At 10 a.m. Eastern this morning Tom Ashbrook interviewed Michael Joseph Gross on his On Point radio show from Boston. The entire show can be heard at the first link in this post. I want to send out a special thank you to PB reader Cambridge Knitter for posting the link in a comment on the Kicking Butts & Taking Names post. The interview is well worth hearing!
If you have been following the whole Vanity Fair series of articles involved, I am sure you are already aware of most of the content of this interview. However, there are two particular new elements of the story that I noted in the live interview that deserve mention.
The first is when Mr. Gross is asked by the Mr. Ashbrook to describe exactly what the author meant by his phrase a sad and smoldering strangeness lies beneath. First of all, Michael choked on this question to the point that the sudden infusion of the bane of radio, dead air, caused the host to try to fill the void, and then after asking Mr. Gross to continue, Ashbrook finally cut to a commercial. After the commercial break, Tom Asked Michael a different question, but Michael asked to return to the original question. Before I mention his answer, I want to say that visions of Babygate and the sadness that Gryphen has mentioned surrounding that mystery flashed in front of my eyes! Michael's answer was methodically spoken, as if it was very carefully considered. His reply concerned the pall that seems to surround Wasilla and its sad, confused residents. He said that he had spent nearly three weeks in the town talking with residents, and most of their comments were along the lines of feeling betrayed when Sarah abandoned them for fame and fortune in the Lower 48. As you might surmise, I am sure that a lot of Wasilla residents gave Mr. Gross this precise impression, but I am not totally convinced that his reply to the host's question was the entire truth of the matter. Michael obviously chose to think the question and his answer through thoroughly before blurting out something that he might live to regret. My guess is that the truth of Babygate is hidden somewhere in the mind of Mr. Gross as he pondered his reply. I thought much the same thing the first time I read that key phrase in his Vanity Fair article, although to be fair, I also considered the paranoid citizens of Wasilla, just as he stated.
The second nice surprise was much more interesting: a lady called in to ask about Babygate, and they almost discussed it! Before you get too excited, remember that this is the top rung of my Babygate soapbox. Liberal NPR radio host Tom Ashbrook squashed this opportunity to discuss the truth just as efficiently as he could muster on a moment's notice. He mumbled some reference back to the rumors that had been so quickly disqualified back at the beginning of Palin's national career, and then immediately proceeded to make damn sure that the audience understood that this was not a serious matter to be discussed. See! This is exactly what I have been ranting about! This is how they do it, over and over again. This is why this horrible monster is taking over our country. The blankety-blank media, even the so-called liberal media, are helping her do it!
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