The other night I was watching a rerun of the Daily Show, where Jon Stewart hosted John Bolton. The first thing that occurred to me was that, although Jon didn't allow Bolton to make his cockamamie statements unquestioned, he was very polite to him. So unlike Bill O'Reilly -- Jon Stewart allowed Bolton to say what he would and never told him to shut up or cut off his mike. One of the things Bolton said, in response to Jon's stating that Lincoln had brought opposition politicians into his cabinet, was that Jon was "historically wrong." Now, that amazed me. I have read history, and I know that Jon was correct -- and the blatant brass of Bolton to tell him that he is wrong about something that can be verified with very little effort just astounds me. I mean, talk about a bald faced liar!
So, then the next night, Jon brought back, by phone, Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln," the most recent book concerning Lincoln's cabinet. Jon stated that she had misled him when, as a guest, she had told him about Lincoln bringing his opponents into his cabinet. Goodwin explained that Jon had been correct and Bolton incorrect and "hundreds of historians would support you." It was wonderful! Such a delightful way to deal with Bolton's unabashed pronouncements. And such a model for the world of "serious" news to learn from. Don't let these bastards get away with it -- bring in the expert who can refute them.And then, before she left, Goodwin reminded Jon of the statement by Lyndon Johnson concerning listening to people who disagree with you:
"Better to have your enemies inside the tent pissing out than outside the tent pissing in."
6 comments:
I watch John Stewart every once in a while. There was time last year when he seemed a little common in his humor, maybe pandering to the younger segment of his audience, but lately he seems to have gotten back into that intellectual stride.
I heard (ms? dr?) Goodwin talk about her book on To The Best of Our Knowledge a little over a year ago. Pretty interesting stuff. If anyone is interested in hearing her, and some other interesting Civil War Stories, and if you have headphones, you can listen here: http://www.wpr.org/book/060212a.html
So glad Stewart brought her in. Bolton is an ass.
The only way I could think that Bolton might not be an ass in what he said was, what if he thought Stewart was talking about Lincoln bringing Democrats into his cabenit...which perhaps he did, but what I remember of it was that he brought in several of his rivals for the Republican nomination.
J.
Lincoln brought in both rival Republicans and Democrats, if I remember correctly. He brought in people with expertise.
And, "you're wrong" was what he had been saying to everything Jon Stewart said the entire interview. If Jon had claimed to be breathing, Bolton would have told him he was wrong.
Sad, isn't it, when a comedy network is delivering a better quality of news than any of the cable "news" networks.
Bolton is an ass, and a guy who thinks he can bully his way through the world, and that might makes right. I had an encounter with someone like him at work this week. I'm pleased that I calmly stood my ground, made my case and was ultimately vindicated. Too often the Boltons of the world run roughshod to the detriment of all.
I had never heard that quote from Johnson, but I really like it!!
What about the bald-faced lies that Chaney continues to make about WMD's?...most recently on the (ugh!) Rush Limbaugh program.
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