Media Watch Special: The New Crossfire Debuts

April 2, 2002 | UPDATE

The expanded Crossfire comes on at the dinner hour here in the Mountain Time zone and in spite of my best intentions, I managed to get to the TV with only fifteen minutes remaining. Frankly, that was more than enough time to form an opinion of this new format.

If things continue the way they were going during the final fifteen I saw, this might be the bomb of a lifetime. I have to admit I was very wary when Carville and Begala were courted by CNN, because I feared they wouldn't appear as often on other shows on other channels, both cable and network. Being attached to one show on CNN might limit their visibility and make them part of CNN's "stable" and erode their well-cultivated images as freewheeling Democratic fighters.

From what I saw, the "slugfest format" could make all involved sorry they've signed on. The boxing ring images and that silly little bell the hosts kept ringing were enough to turn the whole mess into a travesty. Embarrassing is too kind a word to use in describing this debut. The camera work needs to get organized and what's with the audio??? The sound was very poor and the screaming voices of the panel certainly didn't help.

Besides the emphasis on pugilism, the other new twist is the live audience. Since the show is aired from George Washington University in D.C. the audience is mostly young. I have to say they exhibited far more dignity than those on stage. James Carville and Paul Begala were on together for this first show -- in the future, Begala will be on three weeks with Carville picking up the fourth week. Tucker Carlson was on stage, while Robert Novak was out of the auditorium at some unknown location for some unknown reason.

Of course, I had to tune in just as the discussion inevitably turned to Bill Clinton. Guest Terry MacAuliffe was there, along with a man I suppose was the head of the RNC -- he wisely kept his mouth shut. Tucker Carlson asked, "What's Bill Clinton doing to make the world a better place?" and said Clinton was "buckraming." MacAuliffe got a dig in about Clinton having to pay off his legal fees from the independent counsel investigation that "came up with zero." Someone threw out the phrase "right wing nuts" and Tucker raised the stakes by describing the former President as being "like a pig at the trough." Terry Mac appeared to take real offense and told Tucker to "cut it out" and then brought up Reagan's $2 million pay day in Japan and Bush Sr.'s many speeches. James Carville woke up as he clapped MacAuliffe on the arm and said "You're beating him too bad." I don't know why Carville was wearing dark glasses -- maybe he was trying to hide during this ridiculous display.

That was the end of the segment and the cutaway was to a picture of a boxing ring and the graphic heralding "Round 6" as Tucker promised more "rumbling."

Round 6 was introduced by Begala who described it as the segment where the hosts "go after each other." The topic was the Middle East. Novak swooped in from wherever he was roosting to screech that he was "disgusted" with James Carville's "lionizing Bill Clinton and criticizing Bush," calling it "cheap party politics." Begala called Bush's Middle East policy an "abject failure" and said, "The President is rudderless and clueless." Carville, now without the glasses, came back saying "Let me apologize . . . I'm happy he's disgusted . . . for letting the American people know what's really happening." Novak shouted, "Why don't you get over Bill Clinton?" and the whole thing degenerated from there.

Someone rang the "sacred bell" and Begala spat out that Bush's policy has been "incoherent."

From the Middle East, the next topic was college basketball and low graduation rates. I cut out. Then there was a brief hello from Christiane Amanpour.

Finally, the last segment called "Fireback" began with emails from the viewing audience. Two out of the three were anti-Carville and Begala. With great trepidation, I watched as Tucker announced that questions would be taken from the audience.

But I was pleasantly surprised. Some very bright and well-informed young people asked questions like "How can Democrats fight Bush without looking like they're against the war on terrorism?" and what the long range effects of campaign finance reform would be. Carville answered the question about the Democrats by saying that the Dems support the war effort but one can point out the deficit and disengagement from the Middle East, for example. Begala said that John Ashcroft says we can't disagree then put up his hands and said, "Lock me up!"

Overall, I was pretty disappointed by what transpired. Carville did not look happy. Begala was working hard at being outrageous. Carlson was nasty and shrill. I don't know what Novak adds to all this -- he simply looked mean. All looked like they had been ordered to scream at the top of their lungs and to put any semblance of civility aside. Frankly, it looked like they were trying to out-Hannity Hannity and out-O'Reilly O'Reilly all at the same time. No wonder CNN didn't want Bill Press any more -- Press could never muster up this sort of ghastly hostility.

The whole "boxing ring" setup has got to go. The bell has got to go. "Going after each other" has got to go. The gratuitous email segment probably won't develop much beyond criticisms or praise of the hosts, so why not end that quickly? Wouldn't it be nice just to get questions from the audience??

While it sounds like Carville and Begala got plenty of digs in during the segment I watched, my impression was that there was so much loud talking over everyone else that the casual viewer could easily be frustrated and switch channels. Because I focused on listening and picking up comments I managed to hear them . . . but even I found it tiresome and aggravating. I have a feeling that if things continue this way, Crossfire will not be the opportunity for lots of Democratic ideas to get aired. Maybe there were just too many people on tonight and things will get organized when either Carville or Begala is on. But I'm afraid the format itself is just too much geared toward "entertainment" rather than toward real discussion. Frankly, at times it looked even sillier than some of the stuff you'd see on Politically Incorrect or over at the wrestling channel.

As the show wound down, I heard Begala say something to the effect that "it's gotta get better than this."

For his and Carville's sake, I hope it does. I just don't want to see a couple of the Dems' best spokespeople become cable "news" jokes . . .

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© 2002, Gloria R. Lalumia
insight@zianet.com

More Stuff at: http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical

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UPDATE -- THE DAY AFTER THE DEBUT

no boxing
no bell
no frothing at the mouth by Tucker
no shrieking
except for the stage and the audience, they have dropped every single one of the stupid things they were doing last night.....

I am now actually able to hear what Begala is saying. Hopefully, when Carville returns, I will be able to hear him, too.

Carville has always said that Dems always win when people get the facts and understand the issues. Tonight (Tuesday), I'm hearing a few facts instead of noise....The zingers are zinging because they are being said in some context instead of being buried in a pile of go nowhere personal insults....

It seems that after Carville looked like he was about to be sick and Begala delivered his last comment on Monday that the show couldn't get any worse than it had been, a whole lot of "reconsidering" went on overnight.

Gloria

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