Tavis Smiley, interviewing an actress currently playing a villain.

[No Elephants]

Smiley wanted to know how the actress dealt with the dislike aimed at her because she is playing a villain.

He said how hard it is for him to deal with the animosity he gets, now that he is an inteviewer. He said, "I used to work for a Mayor. When you work for a Mayor, your job is to be likeable because the Mayor has to get re-elected."

And, while I enjoy watching Smiley's program, there you have the problem with politics today.

I don't know for certain, but I am guessing that Smiley never worked for a Mayor. You work for the people who pay your salary. I am guessing that his salary was being paid by taxpayers. And, when taxpayers pay your salary, your job is to serve the public interest, not to make the Mayor likeable so that he will get re-elected.

Once either the Daily Show or the Colbert Report was interviewing someone who was working for a legislative majority leader. I don't remember which majority leader, but it was not any of the ones in Congress. It may even have been another English speaking country. I don't recall. However, he said that the job of someone who worked for a majority leader was to protect the members of the caucus. The interviewer laughed and asked, "Not to protect the public," whereupon the guy being interviewed made some brief, insincere response.

Smiley knows his show is on national television. The guy who worked for a majority leader knew he was being interviewed on national television. Neither of them thought anything was wrong with what they were saying. That reflects just how far down the rabbit hole we've gone.

[Enthusiast]

1. Oh, we are well down the hole.

:)

[No Elephants]

2. My guess is that people always operated as though the person who hired them

was their boss. However, they knew better than to speak that way publicly. Now, they no longer know better. Doesn't even occur to them, unless someone, like a comedian, points it out to them.

Meanwhile, I am mindful of the many posts on DU earlier in Obama's administration that everyone who worked for Obama that did something that DUers did not like was "independent" of Obama. What a joke. Of course, though, when someone in the administration did something perceived to be good, Obama got the credit.

Honestly, it's hard to believe that people can post that way without being paid so to do.