Tuning in to MSNBC one evening, and having the misfortune to tune in at a time when MSNBC was running our current version of Meet the Press, I caught Brokaw doing his usual--running clips of McCain and Obama, selected to present the former at his most credible and to exclude any of the best (top 90 percent) public statements by Obama.

btw, one notes that the short video clips of McCain and Palin are exclusively from camera angles that obscures the small size of their crowds. --But of course those applause lines are routinely shown with the applause. (Too bad for America, given some of Palin's applause line, apparently designed to bring Barack Obama into harm's way if possible. That stuff makes us neither safer nor healthier.)

Anyway, the clips of McCain were, as said, clearly intended to present the presentable, in regard to John McCain. The networks, not even the cable channels, fo not cover McCain's support of indefinite detention in detail, not that there wd be many video clips of McCain addressing the topic.

What makes the clip selection inartful, aside from their selectivity, is that they caught McCain on camera pseudo-laughing at his own attack lines. I have not been able to find the moments on YouTube, yet, but they are also shot at an awkward camera angle. Sen. John McCain, regrettably, is coming across more and more, every week, like Montgomery Burns, and semi-profile shots of him laughing heighten the resemblance.

Has Brokaw ever watched The Simpsons?

The important point here, however, is not the superficials of image, but the long-lasting consequences of policy. As a citizen, a journalist, a woman, and a human being, I oppose policies that harm my country and the world. The weight on that axis swings ineluctably in favor of Obama. McCain has adopted, whether wholeheartedly or reluctantly, the policy apparatus of Monty Burns. So it is up to McCain to muddy the picture as much as possible, while claiming that he is doing the opposite--somewhat like his running mate, who seems to have cultivated the style of forthrightness while obfuscating.

In spite of all the weaknesses and limitations imposed on these debates by format, it will be interesting to see what the candidates have to say about current economic conditions in the U.S. and worldwide.