The Media As Proxies

Atrios said a short while ago that the Presidential elections were going to be a contest not between the Democrats and the Republicans but between the Democrats and the media. From all reports the most recent debate between B. Obama and H. Clinton, held in Philadelphia, Pa., demonstrated that vividly.

The two moderators, C. Gibson and G. Stephanopoulos, served as Republican proxies, and the latter had even received his marching orders during his appearance a few days earlier on the talk show of a rabid conservative. In the guise of their descents into the trivial through much of the proceedings, these two men and not Clinton turned out to be Obama's main debate adversaries.

So why are Gibson and Stephanopoulos still being honored with the title of "moderators?" I thought moderators "moderated," but obviously the decades-long attempt by Republicans to hang the same stigma on the concept of "moderate" as they've also long tried to do with "liberal" has had its effect. In the interest of preserving the integrity of the American language, in the debate just held "instigators" or "provocateurs" would be the more appropriate terms.