I succumbed to the hype and watched this sweeps-month live “event.” almost as dull as a real debate and almost as “beside the point” as a real debate where everything about American life gets reduced to “the economy.” nevertheless, interesting as an experiment. they must have known it would be somewhat dull in order to include the heckler about halfway through. many discussed the possibility that an event like this might have some actual impact on real television debates–that they might follow the fictional model and dispense with “the rules.” fat chance, since nobody does anything without a rehearsed script. even the coughs and gestures are scripted I imagine (here, George should lean forward to express intimacy and suggest that folksiness always trumps the need to be articulate, etc. etc.) also perhaps, too, this always rather self-important show undercut itself with the cutesy ellen degeneris bits, which more than anything in the actual show, demonstrates what politics is all about now–the short con and corporate control masquerading as “lifestyle” choices. demonstrating further that the show–by featuring as a kind of ‘anti-ad’ ad the cool lesbian chatting amiably with us, the purportedly open-minded and educated West Wing viewers–is heavily invested in the kind of imagery of dualism, the liberals vs. the conservatives regarding “issues,” that you wish it would critique and take apart; the issues march happily by in their pre-determined places(education, jobs, health insurance….) fragmenting real life into pieces while covertly homogenizing it. or should I be less grumpy and praise the attempt to “raise” the level of civility in politics in this kind of episode and acknowledge its attempt to advocate for less constrained political discussion…
p.s. anyone else find it strangely totalitarian that the audience gets chastized by a TV news talking head for “inappropriately” reacting during the course of the event. screw you, Forest or Chad or Don or whatever the hell your name is.