CNN is apparently canceling Crossfire and The Capital Gang in favor of a pure news format. I'm filled with nostalgia at the news. Without Crossfire, I'm not sure I ever would have studied politics, economics, public administration, law, and religion.
A friend put me onto the show in our senior year of high school and I was hooked. We called each other during the commercial breaks and at the end of the show to talk about what we'd seen. Pat Buchanan was still a superb presence in the conservative movement at that time.
I wish he'd never run for office. His autobiography, Right from the Beginning, written during those glory years, is a great read.
Crossfire suffered from Buchanan's departure and never regained its form. The battles between Buchanan and Kinsley were especially worth watching. Many of you may enjoy Hannity and Colmes, but I don't think it comes close to the glory that was Crossfire in the 1980's.
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The demise of Crossfire per se is cause for a sentimental, nostalgic sigh of the sort emitted with characteristic grace by the great Hunter Baker. What I find to be more profoundly distressing is the accompanying pontifical pronouncement by whatever petty potentate CNN assigns to such things.
He declared that they are accepting the verdict of that great political genius Jon Stewart that "shout shows" are not contributing to the edification of the polity. For that august task we apparently require pre-masticated predigested morsels of "liberally" sugar-coated pap.
Gag me, proverbially of course, with a spoon. Debate shows, perhaps a whit modified to be more substantive, are a wonderful means of keeping the populace engaged in the sort of national affairs that do not involve the use of cigars.
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