The Breakfast Meeting: Raddatz Draws a Partisan Split and What Republicans and Democrats Watch

October 12, 2012, 11:30 am

By THE EDITORS

A moderate can't win the White House. Could a moderator? Martha Raddatz received rave reviews last night from one side of the aisle for her moderation of the vice-presidential debate between Joe Biden and Paul Ryan. Much more active and probing than Jim Lehrer was in the first presidential debate, Ms. Raddatz drew widespread praise from people like Glenn Greenwald and Bill Maher and as Brian Stelter noted, the “Raddatz for President” started early on Twitter. On the other side of the aisle, critics accused her of coddling the vice-president and being rude to Mr. Ryan. “The worst moderator” tweeted Sean Hannity, the Fox News host, and Karl Rove simply tweeted, “I miss Jim Lehrer.”

Some cliches p rove true. According to research released by TiVo, Republicans prefer watching golf; Democrats cartoons. The research looked at TiVo users across the country and correlated the results to voter registration. According to the findings, Republicans disproportionately watch gold, NASCAR, NCAA basketball and reality shows like “The Amazing Race,” “The Biggest Loser,” “Pawn Stars” and “Cool Pools.” Democrats favor cartoons like “American Dad,” “The Cleveland Show,” N.B.A. basketball, “Mad Man” and comedies, especially “30 Rock.” And needless to say, both Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are on the Democratic list. Other research looked at the partisan split over news viewing and the takeaway: all three evening network newscasts draw Democrats disproportionately. CNN's biggest skew was among independents. No points for guessing how Fox News and MSNBC finished.

How did Big Bird become the Joe the Plumber of this election? After Mitt Romney advoc ated cutting the PBS budget in last week's debate, executives at the public broadcaster were suddenly thrust into the middle of a political maelstrom. There have been political attacks on PBS since its inception but, as Brian Stelter and Elizabeth Jensen write, “Paula A. Kerger, the PBS chief executive, however, said she could not recall a time when a presidential candidate had opposed the financing in so public a forum. ‘We sprang into action quickly,' said Ms. Kerger, who “dropped everything” the day after the debate to answer questions from the news media.” The Obama campaign seized on the issue, releasing this sarcastic video: “It's not Wall Street you have to worry about. It's Sesame Street.”. In reply, Mr. Romney told The Des Moines Register, ““The people from ‘Sesame Street' have made it clear that Big Bird is quite profitable.”