In the last Political Junkie for 2015, Abby Livingston of the Texas Tribune reviews last Saturday’s Democratic debate in New Hampshire, where Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley all had forceful performances. But a status quo debate means that Clinton ends the year as she began: as the clear frontrunner for her party’s nomination.
Meanwhile, on the Republican side, Ted Cruz is ahead in Iowa, but Donald Trump continues to lead everywhere else. Josh Rogers of New Hampshire Public Radio has the latest from the Granite State for both the Republicans and Democrats.
We close 2015 with a touching interview with Senator Shelley Moore Capito, the West Virginia Republican, whose father, former Governor Arch Moore, died earlier this year.
And our “this week in history” feature remembers former President Gerald Ford, who passed away nine years ago in December of 2006. Presidential historian Richard Norton Smith, who is writing a biography of our 38th President, says there is much more to Ford than history gives him credit for.
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Completely overlooked during the discussion of Ford is the effect media – not just SNL had. Ford was an exceptional athlete, yet the press made front page news for days over a brief trip and fall when exiting Air Force 1. Lefty media went out of their way to present a negative picture of Ford and it paid off for them. Today, thanks to cable and internet left media can not control the narrative in the same way. The anger over this loss of control is expressing itself in uglier forms each day.
I don’t know if that was a “lefty” media thing or not, but that certainly seemed to be the case at SNL. Chevy Chase himself said he made it clear he had no respect for Ford, and America was in on the joke. And yes, you are absolutely right, Ford was a star athlete at U of Mich., and yet voters — thanks to SNL — saw him as a bumbler.