article by a major network<\/a>, and formed an opinion about ABC News. \u00a0It is not a very favorable opinion.<\/p>\nI’ve retained animosity towards Fox News for a long time. \u00a0The thing about Fox News is that they’re so damn obvious with their spin. \u00a0When they present news, they are as subtle as a fog horn. \u00a0They are successful, because they know their target audience, and they’re playing to it.<\/p>\n
Having watched a\u00a0debate, and having read what ABC News presents\u00a0of it, I’m startled by the nuance and subtlety. \u00a0There is reality, which I observed with my own eyes and ears, and there is ABC’s narrative, where everything hinges on Hillary Clinton.<\/p>\n
As I said briefly on Facebook, if any of the three Democrat candidates became President, I would not fear for my country. \u00a0I cannot say the same about any of the Republican candidates.<\/p>\n
Being an intelligent, literate adult these last few months, I’ve observed the media’s treatment of Donald Trump. \u00a0Again, it is not subtle. \u00a0There is a sick fascination and curiosity when it comes to Trump, and what he’s going to say next. \u00a0He’s using his experience in the WWE to great effect, painting himself as a heal, and getting the crowd on its feet.<\/p>\n
There is a narrative surrounding Trump, and that narrative keeps him in the news and the consciousness of the world. \u00a0We’re being entertained<\/em> by his antics.<\/p>\nAnd now I see that Hillary Clinton is receiving the same sort of treatment, to a lesser extent. \u00a0She’s not following the same script as Trump, but the media that enables Trump to stay on the world’s stage is working their magic on Clinton’s behalf.<\/p>\n
As I said before, I wouldn’t mind if Clinton became President. \u00a0She’s not my favorite in this race, perhaps for silly reasons. \u00a0For one, she’s a slick politician, subtle in the ways she shifts position. \u00a0She puts on an accent when she visits the South. \u00a0I didn’t like her as a candidate in 2008, and I don’t like her much as a candidate now. \u00a0I prefer her over Trump or Cruz or any of the rest of the Republican crazies, but that isn’t saying much.<\/p>\n
I prefer Bernie this year, but I have some apprehension. \u00a0I’m not excited about his Medicare expansion idea. \u00a0I agree with the idea of providing medical care as a right, but I don’t think we’re going to get there anytime soon.\u00a0 I don’t think\u00a0Medicare is the way. \u00a0Also, I’m not very comfortable with unabashed socialism.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, it won’t matter which Democrat becomes the next president. \u00a0If by some tragedy\/miracle it is O’Malley (I had to take a few moments to look up his name), he hasn’t demonstrated the strength or personality to get equal time on a debate stage. \u00a0How will he fair against a Congress\u00a0that has been willing to fight Obama on everything, just on general principles?<\/p>\n
Neither Clinton nor Sanders will have much luck pushing legislation. \u00a0There is too much money going into Congress\u00a0from special interests. \u00a0The system is broken, and focused in the wrong direction. \u00a0Whatever lofty goals Clinton or Sanders may have, they will find Congress minefield.<\/p>\n
And that is probably the one reason I favor Sanders this year, because he acknowledges this, and talks about trying to fix it. \u00a0I don’t honestly think he’ll have any success, but I’d like to see someone try.<\/p>\n
One of the challenges this year will be catching the debates, rather than relying on the media to give me accurate summaries. \u00a0CNN did a better job<\/a> than ABC, but I think the only one I can trust on this matter is myself. \u00a0And I encourage everyone voting this year to do the same thing. \u00a0Don’t listen to the parrots and spin doctors. \u00a0Watch, listen, and make up your own mind.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I’ve mostly been avoiding the Presidential race, because everything that happens a year before the election is just distraction and a stage show. \u00a0The electorate doesn’t remember what happened last month, let alone what happened a year ago. Until last night, I’d only watched some clips of the debates. \u00a0I watched all of last night’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=767"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/767\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":768,"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/767\/revisions\/768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}