Another Sunday Morning

I wonder who will be the apologists-of-the-week for the latest crypto-fascist Bush-Cheney policy this week on the Sunday morning talking head shows? (no, not those Talking Heads, because that would be cool!)

How much influence do these shows have anymore?  I know that I have lost all respect for the last of them I could stomach after watching the ABC News-"The Debate" debacle where George Stepuptothemicrophone systematically deconstructed years of his hard earned credibility.  Yes, George is always about the political analysis... sigh...

And it has been years since the analysis or softball questioning from Lil' Tim mattered much except as another way to turn his family life into books that he can hawk on the nostalgia party train. Take that Tom Brokaw!

Or you might bring up Faux News?  They were tainted and biased out the gate.  Although it is worse because they have made a very concerted effort to reach into high schools and influence a generation of teachers.  And as a parent I have seen first hand some of the damage. 

What about CNN?  Did the so-called analysis from CNN ever really influence political or intellectual debate in this country?  Did something someone said on a Sunday news-analysis program from CNN ever change your mind?  And Headline News, sheesh... most of the debate from HN centered on who has the best hair or best legs; typical non-analysis sexist fluff.

Perhaps the most important concern is whether these architects of mass delusion really make a difference in how their viewers think about the worrisome creeping corporate state that Bush-Cheney have exacerbated.  Where is the necessary discussion on the slow death of due process?  Where is the realistic analysis of the maddening mess in Iraq?

Sunday mornings remind me that the "news" industry -- and especially the analysis Sunday morning staple of that -- is in bed with the politicians, especially those on the right and as the Australian politico-pop band Midnight Oil commented on in the late 1980s: the beds are burning!

Will any of these so-called "heated discussions" improve the standard of living for the rest of us?  That is, besides worse.  Have they ever improved the quality and content of real debate in this country?

Yeah, I didn't think so either.