I was only half kidding when I tweeted last night during the first presidential debate:
Suddenly the liberal media line is that these debates don't really matter. "What matters is what we say matters."
— Joel Johannesen (@JoelJohannesen) October 4, 2012
[https://twitter.com/JoelJohannesen/status/253697409161523200]
But lo and behold, today, this:
…And they were serious. Their opening paragraph is laughable, as just prior to the debates, the mainstream media was opining to anyone who would listen (all 46 Americans) that the debates were game-changers and dead serious and they matter more than anything on the face of the Earth, including — especially including — vetting Barack Obama.
As America argues about who won last night’s debate, it’s hard not to wonder: “Does this change anything?” Quite a few politicos and statisticians seems to be convinced of the same answer: “Not really.”
Oh dear. How embarrassing for them all. No wonder nobody takes the lamestream media seriously anymore.
And when suddenly pretending the debates don’t matter, naturally, as if I had to tell you, the very predictable, liberal-obsessed Obamamania mainstream media is tripping all over themselves in their effort to avoid actually declaring Mitt Romney the clear winner in last night’s debate, despite debates not mattering anyway. See, they “don’t matter” so much that they can’t even bring themselves to declare Romney the winner. Had their man Barack Obama won, you bet they’d be doing exactly that: declaring Obama the “clear winner” using every font at their disposal including “Greek Columns,” and emphasizing how much “debates matter.”
Many are today reducing the impact of the Romney win as much as possible, using simplistic boxing match analogies to disguise the facts of life. Mitt Romney “came out swinging” is a media favorite in spite of its massive overuse.
For his part, former CBS reporter and now a more enlightened, and therefore conservative, reasonable, and thoughtful guy, best-selling author Bernard Goldberg went right with that in his excellent piece at his BernardGoldberg.com. Here’s a snippet:
“If the debate we just saw were a boxing match, Barack Obama would have been staggering all over the ring. He was the fighter who hasn’t had a tough opponent in a long time, and he didn’t know how to handle the blows he was taking. This was a unanimous decision for the challenger, Mitt Romney… “
Others in the media went with sporting analogies in lieu of actually declaring Romney the winner, claiming only that “some” or “Obama supporters” have “indicated” that “perhaps” Romney came out “slightly ahead” and that Obama didn’t “bring his A-game.” (Oh and “debates don’t matter anyway, wink!”).
The inestimable Charles Krauthammer was alone in making the factual “Romney won” declaration, while also using a detailed sports metaphor score:
Here’s a snippet:
I thought Romney won and Romney won big, he won by two touchdowns. You know, when a challenger just steps up on the stage that already gives him stature. But when he performs the way Romney did, I think it really changes things. It doesn’t change the game, but it changes the momentum. …
… So I think he just didn’t hold his own, he showed himself to be the equal of the President. And in fact, if you counted it on points, the way you would of a fight, you’d say he won by far the majority of the rounds. …
Let’s be clear: Romney won the debate. And debates matter. But as a trick moving forward, if you ever have any doubt about who won, and whether debates matter, if the media don’t say Romney won when he did, or they call it a “draw,” and they declare that “debates don’t matter,” it means Romney won, and debates matter.
PTBC was founded by Mr. Johannesen in 2000.
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