| President Bush never asked the networks to cover his speech tonight. Had he, they would have. That's how it works.
We'll find out tomorrow that millions watched the speech anyway, on one of the cable channels. The networks don't control access anymore. They can only look like they are trying to, to those who care enough to want to watch. Granted, there are many millions more who would just as soon see their favorite comedy, and the networks chose to appeal to them. But that audience is not especially rich in voters, so for political purposes they can be discounted. To people who care about politics -- and who are not rabid Democrats -- the networks come off looking like jerks, and partisan jerks at that. Which is what Bush intended. Part of the symbolism of doing the speech in Cincinnati was to get his flyover country constituency watching on the tube, away from the New Yawk librels who run the network TV. No need for the networks, there's nobody here but us Americans. |
Yes, and if he had, the Democrats would have gotten an 'equal time' speech right afterwards. This way, they got nuthin'.