Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich drops a little aside in a blog post on campaign styles that gives a revealing, behind-the-scenes glimpse of what passes for political discourse these days. We know the producers of the Sunday talk shows and "reality" shows generally are lurking in the background, egging on the actors and often distorting what's happening. Rarely do we get to find out about it, however. Reality-show contestants sign contracts not to spill the beans, and talk-show guests also are silent because they know they won't be invited back if they squeal. Here's Reich:

I was on television recently, debating a conservative. It's something I do fairly often. During a commercial break, the producer spoke into my earpiece. "A bit more energy," he said.

"What do you mean?" I answered, slightly hurt. I thought I'd been doing a fairly good job scoring points.

"Rip into him. Only three minutes in the next segment and we want to make the most of it."...

I asked the producer who was talking into my earpiece why I had to rip into my opponent. "We see viewership minute by minute," he said, hurriedly (the commercial break was about over). "When you really go after each other, we get a spike."

It's the spike I'm worried about. I chose not to rip into my opponent but, then again, I'm not running for president.

This is the larger point to be made about right-wing blowbag Kevin James' embarrassing appearance on Hardball last week. Sure he made a total fool of himself because he was indignantly against "appeasement" but didn't know who Neville Chamberlain was or how appeasement got such a bad rap. But, hey, who cares? Hardball's Chris Matthews "ripped into him." Matthews and James "got a huge spike." Isn't that what matters most? The hell with substance! We want to be entertained. Making himself a global joke was probably a great career move for James.