Last Night's 'Town Hall' Debate Another Mind Numbing Dance Featuring Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dumb

Last night's 'town hall' debate between corporate candidate R and corporate candidate D moderated by corporate media spokesperson C featured the usual inane questions as always. How in America can they find a representative selection of people who ask nothing about policy towards Iran, policy towards Israel, about climate change, about drones terrorizing and killing anyone, anywhere, about warrentless wiretaps and email surveillance, about Bradley Manning or Jullian Assange, about the extrajudicial killing of US citizens by presidential fiat, about why the torturers walk free, why GITMO is still open, why military tribunals convict people on evidence derived from torture, why Wall St. rules and Main St. drools? Because it's all fixed that's how.

Long before last night's World Wrestling Federation type 'contest' an official 'memorandum of understanding' was signed by both the Romney and Obama campaigns about the presidential and vice presidential debates. In the town hall version it was agreed that "the moderator will [review all audience] questions and eliminate any questions that the moderator deems inappropriate." This ploy is used all the time by media outlets trying to promote their shows [and garner more advertising revenue]. The fact is that if hundreds of questions are submitted and a corporate media guru selects those he/she finds appropriate we end up with the same mainstream marshmallow type questions the gurus would have asked anyway.

But just in case some citizen actually tried to stand up and ask a real question, a question who's answer was not rehearsed, who's answer might elicit a real insight into the pathos of the candidates, the two campaigns made sure that, "If any audience member poses a question or makes a statement that is in any material way different than the question that the audience member earlier submitted to the moderator for review, the moderator will cut off the questioner and advise the audience that such non-reviewed questions are not permitted. Moreover the Commission shall take appropriate steps to cut off the microphone of any such audience member who attempts to pose any question or statement differently than that previously posed to the moderator for review."

i grew up in the small town Adams in the Berkshires of Massachusetts. Adams had town hall meetings, and every Tomisina, Dick and Harrietta got to stand up and make their point, the selectmen [town councilors] had to answer to everybody. If the questions were to far out in left field, like about UFOs or something, the residents [and most of them were there] shouted them down. Everybody debated everything, it was real democracy, that's why the bogus bastards at the Commission on Presidential Debates chose the name town hall not WWF to advertise their most recent mind numbing dance featuring tweedle-dee and tweedle-dumb.