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The Cost of Winning
Over at Hot Air, Jazz Shaw describes his experience being interviewed for The Daily Show:
They had a long script of questions, and a number of them were asked multiple times to see what variety of answers I might give. I was consciously working during every exchange to not give them any short, clipped, yes or no answers that they could weave into the segment out of context. I anticipated some of the obvious ones they might ask. One great example showed up when they asked me about details of the drill bits, how deep in the ground they went and how long they stayed down there. The obvious implication was that it was dumb to “raise awareness” by painting the bits pink because so few people would ever see them. When she asked me how many people actually saw the drill bits I smiled and said, “well, between CNN, MSNBC and now the Daily Show… tens of millions? So I guess it worked out okay after all.”
Sam Bee smiled at me and said, “Well played, sir.” (Of course they didn’t use that.)
[snip]
It went back and forth like that for a long time. I tried my best to hold my own, and we even talked about the fact that I knew they were going to try to edit me in a bad light. But throughout all of the interview session and those discussions, we had fun. She was really enjoyable to talk to and we both knew what our roles were in that little play. It took the pressure off and everyone laughed a lot.
In the end, Jazz outplayed them. “If this was a chess match where The Daily Show wanted to make me look bad, I think I came away with the win, particularly since I had absolutely no control over the editing.” So TDS used very little of the interview in the final segment.
It’s well known that the point of any hosted show — whether The Daily Show, Bill Maher, or Rush Limbaugh — is to make the host look good. Conservatives know that they are invited to appear on TDS or Bill Maher to be set up. Jazz knew it too, but he wanted to play the game.
Jen Psaki, State Dept. spokesman, also plays the game. In a press briefing, she gave a BS answer on Egypt, and a reporter called her on it. She maintained her composure while the cameras rolled, but was more candid with reporters off the field.
Psaki declined to give any further comment to reporters during the briefing. However, as the lights dimmed, Psaki was exasperated and told Lee how she really felt, not realizing her microphone was still on.
“That Egypt line is ridiculous,” Psaki said.
Jonathan Gruber plays the game too. Sure, he’s been penalized recently for dancing in the end zone ostentatiously. But his points stay up on the scoreboard.
And of course, President Obama plays the game. Meet the Press host Chuck Todd published a new book about the president, and gives new corroboration to the common conservative understanding of the man and his agenda. “He has a very rational view about politics. He thinks it’s sort of silly, the theatrics you have to go through.” The theatrics have been on display for six years. Obamacare is absolutely not a new tax for the public; but it is for the Supreme Court. Obama’s executive orders are absolutely not novel when the audience is the general public; but he changed the law in an unprecedented way when the audience is immigration activists. Whatever it takes to win the game.
The fact that it’s a game allows the players to keep it impersonal. I assume that’s how James Carville and Mary Matalin maintain their marriage. For many of us, though, that kind of cognitive dissonance is harder to maintain. “Keep thee far from a false matter,” the good book says (Ex. 23:7). It may be a game to you, but for the rest of us there are higher stakes. For us, it’s real life.
The hardest lesson I had to learn. Thanks to Yes, Minister, at least I can laugh about it.
It’s all pomp and circumstance.
Does The Daily Show shame people if they refuse their invitation to appear with the well-worn, “we extended an invitation to so-and-so, but their office declined”?
I don’t believe that TDS does this. Therefore, if the best one can hope for is to be cut out of the story virtually completely, then I think not appearing in the first place would be a better use of one’s time.
Look at how Yoo got under Stewart’s skin, or how Jonah Goldberg handled himself. I guess it depends on how much skill you bring to the game. Some people should avoid TDS or Maher, but others are very well equipped to play the game.
Any conservative who willingly goes on the Daily Show has taken a deliberate step from “real life” to “game.”
And in general, I find conservative hand-wringing about the Daily Show to be counterproductive. It succeeded in the free market – it started off on a no-name cable channel and earned its success the hard way – and is influential because it provides people with something they obviously enjoy.
I see little difference between the Daily Show and Rush – both provide a mixture of entertainment and political advocacy to a partisan audience. And in both cases, the problem (if any) is not with the content provider, it’s the fact that there is such a huge audience eager to eat up that content. That’s a real life problem.
The difference is that John Yoo and Jonah Goldberg went in for the in-studio interview with Stewart himself, whereas the chap in question here apparently was being interviewed for a pre-taped segment. In other words, if he didn’t give them the sound bite they wanted, they could cut him out completely without anyone knowing the difference.
Frankly, I think any conservative who agrees to be interviewed for a Daily Show pre-tape has nobody to blame but themselves. The show has been using the exact same gotcha-quote MO for 15 years now (in fairness, that MO is used across the entire political spectrum), and anyone on the right who falls for such an old trick is not someone I want on my team.
Exactly! As on the journalism thread, it’s about advancing the agenda. The ends justify the means. As long as you’ve put up points, it’s worth taking one for the team.
I take things far too seriously to ever even pretend to want to play such games. This is probably why I don’t get invited to parties. (Not that I would go, anyway).
Knowing that it is all a game doesn’t mean it isn’t worth doing, but neither will I ever take what is said/not said all that seriously. Bah humbug.
I would like to believe Rush never treats people the way the Daily Show treated Bosch Fawstin.
Yes, Minister is a gold mine, and quite classy. You can’t help but laugh at the absurdity of it all. But it is still eerily necessary to play the game and play it well.
I find that The Thick of It is the dark spiritual successor of Yes, Minister.
You’ve been invited to be on The Daily Show.
You’ve no desire whatsoever to be on the show. Ever. You’d as soon take up an exclusive and steady diet of ground glass mixed with putrid brown jello than appear even once within 1000 yards of Jon Stewart or anyone on the cast of that show.
So, do you have your publicist say “No. Non. Nyet. Nein. Ie, watakushi wa niemals auf unser programme appear.”?
No.
Release a video on YouTube showing all the pressing matters you are too busy attending to to be able to appear on the show. Show yourself doing these things: clipping your fingernails. Clipping your toenails. Clipping your dog’s nails. Applying nail polish to your wife’s toes. Washing your hair. Bathing your dog. Soaking your woolen socks in Woolite. Brushing your teeth. Brushing your dog’s teeth. Solving Word Finder puzzles, crossword puzzles, Soduku games, and jigsaw puzzles.
Finally, go into your bathroom, where you have hidden a squeeze bottle of water. Make certain you are only seen from the chest up. Unzip your fly, and squeeze a long stream of water into the toilet bowl. Then flush the toilet.
Close out the video by repeating to Jon Stewart that you are much too busy to appear on his show.
Yes, I’m too simpleminded. I want open debate in a battle to persuade the public. I can’t stomach what we have instead, which is a guerrilla campaign to manipulate the public. Instead of convincing people of the rightness of their ideas, the left is continually trying to hide what they really think.
In our media-saturated culture, I think we as conservatives must be ready to engage the left. That’s one of the reasons I like Chris Christie, though he is persona non grata among Ricochet’s conservatives.
I wonder what TDS’s response would be if the person being interviewed insisted on having his/her own cameraman there recording the entire proceeding, so the reality of the situation could be made available on YouTube, etc.?
My guess is TDS would never allow that, which exposes their true intentions.
Newt is also good at handling the media, but isn’t exactly the choice of most people for any further office. Handling the media is not a sole criteria.
I don’t dislike Christie, just as I don’t dislike Gingrich, but I wouldn’t choose either as a presidential leader.
Who’d a thunk that snark blocking would become such a sought after skill in the 21st century? Stewart’s whole gig is reactionary, and who he is and what he is all about is evident in the items he and his staffers choose to react to.
The Yoo interview is a great example of why taking Stewart out is so difficult. John had to be better at expressing his argument and what instructed it than Jon was at snark. That’s a tall order.