The Art Of The Interview

In the Goat's humble opinion Hugh Hewitt is the media master at this time, especially the extended format. His full show length talk with Andrew Roberts on his new book " A History of the English Speaking People Since 1900" was absolutely fascinating and another book added to a bloated reading list. Hugh doesn't have the transcript or audio up yet but it will linked when he does. Goat wants to read it before delving in though he was riveted during the broadcast. Hugh is a master at this format and conducts interviews like the attentive law proffessor should, deep and informative and lively enough to hold an audience.

Meanwhile the good Joe on the Dem's side, Sen. Joe Lieberman has published a fantasic piece in the Wall Street Journal on why American commitment to the Middle East is so important. The Barnyard may disagree with the good Senator 90% of the time, but he is absolutely correct here.

Congress thus faces a choice in the weeks and months ahead. Will we allow our actions to be driven by the changing conditions on the ground in Iraq--or by the unchanging political and ideological positions long ago staked out in Washington? What ultimately matters more to us: the real fight over there, or the political fight over here?

If we stopped the legislative maneuvering and looked to Baghdad, we would see what the new security strategy actually entails and how dramatically it differs from previous efforts. For the first time in the Iraqi capital, the focus of the U.S. military is not just training indigenous forces or chasing down insurgents, but ensuring basic security--meaning an end, at last, to the large-scale sectarian slaughter and ethnic cleansing that has paralyzed Iraq for the past year.

Read the whole thing, Senator Lieberman is an extremely decent, sober individual and exibits classic liberalism in most of his policy positions and should be applauded for his moral clarity in standing up to what is increasingly his former party's leadership.

Mitt Romney continues to be willing to sit down with the New Media talk and answer tough questions as this interview with Real Clear Politics further shows his desire to get ahead of the wave while appearing to be in placid water.