...why are there always two commentators jabbering away to each other ~ is it a by-product of all the statistics they have to marshal, or do all the statistics flow from having to fill vacant airtime with something other than reflective silence?

It's an *allusion to somehow make all the violence an intellectual endeavor... and the "vacant airtime" thing. One can belabour the obvious for only *so long.

Reflective silence... {insert sound of Homer drooling here}