OK I'll just say it: the dem establishment wants to lose this election

[customerserviceguy]

357. Thank you

Your post seemed to ask for a reasoned discussion, and I always welcome that.

Yes, corporate power is like death and taxes, we will always have it with us. If anything, it's found more and better ways (Citizens United) to survive and thrive. And they will back anybody from any party that they think they can use.

It would be tough for the President if both were indeed in the race, and that's why I think that Biden is waiting for something fatal for Hillary's campaign to come up before he throws his hat in the ring. For now, he can play the Hamlet game, stoking interest, letting the other candidates know that he could swing into active mode, yet be able to back away from the whole thing if his moment does not arrive. I have a feeling that he's connected with people in the Justice Department who are leaking inside information to him about the email server investigation. I would not doubt that his son, Beau Biden, had just such a pipeline.

As for the GOP'ers getting airtime, they are only preaching to their own choirs. It's just light entertainment at this point, watching The Donald mugging for the cameras in the split screen every time his name gets mentioned. I mean, who remembers who won "American Idol" or "Dancing With the Stars" from last season? By this time next year, the debates of 2015 will be a distant memory, except for a few gaffes. The mushy middle is not even paying attention to them, beyond the fodder for joke material on the late-night talk shows.

As for the 'traditional rules', those were bound to change. We have a society that has, in a century, evolved from newspapers, to radio, to broadcast television, to cable television, to the Internet, to having YouTube videos literally in our pockets. Every time one of those innovations became widespread, the rules have changed. I specifically remember the analysis of the Kennedy-Nixon debate. Those who heard it on radio thought Nixon had won, those who saw it on television (and by 1960, a large number of American households had TV) thought Kennedy had won. Why would we expect anything different from the Twitter age?

Thanks again for a thoughtful discussion!