This is as close as I plan to get to this week's episode of "Real Time" because of the odious presence of serial liar and propagandist Andrew Breitbart, who deserves only to reside with sideshow circus freaks as opposed to people of any repute whatsoever - this was a particularly good "New Rules" segment, though (here)...
...and today is the 50th anniversary of the first televised presidential debate between Vice President Richard Nixon and Senator John F. Kennedy, and I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that this ended up revolutionizing political campaigns - it's easy to get caught up in the theatrics and nuanced stuff such as the poise of Kennedy in his answers, as opposed to Nixon who seemed to be tripping over his words in his responses, as well as the legendary shifty-looking eyes and appearance of what looked like "five o'clock shadow" (and don't ask me about a "truth-o-meter" for both of them, because I couldn't give you that info)...I say it's easy to get caught up in the theatrics because, by doing that, you might end up forgetting that two formidable intellects are on display here, and despite what Nixon did up to that point and would later do, he would still have to be regarded that way...also interesting to me to see themes discussed that echo to the present day, such as job growth, wages, education, and infrastructure development (wonky stuff, I know...here is the whole thing - I got about halfway through watching it again, and I had a hard time breaking away from it...an audience of radio listeners polled thought Nixon won, by the way).
No comments:
Post a Comment