Wednesday, September 2, 2009

In Which We Receive A Lesson In Civil Discourse

I'm sure that by now you have all seen Rachel's interview with Tom Ridge. If you haven't, make haste, make haste. I was literally on the edge of my seat. My stomach was all knotted up, waiting to see if Rachel was going to go in for the kill. And she did:

Let's give Tom Ridge some props for this interview. He disagreed respectfully, he argued his position without shouting, the one time he interrupted, he apologized.

Civility aside, she did pretty much eviscerate him. She just kept pressing and pressing. He seemed disingenuous when he backtracked on his statement in the book regarding politics driving the elevation of threat levels at Homeland Security. And at the end, when she says that positions such as his own make the Republican Party unelectable, he's toast. She, and we, are incredulous when he says that we did not invade Iraq for political reasons; that GWB wouldn't spend our "treasure" (I think that's what he says) unless he was sure it was for our nation's safety. Wow.

Did you guys see Rachel on Jimmy Fallon, saying she and Susan had swine flu? At first I thought, now THAT'S a Holy Mackerel story. But it turns out that lots of people are getting it. Like 10% of New Yorkers. She still sounds kinda sick. Last year my doctor said to me, "If you get the flu, you'll di-...be in the hospital." Very reassuring. My doctor almost told me I was going to die. Nice.

7 comments:

  1. She did so well with this one. I haven't seen such a hard-hitting, candid, respectful discussion in a long time. It seems that some liberal bloggers wanted her to be tougher on him, but I think she struck the right balance. The way she framed the interview gave him a fair hearing, which got more information out of him; but she also got her point across, made him seem dubious in comparison, and finished brilliantly.

    It's funny that she's being so nonchalant about getting sick. Just imagine the panic over at Fox if Glenn Beck had the swine flu.

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  2. Imagine the panic if Beck lost his binky, let alone got the swine flu.

    But yeah, Rachel was awesome, canceling chunks of her show on the fly to hold Ridge "hostage." Let's you know she does indeed run her own show and calls the shots.

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  3. Our girl totally nailed it! She just kept feeding him the rope and he kept tightening his noose!
    True, credit where credit is due: he id thank her, and disagree without voice raising or interrupting, and I think he's right-we'd get a lot further if we had more of this sort of debate, even if we never agree.
    I think he really underestimated her, though. She was incredulous over some of his remarks, and I think it really brought out the Air America days in her - it was brilliant!

    The Fallon appearance was a hoot. I particularly loved when they were all mambo-ing while they shook the shaker - completely cracked me up! Gotta love a pundit who can mambo one minute and respectfully eviscerate an administration official the next!

    Great post, CEP. Keep 'em coming! It'll keep my mind off the brush fires! ;)

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  4. MP, I think I'm noticing a bit of a shift at TRMS these days. It seems like there have been more "Rachel Re:" segments, more investigative reporting on things like C Street and Americans for Prosperity, and now the Tom Ridge interview. And have you noticed, as Conch pointed out, that "Life During Wartime" is making a comeback?

    The show is hitting its stride and building a reputation, and things like her "Meet the Press" appearance are giving Rachel some street cred. I'm guessing she feels secure and practiced enough to slowly push the show in more of an Air America direction. Which, of course, is awesome.

    Maybe one day she'll reach the point where she can ditch the low-cut tops and start wearing tee shirts under her suit coat all the time. Seriously, it looks so much better.

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  5. I agree, I think the show is getting a little more AARish. On September 8, she'll have been on for a year, so hopefully there's a little retooling going on. Enough of the dykerating. Let The Maddow be The Maddow!

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  6. The interview kicked ass, I can't add anything more.

    I love you Rachel :P LOLZ ....

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