Here is the interview. I caught the part about WMD and Iraq (starting at 29:40; transcript here) as I was driving home and it made my blood boil!
Why did Terry fall for the line that everyone thought there were WMD…rather than reframing the question in terms of who thought that what he had constituted such a grave danger that we had to invade? Why did she not ask Rove to detail for us all of the extraordinary measures that the Bush Administration had the military take in order to prevent the weapons (that they thought existed and constituted a grave danger) from ending up in the hands of terrorists…and why these measures seemed to fail so catastrophically at Al Qa’qaa where we knew for a fact that high-grade conventional explosives suitable for use in nuclear weapons existed?
Urgh!!!
(To be fair, I guess he said a lot of silly things and Terry had to pick-and-choose what to pursue, but it’s still frustrating.)
Meh. You may not have liked how the interview went, but Terry Gross didn’t “let” anything happen. Whatever happened just happened. Terry Gross doesn’t have two brain cells to rub together. She really may be the stupidest person in national media.
I haven’t listened to it yet, and in the interest of full disclosure, Fresh Air is one of my favorite radio shows (behind Coast-to-Coast, Wait Wait, and a couple of others), but Terry Gross is not stupid. And she is definitely not the stupidest person in national media. Not by a long shot…
With the exception of the sneer quotes around “interviews,” this is precisely correct. She does a lot of politically-oriented interviews and is (in my opinion) generally one of the better interviewers out there, in that she knows how to ask a follow-up question and to deviate from her prepared line of questioning if the subject says something interesting/bizarre/provocative. I haven’t listened to the Rove interview yet, but like many in public radio these days she tends to err on the side of kid-glove treatment when talking to conservatives, for fear of being called a typical biased liberal (which, of course, happens anyway).
As to her being “stupid,” I’d be delighted to hear her interview you. Some of the best shows are the ones where she gives right-wing gasbags just enough rope to hang themselves, and I’m confident you wouldn’t disappoint.
NPR has been nervous ever since the Bushiviks reached into their pants and squeezed their grants. Lord knows they try, but how do you report sanely when one whole political party behaves like rabid monkeys on meth?
I find Terri Gross fairly annoying when it comes to politics, but she’s a good interviewer and I’ve really enjoyed her interviews with musicians and other artists.
It may have been that the terms of the interview did not allow her to approach that line of questioning. People at Rove’s level, whether liberal or conservative, are too slick to let themselves be blindsided. He likely knew a lot of the interview questions ahead of time. Easier when you have someone pushing an agenda, as they want the airtime and might be less demanding regarding topics and questions.
Nope. What actually happens is this: she asks some inane question, the interviewee starts talking (because they have to say something), when the interviewee is a “right-wing gasbag” you conclude that he has hung himself (due to your predudices), and then you think her inane question was some brilliant ploy by her to give the RWGB enough rope to hang himself.
I haven’t heard this interview but I can’t listen to too much of Terry Gross. I’ll give her credit for knowing and researching a great deal about the subject matter of any interview but too often she comes perilously close the the Chris Farley interviews on SNL.
“Hey, hey, remember when you played the Terminator and you were all broken and had to have John Conner put you into a vat of molten metal?”
“Yeah.”
“Yeah, that was cool.”
I was in the car yesterday when the interview came on and I decided I just didn’t want to hear it. This man needs no more airtime for his views. Either he’s a criminally stupid fuckup, or he’s been a lying manipulator who wielded a ton of political power without ever receiving a single vote. Either way, he’s old news and I’m more interested in going forward than rehashing the past nine years. I made a fairly extensive study of the conditions pre-war and was on record as saying I didn’t believe there was a significant danger of WMD in Iraq, and what there might have been would best have been addressed by inspections, not invasion. After long, painful, and sadly deadly years of being proven right, I have no interest in returning to those arguments.
That all having been said, I’ll probably read the transcript because I’m a glutton for punishment.
Our guest today is Rand Rover, whom some of you may know from his comic role as “Objectivist Caricature #17” or for his volunteer work as a witless message board troll. Rand, thanks for being with us… first off, I’d just like to ask you about something you said recently, if I may. You made this comment, and I quote:
I’m just wondering — what made you *interested *in getting your head up your own ass, and how you manage to type when you can’t see the keyboard?
I don’t give a fuck about the WMD thing. I’ll be honest - I thought he had them too, although I disagreed with the invasion all along. This pisses me off, though:
IT DIDN’T HAVE A FUCKING THING TO DO WITH 9/11! STOP TRYING TO CONNECT IRAQ TO 9/11 YOU LYING FUCK!
Honestly, Terry Gross aside, Mr. Rove did not get to where he is (was) by allowing anyone, let alone a journalist/interviewer, get anything out of him or over on him. Blaming her is really meaningless. I’m not saying I’m a fan of his - quite the contrary - but he is very good at what he does.