DEBATES???

Political debate as practiced by the current crew of fund-raiser elitists be they repo-men or demies is akin to participation in Special Olympics-- Whoever 'wins' at the end of the day is still 'athletically challenged' (retarded) never because sincere effort was found lacking but because the limitations of reality demand it be so-- Besides, winning at Special Olympics isn't the ultimate goal in the first place-- Getting out on the field with a heart and a dream and giving the old non-college try are the true rewards-- No matter the outcome no one ever mistakes the Special Olympians for high caliber athletes--

So too the debaters from both halves of the DC War Party, so far, will not be mistaken for World Class statesmen out to truly solve the extant problems, and they are manymany, facing the country they so un-nimbly profess their askew entitlement to lead-- The fakery of these media concoctions followed by smarmy round-table faux-analysis is revolting to most the country-- Fewer and fewer concerned reliable American citizens even bother to tune in to evermore sound-bites and vain segues into still more verbally disingenuous palaver replete with nod-and-wink insider jokes running absolutely amok-- That this overhyped faux spectacle no longer seems worthy enough to connect up with the field reality on which most people on this planet, special or not, still participate is beyond debate-- Studio reality is failing to convince the American people, beyond serving up the trite shallow escapism of Idol fare, that it can play a credible role in helping steer America back from the edge of the gaping abyss facing us at the confluence of so many simultaneously problematic fronts--

At the recent repo-men debate the obscure but principled Texas Rep. Ron Paul was asked a loaded question point blank about whether or not he trusted the mainstream media and his less than immediate response brought snickers and chuckles from the audience and smirks from other candidates as well, because nearly everyone there knew that when you cut through the show-biz bullshit of contemporary media and politics, trust is not a visible virtue on anyone's team-- At the end of the debate, like Special Olympics, it doesn't matter who 'won' but only who gained an edge in campaign funding via the agility of their sound-bite performance, a virtue which can only aid one's contrived poll rating--


None of the current posturing candidates wish to try-on the latest ABC poll figures, damning in their dismal depiction of a country 73% of whom believe to be seriously off-track-- A country hemorrhaging confidence over the diminishing influence abroad due to high-magnitude international failures, visible to all, in the middle east, the ongoing dis-integration of the dollar's value, the inflationary theft from skyward spiking oil prices and ubiquitously rising world demand, the collapsing housing bubble and the contagion of foreclosure it engenders-- Moreover, issues like health care that can't find space on the infotainment of nightly news continue to add demoralizing angst to the overall zeitgeist--Word will always spread--

Imagine this, a world super-power incapable of teaching its children how to read basic literature-- A world super-power selling out its manufacturing strength to the lowest bidder-- A world super-power allowing its infant mortality rate to lead the entire industrialized world-- A world super-power Presidential candidate who admittedly failed to read the National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq before voting on the resolution for going to war-- A disqualifying admission under any requisite standards of leadership if leadership is what the country most needs but, of course, a forgivable faux pas if fund-raising uber alles is the bona fides litmus test for media credibility-- As poet Robinson Jeffers once wrote, "Shine, perishing Republic"