BARK's Yelps

On this show on CSPAN in the morning a woman sits at a desk. She has a phone on her desk. A chair is to the left of her desk.

Her phone rings from one of three lines. One line is for Democrats, one for Republicans, and one for Independents. She devotes equal time to all three. She does not respond directly to the caller, mostly. She lets them make their point. However long it takes, she gives them. But she lets them make one point. She then thanks them, recaps the question, and asks for the ramifications.

Politicians regularly come on this show. Not the famous one. DeLay won’t go, Craig won’t go. Cheney won’t go. Spitzer won’t go. The ones she brings on are people who are on committees such as the Armed Forces, Judiciary, Agriculture, etc. They work in Washington everyday.

The politician sits in the chair to the left of the desk. He says hi to the host. The host then begins taking calls. Dumb, drunk, cowboys call in and rant about immigration. The host and Politician listen. As soon as he begins to repeat points, or ramble, he is told thank you and hung up on. Not once have I heard a caller exclaim they have something else to say. They get their time.

Then some bleeding heart screams about how Bush is the gravitational center of evil in the universe. As soon as they begin to ramble or repeat points the call is politely ended.

The politician must then answer. The politician is given his time. The politician fields questions by Republicans. The politician says thing that no one even knew politicians could say. I never knew they could say sentences longer than talking points. From what I understand about politicians from O’Reily, Stewart, Colbert, and whichever one the conservative of Hannity and Colmes is, politicians only say 1) Stupid things. 2) Mean things. 3) Inflammatory things. That is all those shows ever show.

People say it is boring. Why? Because they don’t use CGI? Because there are not ten flags waving all over the screen? Because this station believes we are a little older than color coded threat levels? Why is this boring?

As a Poli Sci student I have to wonder what we are in store for when our future analysts, politicians, and lobbyists enjoy pretty graphics more than information.