 2016 jitters aside, all the polls “point in one direction, it behooves the media to say so.”
The horse race garbage needs to stop. Or as she puts it-
“needs to give way to a preference for the unvarnished truth.”
Just snippets here. I appreciated what she had to say. So few say it.
