In a nice bit of television today Elizabeth Edwards called in to hardball to politely ask Ann Coulter to stop making personal attacks against candidates. It reminded me of John Stewart's Crossfire appearance where he too asked that commentators raise the level of political dialogue.
Now, I'm not sure if these requests really do anything to improve the level of political discussion or not, but it definitely draws attention to the theatrical quality of some of this political entertainment (in case there is anyone left who doesn't think Ann Coulter is theatrical, I suppose). Perhaps pointing out how unproductive personal attacks are is fruitful in itself. If nothing else, it helps politicians separate themselves from entertainers by emphasizing their own seriousness.
Barack Obama is still my candidate, but I'm growing more and more fond of Ms Edwards.
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4 comments:
...the problem is that if Ann Coulter stopped her personal attacks she would probably be out of a job before long. ;)
I also read in the Washington Blade recently that Ms. Edwards spoke at a gay pride event somewhere last week in explicit support of same-sex marriage, even though her husband does not endorse full marriage rights. We'll see how it plays out in the long run, I tend to like her, but still have reservations of him, as with all the top cantidates... I'm undecided as yet.
I agree Jon - if only Elizabeth was the candidate!
Actually, sometimes these calls are effective. After Jon Stewart's rant on Crossfire a couple years ago, the show was canceled and the hosts were fired. I think Tucker has his own show on msnbc now, but it's probably horrible.
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