TALK / TALK
A fun, feisty, and philosophical dialogue among two leading independents as they reviewed the week's top political news.
ARCHIVES: 2006 ‐ 2010
For years, Fred Newman and Jacqueline Salit ‐‐ two leading activists and intellectuals within the independent political movement ‐‐ watched the political talk shows and discussed them over coffee. In early 2005, they began transcribing these conversations and distributing them to their friends and followers. Over the years, their "talk about the talk" developed into a popular weekly missive distributed via e‐mail to tens of thousands of readers worldwide. Making ﴾Non﴿ Sense of an Irrational World is a compilation of some of their most popular and thought provoking discussions from the last five years.
The Unvarnished Truth?
George Tenet, former CIA director, was on Meet the Press. Tim Russert tried to discover whether Tenet was an honest broker in the run up to the war or an enabler, someone who crossed over into politics, into marketing, into the business of selling the war to the American people, rather than being an objective analyst of the conditions in Iraq and Iraq's role if any -- in 9/11. Let me begin by asking you whether you accept that framing -- that bright line distinction between honest broker and enabler?
The Year of the Vaccum.
The McLaughlin Group pointed out the following statistic: 76% of Democrats are happy with the choices in the Democratic field and only 50% of Republicans are happy. They'd like to see some more candidates. What does that snapshot tell you about where we're at in the presidential race?
Explaining Blacksburg.
On "The Chris Matthews Show," the panelists put forward four basic explanations for the Blacksburg, Virginia shootings. Let me begin by asking you what your reactions are to these four different explanations.
Broken Hearts, Broken Politics.
Chris Matthews looks at the financial reports from the presidential candidates...and, of course, observes that Obama nearly matched Hillary in dollars raised and doubled her in terms of numbers of contributors -- 100,000 for him, 50,000 for her. Matthews then asked the following question: "Does this mean that the Democrats are not ready to commit to Hillary Clinton?"
No Forgiveness.
Charlie Rangel, a guest on "Meet the Press," says he encouraged Obama to run for president and told him you're talented, you're young, you're very bright, you have a lot to give and you'll always regret it if you do it -- grab the moment and run. And, Rangel is supporting Hillary Clinton .... Is this the move of an honest broker? Is this the move of a smart political player? Is it both?
The Waiting Game.
Last week the House voted 218 to 212 to impose a date for withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq. Now the action goes to the Senate. What's your view of the congressional action on Iraq at this point? Is it important, is it not important?
Decision Time.
I'm going to start with Richard Perle, former chairman of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board, one of four panelists on "Meet the Press" discussing the war in Iraq. One would like to say he's the last of the neo-cons, but probably not. Tim Russert asked him 'Has the investment in Iraq been worth it,' and Perle says 'That's the wrong question. You can't ask that..."
Topsy-Turvy Times.
It's amazing, isn't it? I'm talking about the extremes to which the establishment will go to deny the existence of the independent movement. That's the obvious factor in all of this. The independent movement is more than a third of the electorate, yes?
She’s Vulnerable.
The newest polls show the black vote starting to shift away from Hillary Clinton to Barack Obama. Chris Matthews made the point that this shift undercuts "the inevitability factor"--a major component of the Clinton strategy.