Posted on 06/20/2019 12:14:03 PM PDT by Hojczyk
Call this one a Kinsleyan gaffe from NBC’s Al Roker, who makes the mistake of saying what nearly everyone else is thinking. His network will host the two-night, dual-round Democratic debate extravaganza, which premiers a week from tonight in prime time. NBC’s betting that the rest of TV Land will be more enthusiastic than its own on-air commenter:
NBC’s “Today” show co-host Al Roker dismissed the 2020 presidential candidates who will participate in the first night of the two-day presidential debate Wednesday morning.
The first night of the debate, which is scheduled for next Wednesday, will be headlined by Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke. The second night features former Vice President Joe Biden and independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Roker said the second night is “the main event,” before adding, “Well you look at the first group, who cares?” Roker’s kidding, of course — NBC cares, and very deeply, about committing two nights of prime time to this mess. Last cycle’s Democratic debates were ratings poison, in part because the DNC did its best to make sure they didn’t attract too many eyeballs. Donald Trump made the Republican debates into Imperial Roman spectacles, drawing yuuuuge ratings but also creating more problems for the RNC and its media partners. With a similar number of people on stage, NBC and the DNC hope they can create the same level of interest without the same number of problems.
Good luck with that. In my column today at The Week, I credit the DNC with learning a lesson from its own mistakes in the 2015-16 primary cycle. However, they’re repeating a big mistake that Republicans made, and perhaps in doing so playing right into Donald Trump’s hands:
(Excerpt) Read more at hotair.com ...
Yes. The media.
Al Roker undermining his own network and their programming?? What the heck???
I haven’t been watching NBC or MSNBC, but, I would have thought they would by hyping these Democrat debates quite a bit.
I doubt they have any particular ideas that may pass for marketable policy.
Nobody is fighting for the middle ground and the fringes don't sell well, so this should be "fun" (painful) to watch.
No.
Heck, I’ll watch it, (it beats cleaning the cat litter boxes. But just barely).
Plus it should be a real good snark-fest here on FR.
We all do.
Because Trump will be liveblogging it!
That truly is Must See TV!
Yes, I care! It’s going to be hilarious and don’t want to miss it!
If they are going to have a clown show they should have them arrive in VW clown cars.
There is one interest with respect to the 2nd tier. Because they are underdogs they will all make outlandish claims and promises (OK, I realize that this is what they’ve been doing all along!) that will increase pressure on the “sure bets” (Bwaahaaa!) to exceed.
I’m hoping for a world-class meltdown ;’}
I’ll care if Trump live tweets it.
Heh heh heh.
Al nope or any that follow.
I’d like to see them arrive in BMW Isettas, myself.
I will only watch it if Trump live tweets with his comments
Some talking head pointed out that they put Warren up against all the lightweights so they can claim "Warren sweeps first debate".
I'll tape the first for entertainment purposes and just skip through the various "I'll give you this for free" sales pitches .
More Reps than dems will watch the debates, we love clowns.
For me, watching the DNC debates is still worse than spending time draining my RV black water tank.
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