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False attacks

Ronald Reagan, after having endured Jimmy Carter’s endless stream of attacks, answered during a debate “there you go again.” This landed a haymaker on Carter’s re-election effort and ensured Reagan’s triumph.

During this year there have been many attacks launched, particularly on Donald Trump, but also some on Hillary Clinton that have been trivial or at least not clarifying on what either would do as president.

Except the assaults that have been led by the media, whose role this year is mainly to drag down both nominees. From George Will to Katherine Parker to the whole staff of CNN and what is left of the Conservative press, the goal is to obscure the important issues. It has been billed as a cage match and this is how they propose to cover the event.

But perhaps the greatest entry into the hall of shame was provided by Matt Lauer, NBC’s hyper-energetic host of the Today Show. At a venue known as the Commander-in-Chief forum, he asked Hillary about her e-mails and Trump about anything but the role of leading the U.S. military. Lauer baited Hillary and debated Trump, which led to the usual fire but no light. In this case, both Clinton and Trump were to be sympathized with, victims of inanity run amok.

Perhaps the lords and masters of our minds believe the Democratic and Republican voters were so dumb that their selections deserve only scorn and condemnation. Maybe Lauer or the other weather guys could have done better. This is the usual pattern, which candidate would you love to hang with is better than speculating on what they would actually do as president. Every morning show reflects this banal approach. Remember the question of who Americans would prefer to have a beer with; the answer was George W. Bush and he does not imbibe alcohol.

Or consider the embarrassment of Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski as they interviewed glassy-eyed Gary Johnson on Morning Joe. Mike Barnicle asked Johnson a soft ball question on a key city in Syria only to get “What is Aleppo?” as an answer. Johnson, a former New Mexico governor, was held up by Scarborough and Brzezinski as a learned alternative to Donald Trump. Turned out he made Dan Quayle look like Albert Einstein. Guess ole Mitt Romney struck out again, having given Sir Gary the dumbfounded shoutout in a tweet just before the interview. You can bet that Trump knows not only where Aleppo is located, but its importance. So much for vetting by the media.

It is ironic that compared to CNN and MSNBC, Fox has seemed like PBS.

CNN is so partisan that it is doubtful that it is helping Hillary. Indeed, they do not really help her get the message out.

One cannot say the same thing about Fox, who allows its candidate, Donald Trump, to speak for himself. Indeed the news media, in aggregate, has helped itself and not the American people.

Any Walter Cronkite’s, Eric Sevareid’s or Edward R. Murrow’s available?

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