Comments on: Air America Radio

By: Alas, a Blog

Alas, a Blog — Tue, 24 Aug 2004 22:40:03 +0000

Air America Debriefing - Should I have agreed to appear? As most "Alas" readers already know, last week I was a guest on Janeane Garofalo's radio show "The Majority Report." It was the first of their "blog wars" segments, in which left and right wing bloggers debate this or that...

By: jen

jen — Thu, 19 Aug 2004 12:37:43 +0000

I thought it was supposed to be on Thursday (today)? I'm bummed I missed it.

By: Paul

Paul — Thu, 19 Aug 2004 12:00:17 +0000

The phenomenon is a little strange when you think about it. Iâm completely without academic or political qualifications, self published and unattached to any established media or party organization. What the hell were they thinking?

Kate you are eminently qualified to do radio. There is only one qualification to do radio and that is to be interesting.

Your blog only let the producers know you were interesting.

By: Pat

Pat — Thu, 19 Aug 2004 06:46:25 +0000

Maybe some good radio hosts, like Hannity, Limbaugh, Savage, O'Reilly, or Scarborough will have you and the frenchman "atrios" on and you can trap him about how weak Kerry is.

By: James Joyner

James Joyner — Thu, 19 Aug 2004 03:02:58 +0000

It didn't look right but I found "segueway" via google search with it saying "do you mean 'segue'?" And, true 'nuff. It was basically me vs. Atrios but the hosts interrupted a couple times and hijacked it. The main thing is that, although we were supposed to be debating whether Bush or Kerry would be the better foreign policy choice, they only wanted to talk about Bush, which really isn't very useful.

By: bryan

bryan — Thu, 19 Aug 2004 01:47:16 +0000

James,

You should know by now that you weren't there to get a fair shake. Three-on-one is a mugging, not a serious discussion. I wish I'd heard it.

Segue. Segway is the personal transporter thing.

By: Backcountry Conservative

Backcountry Conservative — Thu, 19 Aug 2004 01:37:04 +0000

Joyner on Air America
James Joyner will be debating Atrios on Janeane Garofalo's show on Air America tonight. UPDATE: James Joyner has a full report on his debate and points out that Robert Tagorda is on deck for tomorrow night....

By: Kate

Kate — Thu, 19 Aug 2004 01:17:20 +0000

Am I right in assuming that the reputation you've earned through your blog was the sole reason for the invite?

I ask, because this summer I was a guest "pundit" on a political panel on local talk radio - because of the blog. The phenomenon is a little strange when you think about it. I'm completely without academic or political qualifications, self published and unattached to any established media or party organization. What the hell were they thinking?

By: James Joyner

James Joyner — Thu, 19 Aug 2004 00:39:28 +0000

Oh, I agree. My argument is that, once we went in, a lot of what happened was going to happen regardless of the man in charge. Tommy Franks, State Dept. types, and others made most of the decisions on the ground. And people always forget there's another team on the ground. (Nor am I blaming Franks, et. al. They're pros making the best decisions they can. ) Bush took us to Iraq and he gets the credit and blame for things as a result. But Kerry isn't arguing that we shouldn't have gone, just that we should have done it "better." That's pretty easy to say.

By: forgetting

forgetting — Thu, 19 Aug 2004 00:32:04 +0000

'People give presidents too much credit and blame for things over which they have only strategic control.'

True, yet it is the administration officials appointed by the leader who make decisions in line with his strategic objectives. If they stray from his preferences, they are dealt with. If they are not dealt with, then it can be assumed that their actions are condoned. So in a sense, it is right the leader bear responsibility for errors of his team. This is the essence of accountability, something Bush campaigned hard on once upon a time.

Postwar contingency planning in Iraq, by the DOD, has arguably enabled one of the largest 'strategic' errors in decades (ie chaos, looting, etc), yet no one is called to task. An inability to admit mistakes does not a wise foreign policy make.