'Moyers Journal' renews one's faith in the process
Just when I was about to entirely write off the generally abysmal TV coverage of the presidential campaign, the happiest of accidents renewed my faith in the medium -- at least one small segment of it.
I was visiting my folks downstate last weekend, and being a couple of political animals they insisted we watch "Bill Moyers Journal" on PBS. (The series airs locally at 9:30 p.m. today on WTTW Channel 11.) Now, a couple of things. First, my parents are bipartisan: My mother's a committed Democrat, but my father was a Republican committeeman for many years. Second, although I have long admired Moyers and his work as both a reporter and a commentator, I really figured he had told me all he could at this point. I wasn't expecting any revelations.
What I got instead was the best, the most insightful, the most fair and even-tempered look at the campaign I'd seen all year on TV -- all delivered in an hour with no bluster, no political axes grinding, no agitation-cycle spin and no snarky sense of humor. In short, I had my eyes opened.
First, Moyers addressed criticism of his interview the previous week with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. He didn't try to make political hay from Wright's infamous remarks; he tried to understand them in context with the black experience. Then he got to the political point.
"Behold the double standard," he said. "John McCain sought the endorsement of John Hagee, the war-mongering, Catholic-bashing Texas preacher who said the people of New Orleans got what they deserved for their sins. But no one suggests McCain shares Hagee's delusions."
Make no mistake: Moyers worked for LBJ, and whether you think "liberal" is a compliment or a curse, he fits the description. He went on to interview Christopher Cerf and Victor Navasky about their brutally ironic new book, "Mission Accomplished! Or How We Won the War in Iraq," and if it wasn't disdainfully snarky in reciting the various lies politicians and commentators have told about the U.S. invasion of Iraq, it was determinedly tongue-in-check, especially as they discussed their "Institute of Expertology."
Yet best of all was Moyers' interview with Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. She dissected the most recent campaign ads and TV appearances of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, and she was spot-on in identifying their media tactics. Obama, following the example of Ronald Reagan in 1980, was fighting charges of extremism by attempting to "retell the biography," stressing his roots and naturalness. Clinton, by contrast, was emphasizing her presidential toughness by going into the lion's den with Bill O'Reilly on the Fox News Channel.
"This week, both of those candidates moved into venues that did exactly what they needed to do," Jamieson said. "The formats reinforced what they needed to argue." And before you think the whole show was tilted toward the Democrats, she went on to point out how John McCain's remark that the United States may need to maintain a "presence" in Iraq for 100 years "is being routinely taken out of context" in Democratic attack ads.
It was thoughtful, probing political analysis of a level not even Jim Lehrer's "News-Hour" attains. Compare that with the candidates' appearances on the Sunday-morning news shows this week, which found Obama once again haggling over Wright with Tim Russert on NBC's "Meet the Press," and Clinton being grilled ad nauseam over her gas-tax "holiday" by George Stephanopoulos on ABC's "This Week."
There is immense interest in this year's presidential campaign. Candidate debates have produced record-high ratings on MSNBC and drawn more than 10 million viewers to ABC, which would make it a hit show if regularly scheduled. Unfortunately, given the miserable "gotcha" questions Stephanopoulos and Charlie Gibson resorted to in that debate, I don't think anyone could watch such a series every week, and that's if the candidates would ever want to do it again.
Moyers' "Journal," however, reminds a viewer -- and a voter -- there are serious issues at play here, that it's not just attack ads and knee-jerk gotcha politics. It puts one back in the process, instead of just making the campaign one long reality-TV competition. After all, we've already got shows determining the top "Survivor" and "America's Next Top Model." The presidential election ought to be something more.
In the air
Brad Pitt is temporarily like Achilles in "Troy."
Neil Patrick Harris and Britney Spears bedevil Ted in "How I Met Your Mother."
The 3
Gabba gabba hey!
WBEZ 91.5-FM "Sound Opinions" hosts Greg Kot and Jim Derogatis hold a screening of the Ramones' classic teensploitation movie lampoon "Rock 'n' Roll High School" at 8 p.m. today at the Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport Ave., Chicago. Mary Woronov, the former Andy Warhol acolyte who played Principal Togar, will take questions with the hosts afterward. Admission is $10, $9 for Chicago Public Radio members. "Sound Opinions" airs at 8 p.m. today and 11 a.m. Saturday on 'BEZ.
Sidekick plays host
Shia LaBeouf, the sidekick in the new "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," plays host to NBC's "Saturday Night Live" at 10:30 p.m. on WMAQ Channel 5. My Morning Jacket is the musical guest.
The Brit is back
Britney Spears returns to CBS' "How I Met You Mother" at 7:30 p.m. Monday on WBBM Channel 2. Having been rebuffed in her crush on Ted, her Abby character and Neil Patrick Harris' Barney decide to hook up in order to make him jealous.
Waste Watcher's choice
Roll over, Homer
Hollywood pretty boy Brad Pitt is the Greek hero Achilles in the 2004 period action film "Troy." Amazingly, Homer's timeless epic poem stands up to the star treatment. It's at 7 p.m. today on AMC.