your problem is that your watching Faux News. Check out Up with Chris Hayes on the weekends or anyone Rachel Maddow has on. I've never heard of the two you mentioned above. They can't be very important or informed.

of followers. Too afraid to offend.

and the last thing they want is to have a strong Democratic surrogate to defend President Obama.

What are you watching Faux News Channel? Don't you know that when you do, you support their fixing the viewership numbers?

Their tactic is one of uncivilized debate; just scream the loudest and over-talk your opponent. We were raised better than that.

Mandatory insurance when we needed HEALTHCARE.

Austerity when we need a wholesale WORKS PROGRAM.

Hard to blame Debbie for not being able to turn a sow's ear into a silk purse, live, on Fox.

for years that Repugs all rally around the daily talking point. I forget where I read it quite some time ago but almost daily the daily dialog is posted to Faux, Rush, Hannity etc. Maybe someone could enlighten us as to where I found that or who does this.
But clearly, the repugs stick to topic and message.
The dems are too busy comparing their pink tutus to have any clear message and lest we forget, the media is right-wing now so you won't be hearing many good Democratic messages from that arena, unless of course some dem says or does something really stupid, then you'll hear about it for years.

As others have pointed out, it isn't as clear and stark as Fox News manages to arrange it, but in a simplified way, when you consider Republicans as the authoritarians and Democrats as the intellectual parties, you get those results.

Authoritarians are very good at bluster, debate (not classical, but the kind on TV), and are very comfortable ignoring shading and making every issue binary. Intellectuals excel at sarcasm and humor, dissecting an issue (but not quickly as required on TV), and it is sometimes almost funny how easy it can be to get a liberal bogged down in nuance.

Of course, these are "in general" traits, but TV very much reinforces these differences.

It can be frustrating to see these scenarios play out, (and I'm sure Repugs are frustrated at the humor inbalance) but the reality is that very little of this game is effectively persuasive. The audience watching the talking head argument shows (especially the ones with "stooge" liberals) are already conservatives seeking reassurance and the audience for comedy (TDS, RealTime, etc) are liberals already.

TV is pretty effective at hardening positions, but because it isn't good at getting beyond the surface, it doesn't do a very good job of changing people's perspectives.

They create the scenario, the poutrage, incorporate the Luntzism of the day and then bounce it off the head of a well-paid punching bag set up to perform the task as the token liberal.
It's why you never see them being called on any of the BS they throw. The game is rigged from the outset. Propaganda at its finest.

For some reason, our talking heads don't "get" the concept of sound bites.

But we'd damn well better start learning.

Bake

country' and mean it, while the GOP if Obama wins will continue to do nothing but obstruct him. National dems are push overs.

in his first year. The liberal host never seems to challenge them when two words would suffice: "filibuster proof". Whether it's on Sharpton's show or Bashir's, the unwritten rule seems to be that Republicans are able to get away with this deception when arguing that Obama hasn't accomplished anything.

There is no liberal media. Not since Cronkite retired. And that inv cludes that boot licker Russert and his nepotism, I mean his son.

on one of those shows? When he is, he does exactly what you want, and exposes them. He is not invited back.