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Presidential candidates gobble up new TV season
The poor, pitiful fall TV season continues to be upstaged by presidential politics.
David Letterman, who has had many fun late-night chats with John McCain, is on an anti-McCain crusade since the Republican stiffed “The Late Show” Wednesday night.
McCain canceled a scheduled appearance at the last minute because he said he had to return to Washington, D.C. right away. During the taping of Letterman’s show, which happens at 5:30 p.m., the host learned that McCain actually was a couple of blocks away doing a live interview with CBS News anchor Katie Couric.”
“This smells funny,” a clearly ticked off Letterman told viewers.
And again last night Letterman railed about McCain, telling guest Paris Hilton he thinks McCain must be “losing his marbles.”’
It’s becoming increasingly clear that the dramatic, suspense-filled, who-knows-what’s-happening nature of the campaign is trumping everything from the debut of news series to the return of old favorites. The new stars are not Simon Baker or Christian Slater but John McCain and Barack Obama.
Will there be a debate tonight, as planned by the Presidential Debate Commission and the two campaigns? Apparently so, but it’s 11 a.m. and that could change twice before tonight.
Tonight is the first scheduled presidential debate (at 8 p.m.), and “NewsHour” anchor Jim Lehrer is ready with his questions. The agreed-upon topic was foreign relations and national security. But given the current economic crisis, the economy likely will move front and center. Lehrer is more than capable of switching gears.
McCain had decided Wednesday that he wouldn’t participate in a debate until a bail-out agreement was reached on Capitol Hill. As of early this morning, McCain was still a question mark.
So, one podium or two? An alternative format has been proposed by the commission that would turn an Obama-only debate into more of a town hall meeting, with the audience allowed to submit questions through Lehrer.
But the prospect of Obama having 90 minutes of air time on every single news channel without McCain present would have been a disaster for the Republican. Now McCain says he’s coming.
Stay tuned …
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By austinights
September 26, 2008 1:59 PM | Link to this
Who cares who the next President is going to be - America is gonna get lamblasted either way by either Party in power. It's already happening right now in Congress and the White House - all over TV! I'm starting to learn Chinese, because that is going to be the New World Order.