Dave Ailes, one of my late, great former sports editors, had some pet phrases to express disdain for an event.
He might say that if it were being held in his backyard, he would pull down the blinds.
Other times, he’d say he was too busy to do something because he had to wax the cat, which curiously has come to be a euphemism for removing pubic hair or, according to an urban dictionary online, giving someone an outlandish excuse to avoid dealing with them.
Ailes was ahead of his time.
Were he still with us, dispensing his bon mots, Ailes would be pulling down the blinds regarding tonight’s presidential debate. And I’m right there with him.
First, these so-called presidential debates are jokes in general, with “moderators” who often are pushing an agenda via their questions.
I certainly expect that to be the case with tonight’s CNN example. The so-called Clinton News Network long ago ceded any semblance of impartiality, and with that, most of its audience.
And so we come to tonight’s debate on CNN, with Jake Tapper and the aptly named Dana BASH running the show.
That Trump even agreed to this venue seems to have been a mistake, not that debates on other networks promise much more in the way of even-handed treatment due to overwhelming mainstream media bias and/or ineptitude.
Perhaps realizing the error, Trump and his surrogates have been out ahead of the event attempting to note the biased moderators, particularly Tapper.
One Trump proxy even appeared on a CNN interview and promptly had her microphone cut off because the host didn’t approve of pointing out the biased nature of the debate moderators.
Understand that, as reported by the New York Post, Tapper has likened Trump to Hitler, called him a “desperate electoral loser,” a spreader of “Russian propaganda” and accused him of trying to ‘kill democracy.”
All of these are straight from the Democratic Party playbook.
As for BASH, she’s far from a down-the-middle political person.
Expect the debate to unfold on an uneven basis with Biden being asked to talk about his favorite flavor of ice cream, or the great success of his regime (all with straight faces on the mugs of the moderators).
Meanwhile, Trump will be challenged to prove he’s not Hitler, not a desperate electoral loser, not the would-be slayer of democracy.
As a side note, Trump wants the debate contestants drug-tested beforehand. The Biden camp, predictably, says no way, Jose.
Expect Clueless Joe to be hopping around like a racehorse, perhaps fueled by Adderall, which would show up on a drug test.
Bottom line, I will pass on the live event and take my cues from trusted analysts and pertinent video clips sure to be available after the fact.
Sam Ross Jr's site 