There is a reason that the so-called public hearings of Speaker Pelosi’s Select Committee on the events of January 6, 2021, are being launched like a major television reality show. Because that is what it is. The idea is to take the one-sided prosecutorial deliberations of the Committee and launch them as a primetime television extravaganza.
Unlike virtually all legitimate congressional hearings, the Pelosi show will air in the evening – in tv land’s most watched hours. There could be a backfire, however. They will be taking the place of the American people’s favorite shows. Because of their own biases, most of the networks will be giving the show full gavel-to-gavel coverage – all, that is, except FOX News. They will cover the event as a normal news story.
The Pelosi production is likely to get good ratings on the first night. More telling will be how the audience numbers hold up over the six-day mini-series.
The extent to which Pelosi & Co. want this to be a television production rather than an honest coverage of an honest hearing is evident in the fact that the Democrats have hired James Goldston, former president of ABC News, to produce the show. That guarantees that the Democrats reality show will be no more real than all those other phony “reality” shows.
Rather than learning the facts that led up to the Capitol Hill riot, Democrats are taking their preconceived politicized narrative and turning it into a multi-day infomercial for the Democratic Party – or put another way, negative political advertising against Republicans.
The stridently partisan California Congressman Adam Schiff laid out the Democrats’ intentions in plain language. He described the upcoming broadcast as a “comprehensive narrative,” not a fair hearing. Schiff told CBS’ Margaret Brennan that “Our goal is to present the narrative of what happened in this country, how close we came to losing our democracy, what led to the violence.”
In typical television hype, Democrats are promising political bombshells. It is hard to imagine that they could offer anything more than old wine in a new bottle. They have pretty much announced and leaked their preconceived opinions – and selective information – over the course of the past year.
Conceding that there may not be any new revelations of significance, Democrats are saying that the production is still important because “the public has not seen it woven together, how one thing led to another.” In other words, the public has not gotten the full spin, yet.
Because the Select Committee was empowered for the sole purpose of producing propaganda, there are a lot of issues that were never explored – and never will be. It was announced early on that Pelosi would not be called as a witness – in private or in public – even though there are still questions why she rejected offers for the National Guard to participate in protecting the Capitol Building. Why was the Capitol Police Force under-manned … under-equipped … and not briefed on their duties on that day? Why were so many demonstrators/rioters allowed to enter without resistance – some even were invited to enter.
Democrat operatives were on the scene. In some videos, FBI informants were seen encouraging the crowd to enter the Building. None of those folks have been called to testify. Why were the early warnings from the intel community of possible violence totally ignored by Pelosi – who is responsible for the safety of the Building? The most important question is … why wasn’t she called?
The primary purpose of this media extravaganza is the same as the primary purpose of the year-long private (leaked) hearings – to enhance Democrat prospects in the midterm elections by demonizing the Republican Party – and all Republican candidates – with the broadest brush of slanderous accusations.
In fact, this is not even the final report of the Pelosi Committee. They had previously announced this as an “interim event.” Any final report and complete hearings could not be completed in time to influence the November election. The Committee has not even heard from many of the most critical witnesses.
This event was concocted as a crass political stunt, devoid of any legitimate legislative purpose. And the composition of the Select Committee assures that it has no intention of arriving at a fully informed legitimate conclusion.
It will play well with the biased media and those who have consumed the Kool-Aid that the American Republic was on the verge of extinction from a widespread insurrection – and that America is in the grips of an ongoing attempt to overthrow the government by the GOP and supported by half the American population as zombie-like cultists. Even Alfred Hitchcock could not have turned that script into a compelling movie.
The only thing that will be missing when Pelosi, the Democrats, and the media conclude this fanciful and farcical production will be Porky Pig popping up on the screen and saying “Tha .. Tha … Tha …That’s all folks!”
So, there ‘tis.