Brendan O’ReganIt was probably the most watched TV broadcast ever, with around 100 million viewers – the first US Presidential Debate (BBC News channel) was a lot to wade through last Tuesday morning and the advance hype didn’t lead to the anticipated drama.
I have no time for either candidate, and it amazes me how a country of such vast talent should see such unpopular candidates rise to the top and effectively be the people’s only choice. If either party had put up a half decent candidate they’d surely win a clear victory.
Trump seemed to do better in the early part of the debate, and especially on trade but became a lot less sure-footed in the later stages and lost a golden opportunity to get at Clinton’s email issues when cyber security was discussed. Overall I thought Clinton came across as the more prepared and articulate of the two but I found nothing in the debate to inspire confidence or vision.
Later that day, on the political front back home, Dáil Éireann resumed, and now with Oireachtas TV on Saorview, it’s easier to follow the often uninspiring proceedings.
Without any sense of irony, they managed short debates on child care and child destruction. Ruth Coppinger TD launched yet another assault on the Eighth (Pro-Life) Amendment and, along with her colleagues, demeaned the House with their ugly ‘Repeal’ sweatshirts – stunt politics providing campaigning material for later news programmes.
An Taoiseach Enda Kenny rightly rebuked them, saying the issue was more complex than their black and white shirts suggested. He said he had spoken to some of those on the ‘March for Choice’ – never remember him saying that after pro-life marches.
He referred to the 20,000 and then added “or 30,000”, on the march – inflation or what! Instead of strong leadership there is fudge, and the bloodhounds smell the indecision.
Defence
That night on Tonight With Vincent Browne (TV3), the issue was one of a few discussed, and there was no-one to defend the Eighth, no one to support real equality, no one to champion all children’s rights. Fine Gael TD Jim Daly seemed uncomfortable as Browne tried to pin him down, eventually saying he thought the Eighth was ‘overly restrictive’; Billy Kelleher of Fianna Fáil wanted the Eighth repealed; Kathleen Funchion of Sinn Féin wouldn’t have any of it when Browne challenged her on the party not allowing a free conscience vote – members knew the party policy. Journalist Justine McCarthy reckoned there was popular support for repealing the Eighth but thought the idea of replacing it with something else was ‘dangerous’.
Last Sunday, Archbishop Eamonn Martin gave a welcome and confident defence of the Eighth on RTÉ Radio 1’s This Week, describing it as “precious and wonderful”. It was a tough interview, followed by a soft chat with Brendan Howlin TD who favoured repeal of the Eighth. He called for a “fair debate”… well, we didn’t get that last week.
Also related to child destruction, the ongoing tragedy in Syria deserved more attention though it did get some.
First off there was the moving Panorama special ‘Aleppo: Life Under Siege’ Monday night of last week, repeated last Thursday, on BBC 1.
Among others featured there was an English teacher who worked with the ‘White Helmets’, a group that responds to bombing raids and tries to help the victims; a taxi driver who was running out of fuel but who also drove an ambulance; a young woman whose husband was killed by a sniper but who now worked providing engaging activities for children.
On Wednesday’s News At One, Kieran Dwyer of UNICEF spoke of the 100,000 children trapped in this ‘kill zone’ and the ‘bunker-buster’ bombs that targeted basements used for shelter. On Thursday night’s News at Ten (ITV) we heard about the thermobaric bomb (barbaric more accurately) – that sucks the oxygen out of the air and chokes those in the vicinity.
Through the week and right up to last Monday morning on BBC World Service, UN Representative Stephen O’Brien expressed his frustration with the situation, and on that news programme he was now in Yemen, in the midst of yet another war-related humanitarian disaster.
A tough week, which made the not-so-presidential debate seem part of what a commentator on last Monday’s Pat Kenny Show (Newstalk) described as “beneath…low level circus politics”.
Pick of the week
SONGS OF PRAISE – THE BIG SING
BBC 1 Sunday, October 9, 4.10 pm
Favourite hymns from the Royal Albert Hall, with guest stars The Priests, Michael Ball, Alfie Boe and Laura Mvula.
THE QUEST FOR SHAKESPEARE
EWTN Monday, October 10, 8.30 am (also Friday 7.30pm)
Joseph Pearce looks at the evidence for Catholicism in the Great Bard’s family.
JOY OF MUSIC
EWTN Monday (night), October 10, 4am
Diane Bish and guest, Joy Brown Wiener, perform at St. Mary’s Pro-Cathedral in Dublin, Ireland.