Interviewing

I don’t deal well with purely reactive situations.  I don’t like waiting.  I prefer to do what I can in all situations to dictate the terms of engagement.  The best defense is completely destroying your opposition.  Temperamentally, of course, this would make me an effective leftist.  The problem is, I still have moral values that are not negotiable via opinion polls and peer pressure, and I possess the understanding to realize they are steadily making the world a darker and worse place, which is the categorical opposite of the what I intend in my own work.

What I wanted to say here, though, is that I have long thought that conservative politicians should play offense as well as defense.  We know that virtually all reporters for all networks and all news mediums are looking to create usable gaffes and errors.  You can only NOT screw up.  You can’t win.

But here is an idea: they approach you, proposing an interview.  Make it a condition of the interview that for every two questions they ask, you get to ask one.  You get to interview the interviewer.  You get to try and figure out who they are.  They sit there as if they are impartial information discoverers, but of course this is a patent lie in most cases.  What ACTUALLY characterizes the situation is passive aggression.  They smile and laugh while they attack you.

But in my solution, you get to ask questions like: So, Ms. Maddow, it is my understanding that if we factor in Social Security and Medicare funding that should be getting put away, but isn’t, our true annual budget deficit is $5 trillion.  Do you agree?  If not, what do you think it is and why?

Or: at what point, if any, does abortion become murder?  If the baby is born, and the doctor sets it out in the cold to be eaten by wild wolves–which is not morally different than simply letting it die, which Barack Obama voted for–is that wrong? 

Or: you opposed the existence of Guantanamo Bay as a holding center for hardened terrorists when Bush operated it.  Has your opinion on the wisdom of Bush creating that base changed in the last four years, and if so how?

Or: can you honestly say you understand how the Federal Reserve works?

Fair is fair.  Fuck things up if you want to win.  Do not play by other peoples rules: they make them that way for a reason.

Edit: hat tip to Demo Dick Marcinko there.  I did read a number of his books, a number of years ago. Whatever else he was–and I’ve talked with people who worked with DevGru and heard there is some diversity of opinion–he was himself.  Saying “fuck you world, I am me” has some value, in a great many cases.  I’m not a Randian, per se, but I like freedom, and I like people who use it creatively.