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capri0mniWhen last I posted here, I was looking forward to hearing the president's speech on his Iraq policy, if only out of morbid curiosity (hey, it couldn't be any more disgusting than watching people retch over fermented cow eyeballs on Fear Factor, could it? ... no, wait... don't answer that).
But when I turned on the tv at 8, and started flipping through the channels, there was not one political pundit to be seen.... not even on PBS. So, I thought maybe the speech was going to start at 9. The hour rolled by, and still, none of that special music that announced a news event. WTF?
So, yesterday, I did a Google search to find out why. According to this AP article, the broadcast networks are only expected to carry the president's addresses if he asks them to, and, this time, Bush didn't ask.
Gee. All thepropaganda political commentary about the speach on Monday morning pointed out how Bush was making this speech to win back the hearts and minds of the American people, and that's why he was making during prime time, and broadcasting it to a (insert trumpet fanfare) National Audience. All he had to do was ask.
Of course, the networks could have chosen to air the speech anyway. But Monday was one of the last nights of the May ratings sweeps period, and to do so would have meant losing all that juicy advertising money, and all-important ratings clout that will bring in more money next season. But I doubt any of them would have risked being labeled 'unpatriotic' by denying the president airtime if he had asked for it.
You think these factors didn't occur to the advisors in the Bush administration, or that someone just forgot to make the necessary phone calls in time? ... Me neither. If I didn't know any better, I'd say the president wanted his speech to be trumped by fermented cow eyeballs.
But when I turned on the tv at 8, and started flipping through the channels, there was not one political pundit to be seen.... not even on PBS. So, I thought maybe the speech was going to start at 9. The hour rolled by, and still, none of that special music that announced a news event. WTF?
So, yesterday, I did a Google search to find out why. According to this AP article, the broadcast networks are only expected to carry the president's addresses if he asks them to, and, this time, Bush didn't ask.
Gee. All the
Of course, the networks could have chosen to air the speech anyway. But Monday was one of the last nights of the May ratings sweeps period, and to do so would have meant losing all that juicy advertising money, and all-important ratings clout that will bring in more money next season. But I doubt any of them would have risked being labeled 'unpatriotic' by denying the president airtime if he had asked for it.
You think these factors didn't occur to the advisors in the Bush administration, or that someone just forgot to make the necessary phone calls in time? ... Me neither. If I didn't know any better, I'd say the president wanted his speech to be trumped by fermented cow eyeballs.
