Word: leno
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Leno is simply ill-equipped to conduct an informative interview of Dole or anyone else of such political stature (and some might add that he's incapable of even making the interview funny). Not that it mattered last week. Dole showed no intention of truly addressing substantive political issues...
Getting booked on the Tonight Show is all about personality, a 15 minute long "mugging" session. A TV chat with the affable Leno has as its paramount goal making the politician look like the sort of person to whom "regular folks" could easily relate...
When Bob Dole jokes with Jay Leno about his disputes with the president, this sends a disturbing message about the nature of Washington. Legitimate political debate is relegated to the realm of humor. Dole can, with an odd sort of detachment, declare that all the fierce debate of Capitol Hill is really just a show, and that after hours he is really a friend of his political enemies. If it is a show, why should the American people take it seriously once the actors reveal it as an illusion? Will the voting public simply forget about the issues underlying political...
...Show and programs of its genre become respectable forums for politicians, it will introduce even more selective pressure in favor of candidates with perniciously worthless traits. Modern candidates must already be photogenic, and in most cases, rich. Now such candidates must be able to trade one-liners with Jay Leno...
...Leno makes his living in part by harping on the foibles and pecadilloes of the country's leaders. He may even serve a useful function, reigning in the hubris of power with the power of humor. But when those same leaders are complicit, they make sure that politics are about these embarrassing insults, slips, miscalculations, and chicaneries...