"The Attack of the Split Screen" - Asia Times

[DoYouEverWonder]

By Pepe Escobar

For all the talk of history being made in Florida (not again!), the first of three debates between US presidential contenders George W Bush and John Kerry may go down in history as "The Attack of the Split Screen".

Some people may be naive enough to believe that a 90-minute reality show, a rhetorical Gladiator meets Miss Universe (Don't move! Don't sweat! Don't stray away from script!), live from Florida, with Fox News controlling the video cameras, is remotely similar to participatory democracy. But as the rules of the game go, this is what is actually deciding the destiny of US democracy - and US projection of power over the rest of the world.

The original script as designed by the narrow, ideological right-wing cult that is the Bush administration machine should have been a Hail Mary to Bush's supposed abilities of commander-in-chief in times of war. Bush consigliere James Baker even bent Democratic operative Vernon Jordan into accepting a 32-page "memorandum of understanding" worthy of the Surrealist Manifesto: no controversy, no confrontation, no real debating, just manufacturing of consent (sample: "The candidates may not ask each other direct questions, but may ask rhetorical questions").

According to another rule, "There will be no TV cutaways to any candidate who is not responding to a question while another candidate is answering a question." In true Monty Python fashion ("Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!"), nobody was expecting the split screen. But doing without it would have made very boring TV. So Fox News, generating the images and cutaway shots, perhaps inadvertently delivered to the world The Smirking Robot: the president of the United States lip-smacking, smirking, blinking, eye-rolling, performing anguished jazz solos of facial contortions, and looking genuinely angry. His voice was petulant. He barely remembered his own record. He said absolutely nothing new. And he could barely disguise his rage: How could anyone even dream of questioning and holding him to account for his foreign-policy choices - in the "war on terra" and in Iraq? After all, "I just know how this world works."

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http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/FJ02Aa01.html

[NJCher]

1. excellent

But what happened in Florida lowers the expectations for Bush tremendously - and the smirking president is at his best when expectations are very low.

That is an outstanding essay!

First, there is some wonderful descriptive writing, which you have posted above.

Second, there is some wonderfully philosophic musing that tells of the low point at which we find outselves with this underqualified individual in the presidency:

But what happened in Florida lowers the expectations for Bush tremendously - and the smirking president is at his best when expectations are very low.

And third, there is a paragraph at the end about the split screen as metaphor for the bush "presidency."

I'm so impressed with this one I'm showing it to my classes.


Cher

[DoYouEverWonder]

2. Pepe Escobar is one of the best

You should read his articles about bin Laden. You can find more of his writing on the Asia Times site.