Posted on 04/28/2004 5:43:35 AM PDT by mhking
Live on Fox: Well, at least I held my own
Last night, I appeared on Fox News Channel's Hannity & Colmes in a "debate" (and I use the term loosely, it was more like an ambush than anything else) with New York City Councilman Charles "I Wanna Slap The Nearest White Person For My Mental Health" Barron.
Project 21 put out a press release Monday, which strongly criticized a Jesse Jackson's earlier this month in Boston. In the speech, Jackson accused the US Military of "murder," called for the impeachment of the President, and called for both UN sanctions and military action by the United Nations against the United States.
Last I checked, openly supporting military action against the US is grounds for treason, isn't it? Am I missing something?
Well, in any event, Project 21's release was very critical of Jackson, and I was quoted prominently in the release.
"Jesse Jackson's motives have never been as transparent as they were with these statements. If anyone needs to apologize, it's him. He indulges his fantasies and delusions of grandeur by calling for Bush's impeachment and calling for United Nations action against us. But blacks are beginning to see the truth -- that Jackson's bluster is exactly that: all smoke and no substance."FNC's Atlanta studio is in a new facility in Midtown, where Georgia Public Broadcasting has it's headquarters.
The bureau is fairly small, but the facilities modern.
The producer (I'm sorry, I can't remember his name -- I so bad with names; I generally don't forget a face, but I'm horrible with names) ushered me into the studio. The room was comfortable, nowhere near as tiny as the veritable closet that NBC uses for it's Atlanta studio. A chair and low table sat in front of a "Fox Atlanta" backdrop.
The producer explained that the camera was controlled from New York. It was a fancy robotic affair, not overly large at all. A small monitor sat nearby.
They set me up, and I waited a short while, making small talk with the producer, and with the people in New York. The producer turned the monitor away from me -- "So I wouldn't be tempted to look at it," he claimed.
Bottom of the hour, and they came up live. NYC Councilman Charles Barron, along with Sean Hannity and Alan Colmes. I have spoken to Sean a couple of times in the past -- he and I were on competing talk radio stations in the same time slot when I first came to Atlanta nearly 10 years ago. I'm not sure if he remembers me though.
Sean did the intro, then tossed out a question. Barron immediately jumped on it, trying to marginalize me. "Nobody knows who you people are. Yet you are trying to speak for black people."
"No, I'm not trying to speak for everyone. However, I never stopped to elect Jesse Jackson to speak for me," I retorted.
Barron was on a roll. He had the advantage of being in the studio with Sean and Alan -- he could read body language and facial expressions, where I couldn't see a thing (save the unblinking eye of the camera).
He began yelling, and when I didn't shut up right off, he began screeching.
Alan jumped in, grabbed the conversation, and yanked it -- hard -- into the deep water of Iraq, where I was not prepared to go.
Barron was in his element. I thought he sensed my unease, but everyone I've spoken to said that I was pretty cool throughout the whole thing. They said that if anything, Barron was unhinged by my not getting upset and flying off the handle.
I have a strong commanding voice and presence. I am certainly aware of that, and use it pretty much unconsciously.
I spoke over Barron, in an attempt to get my point across. I'm not sure if I did -- the segment was over so quickly.
I kicked myself on the drive home, for allowing Alan to grab the subject from me and head off in another direction.
My wife (She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed) insisted that I did just fine, and reminded me that Alan was one of the hosts -- he had the right and perogative to shift gears if he wanted to.
Oh, well. Come to find out that Mitchell (my 10 year old) yelled at Barron to shut up and let me talk; Lynese just wandered up to the TV, pointed, and said, "There's Daddy."
Then she waved. "Hi, Daddy!"
After I got home, I talked to my folks. I could hear my mom beaming through the phone. My dad? Well, my very liberal dad finally surprised me. "Well, boy, I don't agree with your politics, but you did good. You were polished and authoritative. I'm proud of you."
I guess the "idiot son" has finally come home and shed the "idiot" label.
I wish, however, that I had gotten wind of your appearance sooner so I could have tuned in to watch. Any chance of someone getting a copy of the segment from FNC so us poor sods who were not fortunate enought to catch it can enjoy your sterling performance? If they post it on the web, I for one will be only too happy to view it.
Thanks!
"Hiroshima" notwithstanding, LOL!--I blanked like that once during a dissertation rehearsal, so I know how that feels :)
Just damn! I hated that! I kicked myself all the way home over that one!
when you drove the Japan analogy into Barron's court--I think this was perhaps the strongest point of your presentation
My younger brother is a political fence-sitter who was truly impressed by me last night. He's probably the best Constitutional scholar that I know (rivaling many doctoral candidates, IMO); and volunteered to help coach me on some of those points. He was truly impressed with the Japanese infrastructure concept, and said it made Barron look like a total lunatic.
Colmes came across as a tougher debating opponent than Barron
Agreed. Colmes was able to drive the conversation and take the wheel from me -- and had to, lest his buddy Barron get beaten completely into submision. By going to Iraq, where I was unprepared to go, he rattled my cage (and I WAS rattled, even if it didn't show).
however you were able to capitalize on that by getting him to concede Jackson's comments were over the line, so you countered that effectively. In that exchange you scored a point on Colmes himself, so I'd definitely say you held your own, IMO.
That was something I hadn't thought about. Thanks!
Anybody can be surprised, but you get his measure by what he does next.
As I said in a previous post, I e-mailed Hannity after your appearance, requesting that Barron be barred from all future H&C shows, and that you are invited to appear again on H&C. Hope to see you again on Fox News (or elsewhere) sometime soon! :-)
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Then she waved. "Hi, Daddy!"
LOL! How cute... ;-)
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Reminds me of that scene from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail." It goes something like, "Who are you?" "I'm your lord." "Who made you my lord?" (Not an exact quote, but close enough.) Great job. Hope to see more of you.
And why do they keep bring on William Bennett, the great moral hypocrite?
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