Stewart is sometimes too glib and superficial in his interviews of politicians. He seems too awestruck to ask hard questions. He does a good job with Pelosi. She's the one who comes off as glib and superficial. The fact that he had to explain his concerns several times before she seemed to get it was just bizarre.  (A. If you believe government can make things better, then don't fuck up when you launch new programs. You undermine your argument when you do that. B. Government policy is for sale, by both parties. Don't do that.)

Her inability to grasp the first argument struck close to home. I've been having a disagreement about a particular program in my little car club. It's a program that used to be a major source of income for the club. It's now a sink hole, and has been for two years.  It's come to the point that I wrote a little manifesto on the subject in an attempt to drill past the superficialities. The conversational circles seem to go like this ...

"We just need to quit making this one particular mistake."

"Yes, you do. But that's not the core issue. The problem is more fundamental."

"Okay, we should stop making this other mistake."

"Yes. Stop doing that one. But that's still not the core issue."

"We do a lot of things right."

"Yes, keep doing them. But what I'm talking about is what you are doing wrong."

"Okay, we promise won't make that one partiucular mistake any more."

"Fine. But god fucking damn it, that's not the core issue. There are some fundamental problems. Stop re-arranging the deck chairs on this Titanic, and let me explain again."

I need to study Mr. Stewarts performance to prepare for the next board meeting. 


- mark 2-01-2014 10:01 pm




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