Forget the hosts. Are there any guests on cable news or Sunday morning shows you actually like and respect? If you were a host, who would you invite on your show (besides Lieberman and McCain, of course)?
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BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
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well, you probable already know i hate most of them, but i can defintiely tell you who I’d have on if I was a host.
I’d invite bloggers like you, Susie, jane hamsher, Glenn Greenwald, as well as the various Senators and Reps and let you guys ask REAL questions, the kind that make people like Tom Tancredo storm off the set.
Except on MY show, the doors would be locked. they wouldn’t be able to just walk off.
How awesome would that be? Just think about it: jane hamsher and joe lieberman, with no exit. Glenn Greenwald and just about anyone. Duncan Black and Tim Geithner.
oh, with a live studio audience.
I’d invite bloggers like you, Susie, jane hamsher, Glenn Greenwald, as well as the various Senators and Reps and let you guys ask REAL questions, the kind that make people like Tom Tancredo storm off the set.
Don’t forget Digby and Rick Pearlstein.
And how could I forget Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn!
* “you probable already know i hate most of them,”…
Well, it’s a start.
But, given that*, you watch television anyway?!?
Nancy Soderberg, Susan Rice, Jon Stewart
I really like when they have Ari Melber on to debate the Democratic position, no matter what the topic might be. That guy can debate the Republican PR machine under the table just using the facts.
I’d certainly like to see more progressive voices as there is almost no balance anymore. Michael Moore, Helen Caldicott, Phil Donahue, Dolores Huerta, Susan Rice, Code Pink women, Barry Lynn and anyone speaking for civil rights for gay people.
I’d let him say “I told you so” for a whole hour. Corporate welfare is bad for America you say? He’s been saying it for as long as any of us can remember.
A few progressives would be nice. Keith, Ed, Rachael, Greenwald, Hamsher, Americablog (John or Joe),
Arrianna, Booman, Atrios,Sam Stein, O’Donnell, Feingold, Sanders, and on and on.
I’m not sure why rethugs like McCain, Boner et all are still invited. I mean why? They ae in the MINORITY.
hhheeelllooo.
…with any rightie. He practices on them every day, and has his arguments at the ready.
I’d invite Jim DiEugenio on to talk about how we got so far off track as a country.
I’d invite Andy Stern on to talk about the importance of rebuilding the labor movement.
I’d invite Ray McGovern on to talk about how intelligence has become a political tool (used most recently not only against Obama but apparently against liberal bloggers) and is too often shaped not to tell the truth but to produce a specific end result.
I’d have William Kamkwamba on to talk about the need for literacy and curiosity, and how these two qualities can help overcome nearly all other deficits. See him in action here: http://www.ted.com/talks/william_kamkwamba_how_i_harnessed_the_wind.html
I’d have Pranav Mistry on to demonstrate his future vision of how technology and humans can better interact.
I’d have Kristina Borjesson on to talk about how the media refuses to tell us certain dangerous truths – something she learned about first-hand when she was producing a news special for CBS on how a missile brought down flight TWA 800. The network had to chose between telling an uncomfortable truth, or pretending Borjesson was wrong. Naturally but heinously, they chose the latter.
Debating issues on TV is an exercise in futility – the persuadables don’t watch the Sunday morning talk shows – so let’s go for maximum entertainment value:
To my left – Alan Grayson and Dennis Kucinich
To my right – Michelle Bachman and Ron Paul.
Nobody would beat my ratings…
I’d like to hear some views on the economy and how to deal with our long-term debt from economists like Stiglitz. I’d like to hear some opposition to the establishment views, see Bernanke, that the obvious remedy is to cut social security and medicare benefits and not even consider raising taxes on the rich.
Obama is going to suffer some self-inflicted damage by keeping on folks like Bernanke and Geithner who were at the helm during the creation of the Wall Street mess. For someone so smart he is really missing the optics on this and it is hurting his credibility.
I like to hear guests whose comments I can’t predict either because of their unique knowledge or their original thinking. Some guests, I know I’ll agree with them, but it’s boring to know in advance what they’re going to say. Nearly all blogger and columnist guests fall into that category for me. (You wouldn’t, Booman–wish you’d make the circuit.) Ditto strategists and professional lawyer-pundits. One of the very few congresspeople I can think of who always has an interesting surprise or two is Barney Frank.
So for me, off the top of my head, it’s Frank, Richard Engel, Sy Hersch, Joe Biden, Michael Ware, Lara Logan.
Jeremy Scahill, Marcy Wheeler,Matt Taibbi,Al Franken,Scott Horton,Juan Cole,Simon Johnson and Elizabeth Warren.
I watch Roland Martin’s show on TVOne.
who would I invite?
Bev Smith
Dr. Ron Walters
Ron Daniels
Julianne Malveaux
Robert Woodson
Charles Butler
Amy Goodman
Jim Wallis
Charles Ogletree
Boyce Watkins
Melissa Harris-Lacewell
But, television, and, particularly turning it on and watching it, is the problem.
robert reich rules. I like a man who always swings upwards.
People I would NOT invite:
Self promoting race hustlers who would run over the neighborhood children when the white boys on national tv call because they need someone to base President Obama on a particular day
Anyone who:
Now, the people below fit into several of the above categories
Michael Eric Dyson
Boyce Watkins
Tavis Smiley
Juan Williams
Cornell West
Roland Martin