Gearing up for the State of The Union begins bleary-eyed at 6 a.m. Switching from Fox to NBC to CNN, battle lines are drawn. Fox shoots arrows and CNN cries foul before the president utters a single oratory pearl.
I divide my viewing, just for fun. Before the speech I view MSNBC—by the way NBC, if this is an offering to journalistic integrity, you’ve lost your way. I spend my “after speech time” with Fox News. Both are unbearable. Is there a semblance of objective reporting left anywhere?
Unlike most things on which I opine, this I actually know. My journalism degree comes from an elite liberal arts college. It’s Catholic so I got a hefty helping of snotty, privileged education mixed with a healthy dose of serve others. In other words, I can see both sides.
As journalists, we were taught to temper opinion. To let others have their say. A superior journalist presents all sides in equal and measured calculation, letting viewers and readers decide. After all, they can handle it. Democrats and Republicans hold equal opinions, one no more valid than the other. I even convinced a member of the Young Republicans to vote for Michael Dukakis. You know who you are. The shame is mine.
Personalities touting themselves as journalists who are little more than rabid commentarists bent on proving someone wrong are bothersome. Follow along both my right and left wing friends. There is a point and it’s important, for democracy and all.
Rachel Maddow. Is the woman capable of question formation not accusing a respondent of “wrong” opinion should they disagree? She says things like, “Republican are already ‘howling’ about this.” No, the question’s not loaded.
I check people out. Maddow, it turns out, went to Stanford and is a Rhodes scholar. One would assume she might be above theatrics like calling out, “Oh please,” on air when someone brings up the IRS scandal.
Fox’s Megyn Kelly is not far off. By the way, who spells their name Megyn? Shame on her parents. The girl’s got a law degree, a heft of work behind her and reporting chops to boot. But girl likes to dig it up. She sits in front of a group of “regular people,” debating whether what the president said that was true, false or never gonna happen in America, delighting in the tension. And nonsense. I actually felt sorry for the lone liberal. She had the look of Lena Dunham in a room filled with the well-coiffed.
I begin the day intent on writing about the State of Union and instead meander to the State of the Press. Dismal.
Even Huffington Post gets in the act, tweeting, “Republicans refuse to stand up and support fair pay. Literally.” With a pic of John Boehner sitting at the four hundred and eighty fifth time the Dems rose to their feet. They stood more times than Catholics at Mass. If they could’ve flagellated themselves in a dervish of worship to their king they would have. There was no decency anywhere in sight. Not before, during or after.
What did I think of the speech? Tomorrow, my dolls, tomorrow.
The Duchess Diaries 