Tuesday, March 08, 2011

Watch Jon Stewart interview Rand Paul. I found this very informative and left me, once again, extremely impressed with Stewart's skill as an interviewer.

For those who have said that Jon would be too soft on Sarah Palin and that she would come away unscathed from an interview with him, just watch how Jon handles Rand Paul and the kinds of concessions he coaxes out of him while still making his points without going on the attack.  And don't forget that Rand Paul is not a simpleton like Palin so he can at least hold a reasonably intellectual conversation.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Exclusive - Rand Paul Extended Interview Pt. 1
www.thedailyshow.com
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By the way there are a few points made by Paul that I absolutely agree with, especially the fact that we cannot balance our budget without addressing military spending.  What he absolutely refuses to admit is that we also need to do away with the Bush tax breaks for the top 1%, and that the market is NOT self regulatinig, and that is what really shows his lack of credibility and the fatal flaw in his argument.

This is the extended version of the interview, all of which I will not embed since it slows my blog down to a crawl, but which you can continue watching by clicking here for part two and here for part three.

31 comments:

  1. Anonymous12:21 PM

    I especially like the way JS coaxes this fool out of the *I will speak to you as if you're a 10-year-old* mentality at the very beginning of the conversation. I'm sorry, but while I agree this guy is MILES ahead of most of the other Republicorps out there, he is still an IDIOT.

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    1. Giovanni4:32 PM

      Rand Paul was being polite as he always is, he wasn't being condescending.

      This isn't a boxing match, it was supposed to be an intellectual conversation that nobody paid any attention to.

      Delete
  2. Virginia Voter12:40 PM

    Yawn...blah, blah, blah...same shit talking points, different day from the king of teabagging senators.

    Blah, blah, government and taxes bad, blah, blah free market capitalism good. Does any of these GOP'ers have an original, thoughtful solution in their heads? Good God, it's like they slept through the entire Bush administration.

    I too agree with Paul Jr and Sr that we need to drastically cut military spending, end aid to Israel, and get out of Afghanistan for good. That's about where it ends. No Republicans ever talk about education, technology and infrastructure, energy efficiency, and reducing dependence on fossil fuels. Their ideas are so 1981. Kentuckians had a chance to elect a real senator in Jack Conway, but they voted in this squirrel head. Thanks for nothing...no wonder your state ranks in the bottom for education, and top for poverty and meth labs. Awesome

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    1. Giovanni4:39 PM

      "Does any of these GOP'ers have an original, thoughtful solution in their heads?"

      Did you not pay attention? Free market doesn't mean get away with crime - if the government wasn't funding the companies directly (GSEs or government sponsored enterprises), artificially lowering interest rates and bailing out the corporations after words, the recession never would have happened. So yes, Capitalism is good and big Government, not limited government, is bad.

      His father predicted the recession several years before it happened - no one listened.

      "No Republicans ever talk about education, technology and infrastructure, energy efficiency, and reducing dependence on fossil fuels."

      I'm a libertarian - so is Paul and therefor speaking as if he's a mainstream republican is framing the debate. Both parties are corrupt.

      We have trillion dollar spending levels yet still rank lowest in education and infrastructure. So what does that tell you?

      Snap out of the false left/right paradigm.

      Delete
  3. Dinty1:01 PM

    Again, a sad state of affairs when the best, most skilled interviewer, and the only one out there who really does his homework is the one who anchors a comedy news show.

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  4. Anonymous1:07 PM

    Stewart is very good at what he does. If Palin ever had the guts to go on his show, she would spill the beans and walk away thinking she had pulled one over on HIM!

    As for Rand Paul, personally I think the man is crazy, but he and a handful of his ilk share a few similar views .... such as ending the wars.

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    1. Giovanni4:42 PM

      Maybe you should do some honest research and you'll figure out why he has the views he has instead of mistakenly referring to him as crazy?

      The government created the recession by artificially lowering interest rates and funding the companies responsible through government sponsored enterprises - this bad economy is directly the result of government control of the money supply and interest rates - without those - both interest rates and the money supply - there is no free market. Period.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous1:28 PM

    “There’s class warfare, all right but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.”- Warren Buffett.

    Ron Paul might not be a Palin-like simpleton but he's no genius either, and his grasp of economics is limited to very stubborn, simple-minded ideological talking points.

    Having a discussion about economic issues with him is like arguing with the Pope about the existence of God.

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  6. Anonymous1:29 PM

    Nope, don't agree after watching the clips -- in fact, after watching this softball, oh so cordial interview with the extreme Rand Paul, I disagree more than ever that Jon Stewart has any real balls when it comes to flat out challenging any right wing assholes. I disagreed with you before and I do so again, and here's why.


    Jon Stewart is now totally a prisoner of his "can't we all just get along" bullshit. For every point of Paul's that Stewart very gently and cautiously disputes, he also "maybe you're right's" or "you make a good point's."

    BULLSHIT! Jon Stewart wants to have it both ways - he is loathe to lose what he knows is his liberal (bill-paying) audience, but he also is terrified of appearing the slightest bit passionate or extreme about liberal causes. Stewart repeatedly demonstrates in these clips of his interview with the utterly despicable, throw-the-environment-and-the-poor-to-the-wolves Rand Paul how *desperately* he avoids creating any controversy with his show. Yup, he's the anti-Olbermann.

    After watching him in action like this one too many times, I'm totally over Jon Stewart and I totally disagree that he would ever dream of asking Sarah Palin any real squirm-inducting questions if he got her on his show. He wouldnt, because that's what she would be expecting. Therefore, this showman would do the exact opposite and set out to charm and disarm her.

    Stewart's a phony who spends way too much time and effort now on burnishing his own reasonable image to be willing to give Palin the grilling she needs and deserves. He would just do a Jay Leno on her.

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  7. Anonymous1:49 PM

    http://www.adn.com/2011/03/07/1741635/palin-headlines-getting-tense.html

    Sarah is absolutely petrified of entering an open debate or exchange of ideas. It would expose what a fraud she is.

    I still believe she will walk up to the edge of the "I'm running" cliff, then turn and run away with every penny she can get away with.

    Good riddance Sarah. And all the supporters you fleeced deserve it just for the fact they are too ignorant to figure out what a fake you are.

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  8. laprofesora1:49 PM

    Anon@1:29

    You are entitled to your opinion, but what would you have Jon Stewart do, go all BOR/Limbaugh and scream at the guy? He only interviews his guests on-air for six minutes; there's not a lot you can address in that short amount of time. He's not going to change anyone's opinions or get any big revelations or confessions in six minutes. I respect the fact that he is cordial and respectful to his guests, and he very skillfully gets his points across. Maybe you have an unrealistic expectation of his show.

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  9. Nikogriego1:52 PM

    I agree with the final comment, to a great degree, and some of the others. It does seem that Jon Stewart, as much as I like him and appreciate his schtick, wants to be able to keep having conservatives come to his show, so he does not challenge them as much as he could.

    Rand Paul could have been questioned about his position, iterated in his campaign, that the Federal Government should not regulate private companies when they practice racial or other discrimination, that the market will take care of this and other problems. The market does not self-regulate, as we have all seen, and will do whatever makes the market puppeteers the most money. And we have seen what happens when regulation of corporations is reduced-the corps take huge advantage and get away with as much as they can. Rand Paul is an ideological fool, who does not "walk the walk", as Stewart said. Paul, and while claiming to want less government, receives a large portion of his business income from Medicare payments.

    The best interview I saw Stewart give was to the architect of the Bush torture policy, the attorney from Berkeley, John Woo. He did a great job with him, but since then, even with Rumsfeld, he has been weak.

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  10. Anonymous2:11 PM

    His interviewing skills are far superior to any journalist in our country. The subtlety, yet powerful nature, of his questions go far beyond the depth of most journalists.

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  11. Anonymous2:14 PM

    To 1:29PM. If he would have taken a hard line approach, Rand would have been viewed as sympathetic. He didn't come off as sympathetic at all.

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  12. I definitely appreciate Stewart's respectful attitude and the format of discussing a topic beyond simple talking points.

    I was alarmed by one exchange. Paul talked about abolishing regulatory agencies and having Congress vote on all regulations. That's a ploy for Congress to assume executive power. It would be a nightmare for Congress to take on that job. It could also increase the power of lobbyists over elected officials. Yet, John agree with him. Perhaps, he just meant to agree that we needed regulatory reform but it didn't come off that way.

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  13. Anonymous2:25 PM

    O/T Keeping Up with the Palins

    http://www.vanityfair.com/images/culture/2011/
    04/palins-vs-kardashians.jpg

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  14. Anonymous2:48 PM

    Rand Paul was telling John Stewart only what he knew Stewart wanted to hear. Rand Paul wants to gut our government and he wouldn't dare let Stewart hear him say that

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  15. Anonymous4:06 PM

    Totally disagree, 2:14. By treating Paul so respectfully, and not forthrightly calling him out on his bullshit and making him try to defend it, instead of just gently pussyfooting around it, Stewart made Paul look reasonable and sympathetic in this interview.

    I have no expectation of Jon Stewart any more, not after his ego-stroking rally where he equated Keith Olbermann with Bill O'Reilly and Glenn Beck. Sure, Olbermann has a big, loud mouth, but you know what comes out of it, as opposed to what comes out of O'Reilly's and Beck's mouths? THE TRUTH!

    The fact that all Stewart seems to care about is sound level and courtesy to each other, rather than the truth, is disgusting. That's a pretense that lets monsters continue to operate just as they have been.

    Mark my words, if Jon Stewart ever interviews Sarah Palin there are going to be a lot of very disappointed people.

    1:29

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  16. Anonymous4:53 PM

    The top 1% who don't need tax cuts are his largest Texas donors. Why would he make them mad. He also has a sordid history that is kept from the college students he recruits as well as from z But just read some of his earlier newsletters and it's pretty obvious he's a white supremacist who does not care for certain minorities and religions.
    He and his odd extremist son like to hide this from the public. His son Rand wants to get rid of minimum wage
    laws and child labor laws. Jerk

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  17. onething5:29 PM

    Libertarianism sounds attractive at first, but it actually opens the door to a very immoral, or perhaps I should say amoral, system.

    I dislike Rand Paul so much that I am no longer sure if I like Ron Paul eithre, whom I used to like, but maybe he is just more sly?

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  18. Anonymous5:30 PM

    I'm not convinced that an interview of Palin by Stewart would be worthwhile. She would only agree to one if certain conditions were met and so what would be the point? She doesn't deserve any attention so why encourage anyone to give her any? Granted, no one seems to be saying anything pro-Palin these days which means that most people are wise to her, but there really is no reason that we need to hear any more about her tweets and other minutia.

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  19. onething5:30 PM

    “There’s class warfare, all right but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.”- Warren Buffett."

    He seems like an honest man. He often tells it like it is.

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  20. Anonymous6:20 PM

    My mother was a public school English teacher. Not a high IQ person by most students thought she was a good teacher.
    My uncle's wife was Phi Beta Kappa and a life long house wife. Also, too she looked on my family as country bumpkins because my uncle made a good deal more money than my two teacher parents.

    But.

    Every once in a while my mother would get tired of Hallie's snide insults and would cut her. And she would do it so skillfully that Hallie, and everybody else, would know she was bleeding but never could figure out how it had happened and so could not make a come back at my mother.

    Stewart could slice little pieces off Sarah over and over and over and Sarah might not even notice, and even if she did she would not be able to come back as Stewart except with anger of her martyr act.
    Some people just have that knack and the smarts to use it.

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  21. Anonymous6:26 PM

    It amuses me that the Republicans the Tee Peeers talk about cutting entitlements.
    There is no group in the US that thinks they are more entitled than the military, except possibly Congress persons.

    So yeah, lets cut the biggest entitlement and that would balance the budget.

    And then we could get on with prog ressing our country, just like Sarah wants, instead of re gressing it the way the Republicans want.

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  22. Anonymous10:29 PM

    What is that thing on his head? A bathmat?

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  23. Anonymous3:43 AM

    Gryphen, the Libertarian mindset is basically this: To make as much money as possible, no matter who it hurts; keeping the US isolationist; drowning the govt in a bathtub; and "you're on your own" for everything, whether it's within your ability or not--and if it's not, tough shit.

    Older-Wiser

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  24. Anonymous4:38 AM

    Sarah is like Forrest Gump without the endearing qualities. Why do people continue to legitimize her. She deserves to be on "The Daily Show" as much as my dog does. It doesn't matter, though. She wouldn't go. She hates things like that, even on FOX all she does is frown and look unhappy.

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  25. emrysa7:54 AM

    yeah I still disagree, gryphen. he would be too easy on her. he was easy on paul - although he made some good points he was rather meek about it all.

    I love in the discussion on raising taxes paul refers to "wage earners" - see this is another slimy trick by these people. they want everyone to think that the discussion about raising taxes on the wealthiest of people is the same as raising taxes on wage earners - bullshit! those in the top 5% income bracket in this country are not wage earners. their money is making money and that's not wages. slimy! any lie to manipulate the masses!

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  26. Anonymous10:55 AM

    Loved this interview, and I thought Stewart did a great job. I especially liked the part when they both realized, with surprise, that they agreed on something. AS a DISH customer/employee I was able to watch the show on my iphone during my lunchbreak using the TV Everywhere app from DISH. Love it, and love the Daily Show.

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  27. Giovanni4:46 PM

    Man, not one single person on this site knows what free markets are or libertarianism. If I ask one of you to define it in your own words, you cannot define it.

    I'm being honest - not one of you - not a single one.

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  28. Giovanni4:48 PM

    There's no excuse now:

    The philosophy of liberty:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8z1buym2xUM

    Libertarianism:
    http://www.libertarianism.com/

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