How on earth did Florida Democratic Congressman Robert Wexler’s staff allow him to do an interview with Stephen Colbert without first advising him what he was getting into?
Houston's Clear Thinkers
Longtime Houston attorney Tom Kirkendall's observations on developments in law, business, medicine, culture, sports, and other matters of general interest to the Houston business, professional, and academic communities.
Tom,
I can speak from experience about this, having once staffed a now infamous Daily Show interview for an office holder.
Everybody knows that the interviewer will make fun of you, but the poltician wants the attention. He thinks, “Everyone will be talking about ME!”
On the one hand, the interviewee thinks maybe he will be able to joke along with the host, and not look as foolish as everyone else. On the other, even if he realizes how silly this will be, he plans to grin about it, and thereby be ‘in’ on the joke afterward.
There is also tremendous pressure to stick out in crowd of hundreds of other talented, ambitious elected officials.
The other interesting aspect that bears thinking about is, in a political culture of highly mannered thrust and parry and political spin, Comedy Central is one of the only venues for ‘adult’ conversation and joking around about politics.
Keep up the great blog!
—Adam