PROGRAM SEGMENT

May 25, 2011


Unidentified Speaker

Length: 9 minutes, 14 seconds


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00:00:59 MOSTLY OF NATIONALLY TELEVISED PRESIDENTIAL AND VICE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES.
00:01:04 I'VE MODERATED 11 OF THOSE DELIGHTFULLY HAIRY EVENTS, AND I HAVE THE PSYCHIC SCARS DEEP DOWN THROUGHOUT MY SOUL TO SHOW FOR ALL OF THE 11th.
00:01:13 [LAUGHTER]
00:01:15 MY BOOK IS ABOUT MY EXPERIENCES AS A MODERATOR.
00:01:19 BUT ALSO I INTERVIEWED MOST OF THE PRESIDENTIAL AND VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES ABOUT DEBATES.
00:01:28 THEIR EXPERIENCES WITH THESE AND I INTERVIEWED HIM OVER A PERIOD OF 20 YEARS.
00:01:34 AND THE TITLE "TENSION CITY" COMES FROM SOMETHING THAT FORMER PRESIDENT GEORGE H. W. BUSH TOLD ME WHEN I WAS ASKING HIM ABOUT WHAT THOSE DEBATES WERE LIKE.
00:01:43 AND HE SAID THOSE DAYTIME JIM.
00:01:46 THINGS, IT WAS TENSION CITY, SO THAT'S WHERE I GOT THE TITLE.
00:01:51 SMART, RIGHT?
00:01:52 ANYHOW, MY OWN DESCRIPTION OF WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE A MODERATOR FOR ALL OF THESE DEBATES BY ANALOGY IS, AND IT'S IN THE BOOK, IS WALKING CAREFULLY DOWN THE BLADE OF A VERY SHARP KNIFE.
00:02:13 ONE LITTLE PUSH HERE OR THERE, OR WHATEVER, AND YOU CAN GET CUT AND HURT VERY BADLY.
00:02:19 IN THE BOOK I TELL THE STORY OF THE SO-CALLED KILLER QUESTION, IN WHICH GEORGE W. BUSH WAS INVOLVED.
00:02:27 IT WAS IN 1988 DEBATE WITH MICHAEL DUKAKIS.
00:02:32 DON'T MODERATOR OF CNN ASKED DUKAKIS.
00:02:34 I'M SURE MANY OF YOU WILL REMEMBER THIS, GOVERNOR, IF KITTY DUKAKIS WERE RAPED AND MURDERED, WOULD YOU FAVOR AND A REVOCABLE DEATH PENALTY FOR THE KILLER -- IRREVOCABLE, BY THE WAY.
00:02:52 DEATH PENALTY FOR THE KILLER.
00:02:55 AND AS MANY AS YOU MAY RECALL, DUKAKIS BEGAN HIS ANSWER VERY CALMLY, EVER SO COMMON WITH, QUOTE, NO, I DON'T, BERNARD, AND I THINK YOU KNOW THAT I'VE BEEN OPPOSED TO THE DEATH PENALTY DURING ALL MY LIFE.
00:03:08 HE WENT ON TO EXPLAIN HIS INTELLECTUALLY-BASED OPPOSITION TO CAPITAL PUNISHMENT, AND ACCORDING TO THE PUNDITRY AT THE TIME, HE WENT ON TO LOSE THE ELECTION BECAUSE OF THAT.
00:03:17 THERE'S AN INTERESTING BACK STORY ABOUT THE QUESTION ITSELF.
00:03:23 IT INVOLVES THE EFFORTS OF HIS FELLOW JOURNALISTS, PANELISTS, ALL THREE BEING WOMEN JOURNALISTS, TO PERSUADE BERNIE SHAH BEHIND THE SCENES NOT TO ASK THAT QUESTION.
00:03:35 THE BOTTOM LINE I DISCOVERED IN DOING MY RESEARCH IS THAT THE FAMOUS AND DISTINGUISHED JOURNALIST OF THIS WORLD ARE NO DIFFERENT THAN REAL PEOPLE.
00:03:48 THEY ALSO SEE AND HEAR THE SAME THING IN DIFFERENT WAYS, AS YOU WILL SEE.
00:03:55 I ALSO TELL THE WHOLE STORY OF THE FAMOUS 27 MINUTES WHEN IN 1976 THE AUDIO WENT DEAD IN A DEBATE BETWEEN JIMMY CARTER AND GERALD FORD, THE DEBATE IN PHILADELPHIA.
00:04:08 FORD AND CARTER -- THE AUDIO WENT DEAD AS YOU MAY RECALL, FORD AND CARTER ONCE THAT ONE PODIUM, THE OTHER STOOD AT THE OTHER PODIUM, AND THEY JUST MINUTES.
00:04:20 STOOD THERE SILENTLY FOR 27 WHY THEY TRY TO FIX THE AUDIO.
00:04:24 ANOTHER.
00:04:24 THEY DIDN'T SPEAK TO ONE OTHER.
00:04:25 THEY DIDN'T EVEN LOOK AT EACH AND WE KNEW HE WAS A MODERATOR OFFER THEM A CHAIR.
00:04:29 AND NEWMAN SAID AFTERWARD NOT GOING TO DID NOT SIT DOWN, THEY DID NOT EVEN ACKNOWLEDGE THAT I HAD SUGGESTED IT.
00:04:35 [LAUGHTER]
00:04:37 I INTERVIEWED BOTH FORD AND CARTER ABOUT ALL OF THAT, AND BOTH ADMITTED IT WAS A TRUE EMBARRASSMENT.
00:04:45 CARTER SAID, I THINK AMOCO, I THINK TO SOME DEGREE ELECT AMERICAN PEOPLE SIZE OF THE CANDIDATES AND I DON'T THINK EITHER ONE OF US MADE ANY POINTS ON THAT DEAL.
00:04:54 THAT WAS REALLY TRUE.
00:04:55 THE INCIDENT WAS ONE OF MANY THROUGH THE YEARS WHEN POINTS WERE MADE, DECISIVE POINTS WERE MADE IN A DEBATE THAT HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH WHAT WAS SAID BY THE CANDIDATES WITH THEIR WORDS.
00:05:07 IT WAS WHAT THEY SAID WITH THEIR BODY LANGUAGE.
00:05:12 FIRST DEBATE, THE FIRST 1960.
00:05:14 TELEVISED DEBATE, KENNEDY NIXON, IT WAS NIXON'S APPEARANCE THAT KENNEDY.
00:05:20 LOST THAT DEBATE AND WON IT FOR THOSE WHO LISTEN TO THAT ON THE RADIO THOUGHT NIXON WAS THE WINNER, BUT THOSE ON TELEVISION DID NOT THINK SO.
00:05:31 THE 2000 DEBATE IN BOSTON BETWEEN AL GORE AND GEORGE W.
00:05:32 BUSH IS ANOTHER EXAMPLE.
00:05:35 I MODERATED THAT WHEN.
00:05:37 THAT WAS THE FAMOUS SIGN DEBATE WHICH SHOWED GORE, EVERY TIME BUSH WOULD ANSWER A QUESTION, GORE WOULD GRIMACE AND SIGH AND ALL THAT SORT OF STUFF.
00:05:50 AND THE REACTION SHOT, AND IT -- IT DIDN'T -- IT SHOWED GORE IN A WAY THAT THE VOTERS DIDN'T LIKE.
00:05:59 AND THE POLLS, AFTER THAT DEBATE, BEFORE THE DEBATE, THEY WERE NECK AND NECK.
00:06:07 AND AFTER THAT DEBATE, GORE FELL BEHIND AND PRETTY MUCH STAYED BEHIND FROM THAT POINT ON.
00:06:13 IN MY CASE, HERE I WAS THE CLOSEST PERSON TO THOSE TWO CANDIDATES.
00:06:18 BUT I HAVE A RULE, I ALWAYS LOOK AT THE PERSON WHO'S SPEAKING, NOT OF THE PERSON IS LISTENING BECAUSE I DO WANT TO BE PART OF ANY KIND OF REACTION.
00:06:26 SO WHEN THE DEBATE WAS OVER WE WERE WALKING OUT OF THE HALL.
00:06:30 I WAS WALKING OUT OF THE HALL WITH MY FAMILY WHEN MY DAUGHTER SAID, DAD, THAT WAS SOMETHING WHAT GORE DID, WAS IN A?
00:06:37 AND I STOPPED AND SAID, WHAT DID GORE DO?
00:06:40 WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?
00:06:40 [LAUGHTER]
00:06:42 SHE TOLD ME ABOUT THE SIGHTING.
00:06:43 I COMPLETELY MISSED IT AND I WAS THE CLOSEST ONE TO IT.
00:06:45 YOU COULD SAY THE SAME THING ON THE BODY LANGUAGE BETWEEN THE FIRST THEY CAN OBAMA DEBATE 2008 IN OXFORD, MISSISSIPPI.
00:06:56 I ALSO MODERATED THAT WHEN.
00:06:57 YOU MAY RECALL McCAIN WOULD NOT LOOK AT OBAMA.
00:07:01 HE WOULD NOT ADDRESS ANY QUESTIONS TO OBAMA DIRECTLY.
00:07:06 AND THAT'S DESPITE THE PLEAS OF THE DELIGHTFULLY CHARMING MODERATOR TO GET HIM TO DO THAT.
00:07:10 HE JUST WOULDN'T DO IT.
00:07:13 AND HERE AGAIN HE CAME OVER IN A NEGATIVE WAY TO A LOT OF PEOPLE.
00:07:18 HE SEEMED FIDGETY, HE SEEMED NERVOUS, HE SEEMED ANGRY.
00:07:19 WHILE OBAMA ON THE OTHER HAND WAS MORE THAN WILLING TO LOOK AT McCAIN AND ADDRESS THE QUESTIONS AND TO ALL OF THAT.
00:07:27 SO HE CAME OVER AS CALM AND COOL, AND HERE AGAIN, OBAMA TOOK THE LEAD AFTER THAT DEBATE.
00:07:37 AND HE NEVER LOST IT AFTER THAT.
00:07:42 BOTTOM LINE HERE, WHICH I HAVE CERTAINLY INCLUDE -- CONCLUDED IS THAT VOTERS WANT PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES TO TAKE THE MEASURE OF -- THE FULL MEASURE OF A CANDIDATE IN WAYS THAT SOMETIMES HAVE ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH WHAT A CANDIDATE THINKS ABOUT A PARTICULAR ISSUE.
00:08:01 THEY WANT TO KNOW WHAT HE OR SHE IS LIKABLE, HOW HE OR SHE MIGHT ACT WHEN THE UNEXPECTED HAPPENS, WHEN THERE'S ANOTHER 9/11, ANOTHER KATRINA OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT, ERIK HAS TO DO MORE WITH PERSONALITY.
00:08:15 BY THE TIME THESE DEBATES HAPPEN, REMEMBER, THERE ARE USUALLY TWO OR THREE WEEKS AGO BEFORE THE ELECTION.
00:08:21 MOST PEOPLE HAVE ALREADY MADE UP THEIR MIND.
00:08:23 THEY ARE LEAVING.
00:08:24 SO WHAT THEY'RE REALLY LOOKING FOR IS WHO IS THIS PERSON.
00:08:28 THAT'S WHAT THEY'RE LOOKING FOR MORE THAN THEY ARE WHAT THE POSITION IS ON SOCIAL SECURITY OR WHATEVER ELSE.
00:08:37 SO THERE SOME POINT IN THE BOOKS ABOUT GENERAL COMMENTS ABOUT INTERVIEWING AND MODERATING, ALL KINDS OF THINGS.
00:08:47 AND I TALK ABOUT NEED TO DO HOMEWORK AND PREPARATION.
00:08:50 A LOT OF PEOPLE THINK IT'S SO YOU CAN WRITE REALLY TERRIFIC QUESTIONS.
00:08:54 NO, THAT'S NOT IT AT ALL.
00:08:56 YOU DO HOMEWORK SO YOU WILL BE RELAXED ENOUGH TO LISTEN TO THE ANSWERS.
00:09:02 AND MY EXAMPLE ALWAYS IS, I'M INTERVIEWING A SENATOR AND I SAY, SENATOR, DO YOU THINK WE SHOULD SELL MORE GRAIN TO CUBA?
00:09:09 YES, JIM, I THINK WE SHOULD SELL MORE GRAIN TO CUBA BUT BEFORE WE DO THAT WE SHOULD BOMB HAVANA.
00:09:14 AND I SAY, WHAT KIND OF GRAIN, SENATOR?
00:09:16 [LAUGHTER]
00:09:18 BECAUSE THAT WAS A QUESTION I HAD WRITTEN DOWN.
00:09:21 [LAUGHTER]
00:09:23 YOU HAVE TO GUARD AGAINST THAT.
00:09:25 EVERYBODY HAS TO GUARD AGAINST THAT.
00:09:29 ONE OTHER THING I WOULD SAY, FINALLY, IS THAT WIN, NOT IF BUT WHEN YOU READ "TENSION CITY" YOU WILL SEE THAT MY WIFE, KATE, IS ALL THE WAY THROUGH THE BOOK.
00:09:41 SHE IS HERE.
00:09:43 WHERE ARE YOU, KATE?
00:09:43 [APPLAUSE]