First Periodic Local and National Ravem (sic) Awards
In my very long career of over a half-century, I have commented for a wide range of media regarding matters
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Richard E. Vatz https://wp.towson.edu/vatz/ is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of political rhetoric at Towson University and author of The Only Authentic of Persuasion: the Agenda-Spin Model (Bookwrights House, 2024) and over 200 other works, essays, lectures, and op-eds. He is the benefactor of the Richard E. Vatz Best Debater Award at Towson. The Van Bokkelen Auditorium at Towson University has been named after him.
Author: Richard E. Vatz, Ph.D
For Whom a Marylander Should Vote: Harris is politically repellent, and Trump is personally offensive; Tim Walz is not ready for Primetime, and J.D. Vance is Great on a Mic (Apologies to Irving Berlin)
It is presumptuous for anyone to tell others how to vote, but herein I am just suggesting that the readers follow their values, just as I have in the last several days in changing my opinion.
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Walz-Vance Civil Debate: Vance wins by a TKO; CBS Moderators Embarrass Themselves
Vice Presidential Debate between Minnesota Governor and former House Member Tim Walz and first-term Ohio Senator J.D. Vance on Tuesday evening was a very surprising – in a positive way – return to the civility and substance of high-level political debates we haven’t seen since Vice Presidential aspirants Joe Lieberman and Dick Cheney debated in 2000.
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Kamala/Donald Debate: Kamala Wins on Exceeding Expectations Plus Style; Donald Wins in a Close Call on Substance; My Guess is that Kamala Gains Temporarily in the Polls
Vice President Kamala Harris was so much clearer than I expected her to be that I was just incredulous. Former President Donald (Trump was stylistically off his game, and why? Not enough self-discipline.
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Just a Few Quick Thoughts – a Dozen Minus One – following the Dana Bash-Kamala Harris-Tim Walz Interview
Bash asked about fracking, and Vice President Harris said she had not been against fracking since 2020. Really? Is there any evidence of this? Harris said she learned they could deal with global warming without cutting fracking…when did she ever say that, Bash forgot to ask how have their efforts to limit global warming worked in the last 3 and ½ years…
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Meet the Press: Pathetic Demise of a Once Great News Show, the Longest Running in America
Meet the Press, once under the moderation of aggressive, straight-down-the-middle journalists like original moderator Lawrence E. Spivak, hosts Bill Monroe and Tim Russert, has become a purely Democratic Party-supporting vehicle under Chuck Todd and currently under its most ideologically left-wing moderator, Kristen Welker.
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CBS’s Media Embarrassment: Robert Costa’s Interview with Joe Biden on CBS’s Sunday Morning
“Sunday Morning” — the CBS “news” show overseen by Jane Pauley — has embarrassed itself with a rare but potentially opportune interview of President Joe Biden at a fractious political time.
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The Presidential Election: Hobson’s Choice
Vote and support the team you think has the best chance to make our country solvent and secure and make our enemies think we are willing to act to secure our interests without our having to act to do so.
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Evaluating Biden’s Quasi-Swan Song
Joe Biden’s speech was intended ostensibly to explain why he had withdrawn from the presidential race, but not the presidency, and to reconcile this decision with the longstanding claims by his supporters and himself that he was fine and behind the scenes was more than capable of running a campaign and serving through another 4 and 1/2 years.
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Reactions to the Next Presidential Debate Between Biden and Trump
Finally, the second nail in Biden’s political coffin has been driven in by former and future President Donald Trump. Everything went Trump’s way tonight except that the ABC moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis were more open about their opposition to the former president. When they cut him off, it seemed to be with prurient delight and with reminders that he needed to “answer the questions asked.”
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