NPR Smackdown

I heard Steve Innskeep interviewing Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) this morning, and I must say I was impressed. Not with Emanuel -- he was an ass. It was Innskeep who really commanded my respect. It's not often that I find myself punching my fist in the air during an NPR interview and making appreciative "oof" sounds. Innskeep kept asking hard questions -- "why have the Democrats had a hard time defining themselves? Is the Democratic anger a good thing?" -- and Emanuel just kept dodging the question. It wasn't even an artful State Department-style evasion, where they \make it sound like they're answering the question without saying anything. He just dissed the question -- "I totally disagree with the premise of that question" -- and moved on to pounding his talking points (which, frankly, sound emptier than ever).

But Steve didn't let up, and refused to take this evasion laying down. At one point Emanuel tried to interrupt Innskeep's question -- "Steve-Steve-Steve-Steve-Steve-Steve-Steve..." -- and God bless Innskeep but he kept going and didn't let that blowhard steamroller him. And, not only that, he moved on to do some pummelling of his own. He actually managed to silence Emanuel briefly with a salvo of critiques: "What about the people who feel like the Democrats have been too accommodating of the administration? who let him get away with too much? Or, I'll even go on to say, feel like they've been sold out by the Democrative Party for the last ten years?"

Normally I have to tune into the BBC to hear this kind of scuffle -- the Brits' political coverage is played more like rugby compared to our football -- but Innskeep was in fine form. A shout-out to my brother Steve, word.