It was an interesting night in North American politics on Thursday. Not only did the Comedy Network, I mean CNN, air the Vice-Presidential debate, but the CBC aired the english debates for our federal election. A shit show on both sides of the 49th but a tad more on the southern side. I’m going to try my best to not make this a rant but there’s a 99% chance that it will be so fuck it, I’m bloggin’.
I would like to think that Canadians were tuned into the CBC but I doubt it very much. The hype surrounding the U.S. election is, surprise surprise, leaking north onto our televisions. But my god, do those Yanks know how to hype this crap up. It was ‘Debate Night in America’, a cheesy title pawned from ‘Football Night in America’ or ‘Hockey Night in Canada’ for us hosers. The stage was glorious with enough red, white, and blue to give Uncle Sam a wet dream. CNN busted out the flashiest of flashy graphics for the great debate. And in the end, did the U.S. learn anything besides the way Palin could compose herself?
CNN continues to blow my mind. They had 11 [insert swear word]s and one Anderson Cooper packed into one Situation Room to analyze the VICE-Presidential debate. And what did they talk about? CNN
Huh? I know it’s the Vice-Presidential debate but come on. Debates make sense to people who follow politics on a regular basis but what percent of the U.S. is that? This is an important vote for the people of the U.S. but you gotta figure that average joe’s are sitting there, TRYING to paint themselves a better picture of which party to vote for, and CNN is off chatting about how Palin could rebound from the Katie Couric beat down. Does this really educate anyone? I mean, they all had their laptops open and crammed onto the desk, google some shit and enlighten me.
American politics are all about the image and they’re going to continue to have out-of-touch citizens until they try to get-in-touch with their citizens. Everyone knows Sarah Palin is not cut out to be the president of the former most powerful nation in the world. She’s real and that’s a good thing but when you’re real and as uninformed as the citizens you wink at through the television, you’re cut.
Compare that hype to what you saw with our debates. They sat around a table, beat the snot out of Harper, and talked about real issues. Maybe you could argue that this debate was a real debate, unlike the Vice-Presidential debates that really don’t mean much, but they carried the same tone. Attack, attack, attack.
And after all the political jargon that also made no sense to me, the CBC came through. They flipped right to the National and the lead story was a recap of the debate. For the CBC, there was 12 less people than CNN and the reporter actually made sense of the accusations made during the debate. It was educational and I felt proud to be Canadian. It was certainly a big rebound from the gaffe pulled by whatever CBC broadcaster was the moderator. To paraphrase it was something like: “Great debate, who needs Palin and Biden?”
All the party leaders looked at him like, “Dude, what the fuck?” Really though, why would you even mention it? It reminded me to hit flashback on my remote to check out what was going on.
If anything though, compare the two broadcasts and be thankful to be Canadian. We have so little to hold on to that doesn’t come from beyond our borders that we forget how real our nation is. Real in the sense that we don’t rely on approval ratings during our debates, flashy graphics, 12 assholes sitting around a table analyzing feelings, and a shitload of make-up. Honestly, Crest is short on white strips and Revlon is out of cover-up because the the vice-presidential debate. Finally an appropriate image!
-JF
