CSotD: Let’s you and her fight
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Stuart Carlson explains the past week's coverage.
I'm not sure which to be less forgiving of in political commentary: Unthinking vitriol or sheer laziness.
The notion that editors stir things up "to sell papers" is nonsense, but the analogy of a rock band is not: It isn't a matter of how many tickets you sell, it's a matter of how much more rewarding it is to play to a full house.
And nothing fills the seats like a fist fight.
So a brief flare-up between Sanders and Clinton becomes a major story, not because anyone is trying to "sell papers" but because they want to fill seats, or gain clicks or simply sit in the middle of a dust-up, bloviating and commentating and providing play-by-play coverage.
Thus it is that a roughly 9,000 word interview, touching on financial reform, Middle East policy, drones, torture, gun laws, trade imbalance, bipartisanship, education and more, boils down to about 100 words revealing that it's been a long time since Sanders rode the subway alone:
Daily News: I know you've got to go in a second. When was the last time you rode the subway? Are you gonna a campaign in the subway?
Sanders: Actually we rode the subway, Mike, when we were here? About a year ago? But I know how to ride the subways. I’ve been on them once or twice.
Daily News: Do you really? Do you really? How do you ride the subway today?
Sanders: What do you mean, "How do you ride the subway?"
Daily News: How do you get on the subway today?
Sanders: You get a token and you get in.
Daily News: Wrong.
Sanders: You jump over the turnstile.
Daily News: We would like our photographer to be there when you jump over the turnstile.
And, BTW, this Gotham-centric fascination not only skips over how little importance Sanders placed on that particular question, but also skips over the equally crucial-to-the-future-of-the-republic revelation that the unnamed spokesperson for the Editorial Board of the NY Daily News (But apparently CEO Bill Holiber) doesn't know the difference between a city and a state, or between a mayor and a governor.
Daily News: Having lived in Vermont quite long myself and a fellow Vermonter.
Sanders: Where’d you live?
Daily News: Well, I have a place in Morristown.
Sanders: Yeah, sure.
Daily News: But when you were mayor of Vermont…
Sanders: Burlington.
Daily News: Mayor of Burlington, I'm sorry. I guess you're mayor of Vermont too.
The subway token thing is as ridiculous and irrelevant as the time GWHB was mocked for his interest in scanners in stores, but not only did it become the Big Takeaway from that interview, but Clinton mocked it, noting that the system had turned to Metro Cards at the midpoint of her first term in the Senate, a time when Sanders had only been in Congress for 13 years.
She then tried to demonstrate her status as a real, gen-you-wine New Yorker and, as Dana Summers and the NYDN's own Bill Bramhall point out, proved that she is no more used to traveling the streets sans-entourage than Bernie.
Which I would say offsets his misinterpreting as some sort of disparagement of his qualifications her remarks that he isn't a true Democrat and hasn't done his homework.
What it doesn't offset, however, is the toxic impact of professional commentators who are either too lazy to bother reading the entire interview, or not honest enough to put things in proper context.
Not to say simple humor can't be good analysis
There are a lot of cartoons floating around about the GOP turning to Cruz as their last, best hope, and I'm sure you could write a long, well-reasoned commentary on how the negativity of their campaign left them without a moderate to turn to, but Steve Sack pretty well sums it up.
Not only is this funny and an accurate insight, but he may have saved himself some work: This is a non-partisan setting he'll be able to use again several times between now and Election Day.
And speaking of olden days and simple pleasures
Frazz addresses one of my favorite topics, which is cultural touchstones that are approaching 23 Skidoo status.
However, let me pick some nits here:
Indeed, I had heard the expression "23 Skidoo" when I was Caulfield's age, and I knew things were sometimes "the cat's pajamas" and even "the bee's knees," despite the fact that those things no longer had any real resonance and even my parents used them ironically (though, of course, it would be a half-century before Gen X invented irony).
Worse, however, were the Warner Brothers cartoons that referenced people like Ted Lewis and Al Jolson, or featured chickens swooning over Frankie, since getting those gags required knowing that outdated stuff, which nobody my age did.
So I'm sympathetic, yes, but I'll bet Caulfield's parents have, in fact, seen an episode or two of "The Beverly Hillbillies" in reruns, and perhaps even enough of them to know that the black-and-white ones can be kind of funny and the ones in color are worthless.
In any case, I'd say those later generations got the better part of this particular earworm, since not only are Flatt & Scruggs pretty good musicians but those of us in the proper generation to remember it firsthand are also stuck with this ineradicable fragment:
Now come along and visit with the Clampett family
As they learn the simple pleasures of the hills of Beverly,
And that includes the products of our sponsor of the week:
Those good ol' folks from Kellogg's
Kellogg's of Battle Creek!
K-E-double L-O-double good
Kellogg's best to you!
Nor is that the worst:
Mike Peterson has posted his "Comic Strip of the Day" column every day since 2010. His opinions are his own, but we welcome comments either agreeing or in opposition.
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