Bill Maher questions Janet Napolitano on validity of TSA
 

Not much was said by her, and Bill wasted an opportunity by derailing into a pot joke, but nonetheless, some comments made about the future of TSA:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6Qpf...e=channel_page

"That's for me to know..."?!

How lame can one get?

Worthless biased drivel
 

No, he wasted the WHOLE interview softballing it because of his political bent. :td:

Maher would NEVER have thanked Chertoff for the "long hours" or "you must keep unbelievable hours" or sugar coated it with "you're being modest." Like him or hate him, Chertoff would have never got away with a "that's for me to know..." comment. Maher tried to drag Dir. Freeh into it over maternity leave and to her credit Napolitano seemed to ignore it but why waste the limited time he had with her on the pot joke, the repeated kiss up over how many hours she must work?

No one accused Maher of being a real journalist which is why the likes of Napolitano know they can go there and there's no real pressure...unless they're on the other side of the asile.

Wortheless spin. :mad:

Does she always sound like that? To me she sounded either drunk or really tired. There seemed to be a slowness about her and her speech slurred a bit.

Not the whole interview was a waste, but I was disappointed to see him be so deferential to her when even his political ideology doesn't justify the kind of stuff Napolitano defends or tolerates in her role as DHS Secretary.

Your insinuation is that Maher is a democrat, not so...He says he is a Libertarian.

Actually, I was trying to make the point he's part of "the media" which largely demonstrates a distinct bias and which undermines both their professional credibility and makes it so, yes, Democrats, get a pass from him time and time again.

Closer to a Liberal than a Libertarian.

He's no more representative of "the media" than Rush Limbaugh is representative of "the media". We get "the media" that the public -- or at least a large segment of it -- wants.

Perhaps I should make it clear, media - as I was using it - would reflect more than the "mainstream news media" anymore, I was being more inclusive because the public forms their opinions based on more than the "mainstream" news: take Jon Stewart as an example. Sadly, you're right, it is "the media" too large a segment of the public wants rather than fact based information (or news...).

But when people like Maher - yes, as more of a liberal than libertarian - or Jon Stewart can get "real newsmakers" on their shows for "interviews, " those "newsmakers" know (a) they're getting softball, liberally biased questions and know (b) they won't be challenged like they might otherwise be, ok, by "Limbaugh" (which doesn't mean he wouldn't softball, say, an interview with Chertoff - yes, I get that).

My point was, here, Maher had an opening with her "that's for me to know..." non-answer to his question "I fly less because I don't like these restrictions, when can I carry stuff like shampoo on" BUT he let it go. I cannot imagine anyone saying, with a straight face, that if Chertoff had said that in response to Maher, he would have let it go and would not have said something like "Whoa, Skeltor, isn't that sort of thing that's important for the traveling public - the people who are traveling less because of these 'secret strong arm practices' - something they want to know and should know??"

He's closer to a pseudo-liberal or pseudo-libertarian than either a liberal or libertarian.

OMG he is a ditto head in disguise.

Copy that. :D

I so wish that we had something like the BBC's HardTalk of old that didn't play all nice with foolish and misleading answers from interviewees.

However one labels his political bias, Maher may host a poltical show but he's not a journalist. He's an "entertainer" with a Limbaugh-class ego attached to a somewhat better intellect and broader education. This is far from the first time he has derailed a pertinent question to an interesting guest in favor of his adolescent self-absorbtion with pot jokes, sexual innuendo, and how having a Catholic education damaged him forever.

Napolitano's awkward performance gave me the impression she was over-prepped for the "comedic" repartée that sometimes occurs on Maher's show. When he bowed, scraped and actually let her finish entire sentences without interrupting, both were knocked off their rhythms. (At least either she or her staff actually did a little homework before she went on the show.)

Overall I'm quite disappointed in Napolitano so far (as, probably, are the TSOs I chatted with last February, who seemed to anticipate a quick end to the War on Liquids as eagerly as I). I would have liked to hear a serious answer to Maher's poorly-set shoe "question," which he redirected to joke about bras and she witlessly followed. The one high point was her recognition that real security is an endeavor shared by all using the systems, without mention of "See something, say something." It's worth remembering that her first professional encounters with terrorism were both domestic: the Kingman connections to the Oklahoma CIty bombing, and the still-unsolved fatal Arizona Amtrak derailment the following year.

BTW, TK (and congrats on the new arrival!), having watched her public speaking style throughout her Arizona career, from US att'y to AG to governor, I doubt she was either overtired or drunk. Being born in NY and degree'd in California/Back East is not a fast-track position in Arizona politics. Non-native politicians, especially female ones who need be wary of being depicted as "shrill," tend to deaden and Westernize their speech to barely this side of John Wayne. Silly, but many of the electorate fall for it.

Thanks.

I knew something was wrong with her.