Cultural Cuisinart

I was watching the Rachel Maddow show last night, and happened to catch this really bizarre interview that she did with David Frum. She started the interview benignly enough, asking him to comment on his recent remarks that seemed to condemn the hate speech heard shouted out at McCain rallies. All of a sudden Frum took this as an opportunity to equate Rachel's show with the same sort of discourse, and then accused her of being too flippant and snide when talking about issues. He actually accuses Rachel of failing to engage in intelligent discussion of the issues.

I've decided that Rachel Maddow must either be some kind of saint, or perhaps just the world's most even-keeled person, because she did not freak out on him. And boy, if ever there was a situation that justified a little freak out, Bill O'Reilly-style, this was it. So I give her massive credit for keeping her calm and engaging him respectfully on the issue. Watch it, it's too weird to believe:



Edited to add: I am struck at how David Frum has absolutely no sense of humor, nor an appreciation for the power of satire. In national politics on a normal day, there's plenty of silly things said that deserve a good mocking. And during this campaign, it's practically dissolved into a farce, with some of strange things both sides have been pitching. I mean, how can you read a headline like "Palin releases results of probe; clears self" and not laugh out loud? When a politician is SO absurd that comedian Tina Fey can just recite her speech verbatim and get a laugh, how can you not see the humor there?

Edited yet again to add: Steve Benen (formerly of The Carpetbagger Report, currently running the Washington Monthly's Political Animal column) has good commentary up about the incident. I am also pleased that I got a little shout-out in the column (I'm the J.L. he thanks for the YouTube link), since I'm a huge fan.