For Chuck Todd, politics is a game. And there is a game within a game, called “Gotcha.” And that’s the game he wants to win.
Fortunately, the candidates weren’t playing.
Mark Sumner was live-blogging here last night, and caught it immediately:
First question coming up on whether there is a government role in dealing with the gun issue.
Warren says children asking “when you’re president, how are you going to keep us safe.” Is the toughest question she’s received. Talks up background checks, assault weapons ban.
And then Chuck Todd says “you didn’t address, do you think the federal government needs to go and get the guns.” You know why, Chuck, because that’s not the question you asked.
Todd didn’t care about gun control. He cared only about being the guy who made news. Instead he became the umpire who was in the news for blowing a call. Umpires should never be the news. Neither should moderators. When we notice the umpire, or the moderator, it’s never for anything good.
Warren’s artful dodge of a gun control trap
Moderator Chuck Todd launched the second half of the debate with an effort to bait Warren into taking an unpopular position on guns, trying to get her to say it would be a good idea for the government to confiscate firearms that Americans already own.
Warren didn’t deny Todd’s (obviously correct) premise that in some sense, the existing stock of dangerous weapons is at least as big a problem as any future flow of new sales. But she also didn’t bite. She reiterated Democrats’ poll-tested question that we need to “do the things that are sensible and do the universal background checks and ban the weapons of war.”
Then she said “we can double down on the research and find out what really works,” which isn’t really something I’m used to hearing in the gun debate but sounds like the kind of thing a smart professor would say. We need to find out “where it is that we can make the differences at the margins that will keep our children safe. We need to treat this like the virus that’s killing our children.” That sounded tough on guns. She wants to treat them like a virus!
Yglesias saw through Todd’s game:
But Todd saw she was trying to dodge him. He wanted to make news by getting her to issue a call for the government to take away Americans’ guns. He pressed again, “Do you think the federal government needs to figure out a way to get the guns out there?”
Yes. Todd wanted to make news. Todd was playing “Gotcha.” He was looking to create news where none existed. And when the candidates didn’t play, Todd was frustrated.
Sumner made the point again:
Chuck Todd again talks about “gun confiscation.” Which is Chuck Todd showing that it’s possible to lose a debate he’s not even in.
Klobuchar rightly slaps down his terminology. Todd can’t get anyone to give him the answer he wants. Because he’s an idiot…..
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Booker also not going to give Todd the answer he wants on McConnell. No one knows what that imaginary answer is. But frustrated Chuck Todd is worse than ordinary Chuck Todd. And that’s already awful….
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Is it possible for Chuck Todd to ask a question that isn't incredibly leading and weighted? Sorry, that was a question where the answer is a given….
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The entire f’ing debate is being sunk by Chuck Todd’s attempts to force people to accept the anchor he keeps trying to hand them. Then talking over answers with an “um hmm” “uh huh” “okay” “right.” He’s such a disaster it’s hard to even hear the answers.
The Meet the Press anchor was the clear loser at the first of the two debates this week, which is a bit of a shame because he was so evidently excited to be there. But excitement can easily transmute into disorder, and a stumbly, fumbly question-asker does a disservice to both the viewers at home and the candidates on stage. The moderator’s job, especially in crowded early-stage debates like this one, should be to help viewers differentiate between candidates, ideally by asking clear, pointed questions that force the presidential aspirants out of their stump speeches and pin them down on issues and priorities. But as FiveThirtyEight noted, Todd himself uttered the fourth-most words of anyone on the debate stage despite only being on camera for half of the event. That verbosity might not have been a problem if his questions had been great or even helpful ones. They largely weren’t.
For Todd, this is a game. He wants to play. there are winners and losers. It’s a horse race. I was listening to MTP Daily yesterday before the first debate, and he was gushing about how excited he felt when he heard the election music. He finds this fun. Unlike Rachel Maddow, who asks thoughful questions, and gets thoughtful answers, Todd’s questions are saturated with cynicism.
He doesn’t want to report the news. He wants to make the news. He wants to play “Gotcha.”
Fortunately, the candidates weren’t playing along.