One last thought (maybe) on the debate:

This episode, as viewed the prism of George, reiterates a couple ideas that have been bugging me for a while.  It's the same feeling I get when I see Karl Rove playing the role of pundit and yukking it up with whatever shill has volunteered to represent the left side of whatever valuable thing is suddenly being made worthless by their discussion.

In a week or so, on his show, George will make a joke about the debate, about his performance, and the public reaction.  James Carville and David Brooks will laugh, maybe exchange high fives.  And thus, this whole thing will be forgotten.  At least by them, and really, that's what matters here.

Because, at the end of the day, the people who are arbitrating our national debate aren't that concerned about it.  Or not in the way we want them to be at least.  They're rich, they've got ratings and readers and dinner parties and tickets in the front row at Yankee games.  They've proudly got "friends on both sides of the aisle." 

It doesn't matter to them who wins the election--either way, they're fine.  They hide behind an invisible cloak of neutrality, and what we all choose to call liberal or conservative bias is actually neither.  It's professional bias.

They're biased toward this whole congenial and sober affair they call political reporting, and we, the viewers, the amateurs, are lucky to have them around.  Otherwise, how would we even know what to think? 

Unfortunately, they're partly right, and that's what makes them all the more dangerous, and what has led us to this point, asking people if the "believe in the flag" on national television.  (Poor woman.  Shame on ABC.  Treating her like a Survivor contestant, unedited and provoked for "better" television.)

Whatever thing was in George that led him to the Clintons, and a liberal cause, has not been sidestepped, but rather, swallowed whole by the beast of television celebrity.  What Updike called a "mask that eats into the face."  And we, the viewers, will write letters and complain but George won't lose one moment of sleep over us.  So long as his bosses are happy, and his co-stars are friendly, and they're all one big professional family, he'll be fine.  It's a one-sided relationship.  We care so they don't have to.

And now...the Sunday Funnies.