Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Bill Ayers, Chris Matthews, Hardball

i am really interested to see what you people think of this little word-prance between these two dandies.

one thing, and then, by all means go ahead and watch the thing and tell me what you think. just one thing:
  1. Couldn't Bill A. have slapped on a collared shirt for the big national television interview? Or is it somehow integrally important to him and his vibe that he appear to be "keeping it real.?" (Of course after the interview the pundits got all snobby about Bill's demeanor and I quickly sprung to his defense.)

2 comments:

lex dexter said...

i cannot resist mocking bill ayers' overly casual t-shirt/blazer choice.

otherwise "not crap,"guy. 'never would've imagined you came outta Higher Ed these days, jeepers....

(recall Chris Leo: "revolutionary nostalgia is counter-revolutionary.")

still, "not crap."

wobblie said...

I don't think Bill Ayers probably owns a collared shirt.

I'll give a not crap to Matthews, who I think gave Ayers a pretty fair hearing and let the man say his piece.

And I'll give a not crap to Ayers - I'll be honest and say that I was in the "not crap" camp to begin with, but I think he acquitted himself well. It's difficult to try to explain complex morally ambiguous actions to an audience that mostly views morality in dichotomous terms, but I think he conveyed a certain earnestness in making sense of his decisions. I don't know how well it played with the rest of Murica, but yeah, not crap.

And I didn't get the "revolutionary nostalgia" vibe from Ayers, who I thought spent most of the time trying to deflect attention away from his actual actions and towards the reasons for those actions. He struck me as a man who's still in the process of honestly trying to come to terms with his past.