If the networks complain in November about low voter turnout, we need to suggest that they are part of the problem, not the solution. As Bush and Kerry begin to engage in a general election campaign, the networks this morning are making it sound like they’re each calling each other’s wives ugly names. Words like “ugly,” “nasty,” even “ferocious” are being used to scare voters about the tone of the race — which is nothing different than an average day in Kerry’s U.S. Senate.
Why are the media making such ninnies out of the American voter? That they can’t seem to stand one guy pointing out what he thinks are the flaws of the other guy? How can voters make a choice without those arguments?
Worse yet, NBC’s Ann Curry is suggesting that they’re somehow not talking about “the issues,” even as they play clips of Bush listing how Kerry’s for cutting intelligence spending and opposing every attempt to spur economic growth. Those aren’t issues? And isn’t it odd to accuse candidates of ignoring the issues when you spend every day chronicling Martha Stewart and Michael Jackson instead of Social Security or international trade?