MSNBC’s broadcast of last night’s Democratic presidential candidate’s debate was the second most-watched programin its time slot. With 7.9 million viewers it was bested only by American Idol , making it the most watched televised debate of this season and the most watched program in the cable net’s history.
That last ain’t saying much, of course. Back when I was writing about the media for Salon, I would often hear from Brian Williams, who was then hosting the network’s ten pm news hour, just because I mentioned him in my column. A hundred thousand viewers was a big night for him; it was the Lonely Guy’s network, a comforter for political wonks who liked to curl up in front of its news shows with a box of chow fun and a cold can of ginger ale.
Cable news has been enjoying a huge spike in ratings this year, thanks in part to the surprising rise of Obama and the protracted fall of Hillary Clinton. I was flying to California last Thursday, during the Texas debate on CNN, and at least half of the seat-back TVs were tuned to that debate as well. (The others were watching college hoops.) Arguably, any flight from NY to SF is probably not a representative cross-section of the electorate, and it was Jet Blue, not Jet Red — but still, voters (and viewers) are undeniably fired up, as the man says. No wonder the GOP is worried.
Last night’s was the 20th Democratic debate of this political season and though I had resolved not to watch one more, I couldn’t help myself. I had told one of my students earlier that the only way HRC could change the course of events would be to pull out a gun and shoot her opponent on stage, and while things never quite reached that level, it was far from the hand-holding successful therapy session the Texas debate had been. In the evening’s most bizarre moment, Clinton even quoted a Saturday Night Live skit which made fun of the press for kowtowing to Obama (“Save me, Tina Fey, save me!”). But this time nobody laughed.
As much as I love a good fight, I found this last stand rather grim. It reminded me of the second act of Groundhog Day. Bill Murray long ago realized that he will live this day over and over but now that he has hustled every available woman in town and even tried killing himself, it is no longer fun. Hearing Clinton accuse Obama of abandoning 15 million Americans with his health care plan is just this side of waking up to Sonny and Cher singing “I Got You, Babe” for all eternity.
Their revels now are ended. Though Clinton didn’t pull a piece she did (as promised) hit the senator from Illinois with everything but the kitchen sink. Her accusation that he failed to chair hearings into the military’s handling of the war in Afghanistan may have some traction (the Clinton-friendly Salon thought it was worth a story), even though Obama admitted it and even said he was too busy running for president. (Oh, that old honesty trick!) Then she tried to snaggle him with the Farrakhan endorsement, which again only resulted in Obama saying he rejected and denounced the Nation of Islam’s leader. Now what?
The elephant boy picture that someone in her camp sent to Matt Drudge seems to have backfired, unless it was merely intended to remind people that he is black. That job will soon fall to Republicans (some of whom don’t even know how to pronounced “Kumbiya”) though they’ll need more than a turban to make people care.