This is a short little report/rant from the cable news front by one person unfortunate enough to turn on the "news" for a brief period this morning.
I have oft times felt that my sense of reality did not comport with most of my fellow human beings. Admittedly, this started at an early age. I remember being in kindergarten or first grade and observing my peers contentedly rolling around the playground...and just feeling that I had, somehow, been delivered to the wrong planet. So be it. This feeling faded over time, for the most part, but every now and again, it gets restimulated...not the least cause of this restimulation is television news. So I stay away, for the most part.
Yep. Keep me away from the pundicrats and the bloviators. Occasionally, I'll watch Keith Olbermann. Even more rarely, I'll watch Matthews or Russert. Anything else is liable to result in my mind capsizing...feeling adrift in a malicious universe and entirely at odds with a majority of my fellow human beings. It's an almost inflexible rule. I don't watch it.
More after the flip
Today, yet again, I see why. I wanted to see how HRC's "The Comment" was playing. I started off with some woman on MSNBC. I was hoping to watch Meet the Press but couldn't find NBC. Oh well. My bad. At any rate, I don't know her name...she's blond. And she's awful. AWFUL! Wait, did I say she was awful? Really bad. I don't know her name...I will call her "The Blond."
She started off with clips of Obama responding to reporters and saying that it was time to move on from "The Comment" and that there was nothing to disucss. The blond's response? "Why does Obama keep this thing going? Isn't he keeping this going by saying he doesn't want to keep this going?" Whatever sycophant she had on seemed to immediately agree. "Well yes, he says he wants this to be over with but obviously, by making this comment, he's keeping it in play. Well, it was in response to a reporter's question, but still..." (Or something like that.)
I surfed to Chris Wallace and listened to approximately three acerbic syllables and immediately surfed away. Phew. Have to protect oneself. And BTW, Chris Wallace could say the novena or read the telephone book and make it sound acerbic. I landed for a brief moment with Le Steph and listened as George Will began to intone sonorously about something...who knows what...but it wasn't to my liking.
I think I then skidded to PBS. I think. Nina Totenberg was urging HRC to get out. I think she was saying it was SO over. At least PBS is not trying to sell me erectile dysfunction and antacid tablets (do they have one tablet that will do both...I think it would be a hit in a certain demograpichic). By this point, though, I was in full surf mode...
So I headed, heart in hand, back to the MSNBC blond, still hoping to see Tim Russert's oh so comforting enormous head...Nope. Instead, The Blond was still holding forth...
At this point, she had on Barbara Comstock and Ari Melber (I think). Both Melber and Comstock were talking about what a complete political disaster "The Comment" was. No uncertaing terms. At which point, The Blond started arguing with them. Nope, this wasn't the sophistry. The Blond was getting pissed off. It was like she couldn't get these two political "opponents" to stop agreeing with each other. Or to start agreeing with her that this was not a disaster. She kept bringing stuff up like..."Well, RFK, Jr. said it was OK...why would he say it was OK if it wasn't?" Finally, she deep sixed the conversation, saying..."Well, I guess we just disagree about this." Waspish and with an acerbic twist that would have done Chris Wallace proud.
At this point, I aimed the clicker...and. Click. All gone. Despite this deep lingering feeling of being hungover from bad chemicals like adrenalin coursing through my body.
I keep learning my lesson. I should know not to peek at the cables. It makes me keep thinking that I was, indeed, delivered to the wrong fucking planet. Oh well, better luck next life, eh? And I'm considering suing the celestial UPS in the heavenly courts.
Rant over. Sorry. Feel free to commiserate, bloviate, pundicrate, obviate, obfuscate, etc. etc.