Don't tread on my opinions

At our house, we don't watch live TV unless I'm interested in a football game or a golf tournament. My wife has no interest in either, except she occasionally looks up from the book she's reading during Super Bowl commercials. I don't think she cares for the Super Bowl halftime show anymore after ... well, you know.

The reason we don't watch live TV -- except for Bob Reeves during storms -- is because we have a digital video recorder. A DVR is a fancy-dancy VCR. Unfortunately, some of us were born too early to absorb enough TV rays to understand today's ordinary household devices.

One of my biggest lifetime accomplishments, I believe, is my mastery of the DVR and its menus, recording options and commercial-skipping features. When God created public airwaves, I'm pretty sure this is what he had in mind.

Colleagues and friends never ask me about my DVR. They don't have time for my long-winded gushing that sounds an awful lot like a sales pitch. Honest. I get no commission.

Here's how I use a DVR: I pick programs or movies we might want to watch. I tell the DVR to automatically record them. Then we watch the programs or movies at our leisure. We can even watch a program while it is being recorded. Or later. Or never. There are gobs of hours of recording time. We've never come close to using all the DVR's storage space, and we have something like 20 movies waiting to be watched. Not to mention our daily dose of "Jeopardy."

So it was unusual for us to be watching "News Hour" on PBS Wednesday night when Bob Woodward was being interviewed about his new book. Most Bush detractors see the book as proof positive that our president is an evil and not-so-bright schemer. Most Bush supporters see it as yet another attack on a courageous president.

We've seen a few Woodward interviews now, including the one on "60 Minutes" (recorded for later viewing). My wife and I rarely engage in political discussions, because we don't always agree. Our marriage of nearly 40 years has endured, I believe, because we know how pointless it is to debate questions that have no right or wrong answers among occupants of La-Z-Boy recliners.

Anyone who knows my wife also knows she is one of the nicest women alive. It was startling to hear her irate reaction to the PBS interview of Woodward. Why, she demanded, are we so curious about what may or may not have transpired months ago and hardly curious at all about what it will take to end the need for stationing U.S. troops in Iraq?

She's right, you know. We're spending all this energy on finger pointing while our men and women in uniform need to know they can depend on us for the support that will be required to complete their mission.

There's something else. Bob Woodward's book appears to me to be a balanced and informed report of the events leading up to the war in Iraq -- all based on unprecedented access to and interviews of key officials, including the president. But Bush supporters and detractors prefer to focus on arguing points.

Here's my question: How many Americans heard Woodward call Bush "the most moral president in the last century"? Not the TV interviewers, apparently. Or headline writers.

News shows these days are filled with opinion. Look at all the "expert" analysts. But most of us don't want anyone to tamper with our opinions.

So much for being informed.

R. Joe Sullivan is the editor of the Southeast Missourian.