nothumb
08-18-2004, 12:03 AM
So I've been in VA for a few days on a work related outing and haven't had the internet (miss me?). I have, however, had cable TV in my hotel room, which I don't usually have. I had the interesting experience of watching two presidential interviews in one night.
The first one I saw was George and Laura on Larry King. I thought Bush did ok, he hit all his main points and was pretty well prepared, although he was obviously really sticking to a few bungle-proof lines of discussion. It seemed like the most important thing was to get through the interview without saying anything truly damaging, which I think he did (I saw about seventy-five percent of the program).
Then I watched Clinton on the Daily Show, trying to steer Jon Stewart back towards a policy and strategy discussion while Jon was obviously more interested in taking shots at the Repubs (which he did with his usual wit and vigor, but one couldn't call it an unbiased or challenging interview for Clinton). Still, the man is brilliant off-the-cuff! All you Clinton haters, okay, you didn't like the guy, but man, he can talk about anything and nail it. As long as he's not in court, anyway.
I have to say, Clinton was too much of a centrist for me and made too many concessions to the GOP on cheap wedge issues like faith-based charities and overseas abortion funding. This is probably not the line of criticism most people would take with him, but that's my thought. I was very impressed, however, with his speaking ability.
NT
The first one I saw was George and Laura on Larry King. I thought Bush did ok, he hit all his main points and was pretty well prepared, although he was obviously really sticking to a few bungle-proof lines of discussion. It seemed like the most important thing was to get through the interview without saying anything truly damaging, which I think he did (I saw about seventy-five percent of the program).
Then I watched Clinton on the Daily Show, trying to steer Jon Stewart back towards a policy and strategy discussion while Jon was obviously more interested in taking shots at the Repubs (which he did with his usual wit and vigor, but one couldn't call it an unbiased or challenging interview for Clinton). Still, the man is brilliant off-the-cuff! All you Clinton haters, okay, you didn't like the guy, but man, he can talk about anything and nail it. As long as he's not in court, anyway.
I have to say, Clinton was too much of a centrist for me and made too many concessions to the GOP on cheap wedge issues like faith-based charities and overseas abortion funding. This is probably not the line of criticism most people would take with him, but that's my thought. I was very impressed, however, with his speaking ability.
NT