Desperately Seeking Fluff: Some pundits want nothing but sound bites.

By Rob Garver

Four years ago, when Al Gore and George W. Bush left the stage after the first of three presidential debates, the consensus among viewers polled by the TV networks was that the vice president had beaten the Texas governor. In the words of Hardball host Chris Matthews, Gore had “cleaned the other guy’s clock.”

But within a few days, opinion began to shift, as pundits like Matthews focused relentlessly on the fact that Gore had sighed too much.

When last night’s presidential debate ended, there was little doubt among viewers who had won; the networks’ in-house quick-polling operations all gave John Kerry the win by sizeable margins.

But there were also signs that the pattern of 2000 was beginning to repeat itself, as television commentators groped for an overly simple theme to use in describing the debate -- and the theme they were looking for had little to do with the substance of the discussion.
(much more)
http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewWeb&articleId=8695
Really outstanding piece, and maybe why I'm not jumping up and down quite as hard as others here. If the link doesn't work because of the ? in the middle, go to their homepage; it's the 3d article.

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