Must see Lawrence O'Donnell interview with a dissembling Condi Rice

[flpoljunkie]

She really lost her cool. Lawrence really hammered her--but politely. She could not take the heat and was upset he would not let her fiiibuster and not answer his questions. The video is not up yet, but it will be.

http://thelastword.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/05/05/6593073-condoleezza-rice-gets-the-last-word

[Atman]

1. It was awesome.

:)

[flpoljunkie]

2. Rachel Maddow's tweet about the interview...

maddow Rachel Maddow MSNBC
by lawrence

The @lawrence interview with Condoleezza Rice was epic - 8PM Eastern tonight, MSNBC. I'll join Lawrence after it airs.
3 hours ago

http://twitter.com/#!/lawrence

[valerief]

3. Another protected war criminal. But LO was great. nt

[emulatorloo]

4. In the DVR all hot and toasty.

[Thrill]

5. Maybe its me. But I don't think he did anything special

He let her fillibuster the interview. I think she won it. I don't think he did a good job at all. You must have been watching another interview. He didn't do any hammering. She talked completely over him and was getting all her points over.

[flpoljunkie]

6. Is that you, Condi?

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

[Thrill]

8. Just being honest. I would have liked to see him hammer

but watch the interview. She took it over. And got no follow up.

[flpoljunkie]

11. I did watch it and agree with Rachel that the interview was 'epic.'

[Thrill]

13. EPIC FAIL??

.

[Diamonique]

22. Sorta. When he was interrupting her, he was trying to follow up.

But she fillibusters every question.. so it just makes it look like he was being harsh.

I'll never forget her testimony before the 9/11 commission. The woman can talk forever and not say a damned thing relevant to the question. That's what she was doing last night... and that's what he was trying to disable.

[ClusterFreak]

9. Don't know what interview you were watching.

L.O. was cool, firm and armed to the teeth with indisputable facts. She could NOT handle the truth and every single time he said anything she simply threatened to take her marbles and go home. He towered over her in the interview and she looked like a spoiled child who couldn't get her way. Normally Condi is so prim and proper as she parrots the right wing meme on Iraq. Not tonight though. Tonight she was cornered by a superior, unintimidated interviewer and she lashed out like a cornered pitbull frothing at the mouth.

Like Rachel said in her Tweet....it was "epic".

[Thrill]

16. I just don't see it

I thought she really outsmarted him. Making him look like a bully and then turned his questions into her talking points. I thought she handled him amazingly well. He certainly didn't hammer her. Especially when she made him admit that they had a coliation. I like LO. Just think Condi came off better

[SpiralHawk]

17. You apparently are among the wee whiney faction known as the Noisy Minority (R)

Because EVERYONE of good judgment saw how L.O. totally gutted the shameful Republicon liar & wiggler, Condi.

[flpoljunkie]

20. Great photo! Condi's face says it all.

[marions ghost]

25. It's Hard Work guarding the Bush Crime Family secrets

--That picture always reminds me of poor Condi's archetypal role:

Lady MacBeth

"She should have died hereafter;
There would have been a time for such a word.
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury
Signifying nothing." — Macbeth (Act 5, Scene 5, lines 17-28)

[Kingofalldems]

7. They must be worried about something--

I'm thinking she was sent to do this interview.

[The Backlash Cometh]

10. There's raw material there.

Here's what I wrote in another post:

It was obvious that George Bush wanted Sadaam.

She was very defensive, trying to prove that Saddam was a evil, bad man. It had nothing to do with 9.11. It was a different war.

[Catherine Vincent]

12. I thought Condi held her own

O'Donnell did a great job but you could tell he was holding back (compared to how he handled that birther woman). I guess he had to keep it less argumentive or else he'd be label as a black republican woman beater.

[flamingdem]

24. Even Lawrence was scared of her

on first blush I thought the same, that Condi knows how to handle an interview.

The upshot is she is an excellent and aggressive manipulating liar.

[Honeycombe8]

14. I thought he was rude. I changed the channel.

I believe in asking direct questions, but he was really making a statement rather than asking a question, and then he'd interrupt her and not let her answer. She was right to say she'd end the interview if he didn't let her answer.

Sometimes he just gets so excited and passionate that he forgets to LISTEN. It's an interview. You know...you ask a question, then you LISTEN to the answer...then you respond to that answer....then you LISTEN to the response to your response. He forgets the listening part sometimes.

I think executive officials should be treated with a certain level of respect. I saw him trying to do that, but he wasn't altogether successful. I thought she was brave for going on his show, to begin with.

(Yeah, I know her explanations and answers were more Kool-Aid...but I'm not talking about the substance, here. I'm talking about just letting her answer, and asking a direct rather than loaded question.)

[Myrina]

18. He does that - a la Chris Matthews - all the time ...

... that's why I can't stand to do more than flip by once in awhile to see what his theme is ...

[Empowerer]

26. I agree with you

He spend much too much time trying to "nail" her and prove that she wasn't telling the truth during the interview rather than getting her on the record with specific responses that could later be analyzed, which is what a really good interviewer does. Only Perry Mason is truly effective with the "aHA - caught you in a lie!" method of questioning.

He also let her trap him into arguing over minute, irrelevant details, such as how many partners were in the coalition - and she trapped him into admitting that she was right and he was wrong on that point - a point that was quite irrelevant in the larger scheme but was effective for her.

I got the impression he was thinking throughout the interview about what a great takedown he was doing rather than listening to her answers and formulating questions designed to elicit additional answers. It was unfortunate because he missed a great opportunity.

[Clio the Leo]

15. Thanks for posting...

.... it's late and with the GOP debate left to watch, I was gonna skip Lawrence. So thanks for the heads up.

[flpoljunkie]

19. You're welcome, Clio.

[flpoljunkie]

21. The link to Lawrence O'Donnell's interview with Condi Rice...

http://thelastword.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/05/05/6593647-the-condoleezza-rice-interview

[flamingdem]

23. Also see Rachels analysis nt

[Keith Bee]

27. 2 late 2 rec

but can kick butt

[davidpdx]

28. It is now....

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/42938661#42938661

[Honeycombe8]

29. You mean HE lost HIS cool. Rice held her own and kept her cool.

She merely pointed out that she'd end the interview, if he expected her to sit there while he gave her a loud speech and not let her answer any questions.

He was shameful. She was brave going on his show, knowing how he is. But he was worse than usual.

A good interview with Rice was the one that Anderson Cooper had...he held her feet to the fire, but it was a REAL interview. You know, interviewer asks a question, then LISTENS while interviewee answers it, then interviewer does a followup question (not letting interviewee get away with a non-answer), then LISTENS while interviewee tries to stumble out an answer. And so on.

Crazy Larry won't be getting any more high-profile interviews from the opposition. Oh, well. That benefits CNN, I guess.

I am watching the Crazy Larry show less and less. He's gone off the deep end. That's no longer a reliable place to get news, constructive interviews, impartial or even slanted information. He's gone into the territory of presenting half-truths, like Faux News.