David Letterman and the Political Interview

8 Pithy Opinions #4

David Letterman is a pit bull. (NOT of the lip stick variety.) He's pugnacious. He's indignant. He's everything you could ever want in a political interviewer. Much like Jon Stewart is able to provide some of the most piercing and thought provoking commentary during his comedic newscast, Letterman is able to shed insights on the issues with the country's most important political figures on his comedic talk show.

Perhaps Letterman's greatest asset is his fearlessness. He doesn't place our political leaders on pedestals. Even if he has a great deal of respect for the individual, as Letterman clearly has for Senator John McCain due to his experience as a POW, Letterman will still go after his interview subject on the topics at hand. The traditional media has a lot to learn from Mr. Letterman.

Now, David Letterman has been in the news himself lately because of a situation that developed with Sen. McCain. On September 24th, John McCain was scheduled to appear on The Late Show, when in the midst of the financial crisis, he pretended to suspend his campaign. He called Letterman and said he was heading back to Washington immediately to deal with the crisis. Letterman thought something smelled funny from the start. After his producers switched over to the feed from CBS News and saw McCain about to give an interview with Katie Couric. He wasn't happy.



Letterman didn't let up on McCain after this broadcast either. He kept poking the Republican with a metaphorical stick. I'm sure there was more press coverage than the campaign could have possibly been happy with. McCain finally decided to schedule another date with The Late Show. Delays into Newark almost prevented McCain from showing again. (Keith Olbermann, who replaced McCain on the September show, was waiting in the wings again.) Thanks to a helicopter, McCain made the broadcast. He may have wished he hadn't.

Letterman is an aggressive interview when he's happy with the subject. When you've made him mad, he really goes on the offensive. There was a lot of needling McCain for his failure to show in September, but eventually, Letterman settles down and get into the interview where he does not disappoint. As usual, Letterman seems up on all of the issues and goes right to McCain with his questions. The best bit was when Letterman asked McCain about the Ayers situation. In particular, if we are going to use guilt by association to tar Obama with Ayers, what does than mean about McCain's friendship with G. Gordon Liddy? Never fail to tune into The Late Show if you like to see a politician squirm.