It's been reported that John McCain will be a guest on TWwGS, but that's only a side story to me. The punditry (except Keith and Rachel) are putting the ABC backlash on whining Obama supporters. Perhaps there's an element to that, but the issue is not unfair treatment of one particular candidate over another. The issue is shoddy journalism that dumbs down the national discourse.
Watching today's "Race for the White House" on MSNBC we see the same criticisms of whining that are chirped by the tabloid punditry all over the media landscape. David Gregory doesn't think any of the things that were discussed in the first part of the debate were tabloid. Rachel Maddow is pushing back against his assertions and finds herself ganged up on by Harold "DLC" Ford, Jr. and John Harwood, finally being told by Gregory that she's said enough.
The pundits love their TV jobs more than they love their profession. They love the showbiz more than the journalism. They love politics more than they love democracy. They love the ideology of corporatism more than citizenship.
Tell the people at ABC that we aren't going to drop this easily. Tell them that it's not about Barack Obama. It's about journalism and the 4th Estate. Tell them that tabloid journalism isn't journalism. Go to the comments section for the upcoming 4/20 edition of TWwGS and hit them again. Do it every week until they change their tone and focus. It's our democracy and they are our 4th Estate. Hold them to it.
While you're at it, hit MSNBC and Race for the White House. Don't let them paint things their way. Make them acknowledge our feelings as democratic rather than partisan.
UPDATE: Add Hardball blog Hardblogger to your agenda. They thought the debate was great.