The blame game on the political debate TV shows

There are many political debate shows telecasted on the TV news channels these days. Almost all the regional and national TV channels air them during the prime time. They usually start in the evening and go on until 9.30 /10 pm.

My dad watches them and keeps switching between two to three channels based on the topic of discussion and the participants. My mother and I have no other option but to watch these shows while having dinner together.

The participants or panels are usually a mix of party representatives or spokespersons, journalists, experts, analysts. Some of the party spokespersons are knowledgeable people. Inspite of what party they represent, you can actually sit and listen to them speak. They are great orators. That is true for some of the journalists and political analysts as well. They don’t scream/yell like some party representatives. They wait for their turn patiently and then without raising their voice, they give their views. I do have a few favorites whose opinions are neutral and who talk sensibly.

A typical scenario –

TV channel Moderator: (turning to the ruling party spokesperson) XXX why did your party not do this or resolve this

Ruling party spokesperson: Party B did this when they were in power. They were the ones who brought this law (or) they were the ones who signed this (or) they are the ones who started this

TV channel moderator: But XXX, that is the reason why party B lost the elections and people elected your party. Why did you not fix this problem?

Ruling party spokesperson: Party B is the worst party in this country. They did not do anything for the people. People will never let them win. People know them very well.

This blame game continues for some time.

Every time, they ask the ruling party spokesperson a question, they just blame the opposition party. They never answer the question on what they had done for that particular problem. Yes, the opposition parties did not do a good job when they were in power. That is why they lost the elections and you won. Now, do something useful than blaming them for what they did. 

These party representatives have another tactic. When they are asked a question, they talk something that is completely irrelevant to the topic. Sometimes, there is absolutely no connection. They do that to divert the audience and to pick up a quarrel with the other representatives.

At those times, I wondered what must have been going through the minds of the moderator, the journalists and the political analysts. They must be laughing within themselves at these politicians and the state of our country. I could not help but think how they could lie with so much conviction.

Am waiting to see what topic they would have for today’s debate. They never seem to be running out of topics JJJ