Yelling and screaming is the only thing that gets attention politically.."Squirrels"

[Peacetrain]

I do not know what has happened to us as a nation.. our attention span is nonexistent.. everyone carries their brain in their hip pocket or purse.. Anything over 120 characters and we lose 80% of the population..

We are tuning into a bunch of squirrels following bigger squirrels going around in a cage chasing our tails..


The press is especially bad at this, because they are so damned bored.. so off the wall people who are irrational get the most attention.. it shakes them out of their doldrums.. and unfortunately that is what we get spoon fed..

I have never seen anything more embarrassing as this embrace of Donald Trump by media types who just a few weeks ago were dismissing him.. his irrational behavior and inability to communicate a plan or idea has them so excited.. (or did till he went off on Megan Kelley)

I do not want the loudest person in the room running the country.. I want the one with the most thought out plans and information..

Squirrels belong in the trees and yard.. not in places of power..

[nashville_brook]

1. are they really embracing him, though -- or are they gawking?

i totally agree that irrationality seems to have taken hold. but, i think the electorate is nutty right now, and the media is reflecting that narrative.

the crazier Trump and the rest of the Clown Car are, the better we look. huzzah.


i'm actually happy the attention is off the Dems. gives us a chance to tidy up

[Peacetrain]

2. That is a darned good point!

[nashville_brook]

4. this first debate is going to be indelibly etched in the public mind

no one will remember the 3rd or 7th debates. they'll remember the first. and they won't remember what was said, instead they remember how they reacted in their gut to the candidates.

[The_Commonist]

3. I don't think this is anything new in American history...

...or in human history, for that matter.

Societies have always had to deal with swaying the Mob. "Bread and Circuses," after all, goes back to Roman times.

We had a brief American Golden Age that lasted from maybe 1948 until (I believe) the summer of 1969. True, we've gone nowhere but backwards since then, but I don't think we are any worse off than during several other times in American history. The problem now is mainly due to the internet, things run at hyperspeed. It's much easier to get a half a dozen really negative impressions of the world in a matter of a few seconds, than ever before. And, this is the nature of a Democracy. Would you prefer some other system? "Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others."

Don't be mad at the squirrels...