You’re a Democrat and it Shows

March 2nd, 2007 Posted in Essays, Partisanship

I wake up to Washington Journal in the morning because the irritation I immediately feel prevents me from going back to sleep. There’s nothing like the application of senility to politics.

More and more frequently the elderly callers on the Republican Line complain about the bias of the moderator. This on a show that in a way is an ongoing lobotomy — so inexpressive in its attempt at neutrality that you can practically hear the crawling line of drool. (This I wake up to? My own senility beckons).

The “Lines” (the phone lines I mean) are themselves a disappointing tactic, as if the maddened partisans must be herded into their respective stalls — “elderly people, we respect your opinions, but not enough to discuss them with you, not enough even to disagree — there are issues of sanitation; please just turn down your radio, say your last political words, and then click through this turnstile on your way to Republican or Democratic heaven”. At is as if the show is the political version of a nursing home: “this is the logical consequence of the partisan mind,” it seems to say, “we’ll take care of you while your spleen deteriorates”.

None of this boring sanitation satisfies the paranoia of old age — and perhaps in the sense the show has been designed to infuriate and revitalize (a paradoxical defibrillator). One man calls to give a long complaint (with Joe Conason as guest) about how the moderator always cuts of Republicans before they’re done, and one gets the impression that they mean the moderator eventually feels compelled to get away from the long, rambling complaints about “liberals” who should be “run out of the country”. But the moderator patiently waits until the end and then says, as usual, “thank you caller.” This only incenses a bout of octogenarian gang-banging: another old woman calls to give her point and then the final blow, oh yes, “you’re a democrat and it shows” she says with great satisfaction: the show is completely biased.

You’re a Democrat, you listen to us, you say nothing, secretly you despise us, and we know it; you’re a Democrat and it shows. Where is the fair and balanced ranting, the huffery rush limbaugh puffery? You’re a Democrat and it shows — this infuriating pretense of neutrality notwithstanding — show your cards, Democrat!

You’re a journalist and you’re not on Fox, and oh how it shows!

  1. 2 Responses to “You’re a Democrat and it Shows”

  2. By Anonymous threat on Mar 12, 2007

    Read the latest entry. Yes, Washington Journal is irritating (though not boring to me). People who don’t have time or inclination to think things through air their opinions. They display all kinds of parochialism—regional, intellectual, partisan, and so on.

    However, I think the program expresses the broadest consensus about what is fair, if not balanced. It must feel like a much more authentic and powerful instrument for communication with the federal government than, for instance, a letter to your congressional representative. I’m sure that’s the thinking behind it. You actually get to talk to someone in Washington; your opinions are broadcast to anyone who’s tuned in; you hear your own voice.

    True, by the time a caller picks up the phone, they’ve heard opinions from all lines/parties and have come to their conclusion. Their conclusion is probably a spontaneous synthesis of their past opinions, mobilized to meet the partisan threat. Callers gather their thoughts and courage; they don’t immediately change their minds.

    But it probably is rare that they air their opinions in a forum where they can attempt to finish a thought, and where the moderator rigorously refrains from judgment. Washington Journal moderators are the most neutral of any in the media; they are polite facilitators, or strive to be, like really good teachers in fact. It’s quite Platonic in tone. Does Plato ever berate an interlocutor? How would Plato handle Bill O’Reilly?

    The challenge is left to the next caller. I believe that most of us live in partisan, family, community, and regional echo chambers. Washington Journal is where trickle-down ideology, which is what most of us use in place of thought, gets an airing. I’ll bet a lot of people find it a highly unsatisfactory and irritating basis for policy or action; that’s the point. It’s not much of a think tank. You get to see how all sides fall short. Or you may hear a caller who rises above the fray, who sounds wise. Maybe a lot of people tune in hoping to hear someone rise above it all.

  3. By Your last warning on Mar 12, 2007

    Heard a caller on W Journal today that kind of proved your point. Ancient bitty seriously complaining about Democrats calling on the Republican line, suggesting that suspicious callers should be closely questioned for party affiliation. Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever!

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