Eyeball to Eyeball

Eyeball to eyeball appears to be the common stance
Of TV interviewers and their victims – the politicians
The media moguls seem to think that MPs are fair game
For their verbal assaults and skirmishes

I am not sure who is determined to demonstrate
to greater effect. To grandstand their superiority
In debate, or at least in point-scoring
In inflicting wounds and uncovering vulnerability

Of course politicians are often the masters of the silver tongue
Their weasel words crafted to evade embarrassing questions
At all costs they must not be seen as a boxer on the ropes
So they return the punches with equivocation and obfuscation

One of the popular weapons in these wars of words
Is the use of the impenetrable realm of statistics
Thus by digital prestidigitation they produce from the hat
Numerical evidence to justify or countermand any ‘fact’

So it seems to me that many TV and radio interviews
Have become the arena for the clash of aspiring titans
Journalists exercising their customary power without responsibility
And politicians defending their power while evading responsibility

And one wonders if these eyeball to eyeball spectaculars
Only serve the vanity of the protagonists

Ken Fisher