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Edited on Sat Oct-16-04 02:22 PM by linazelle
They display the kind of civility that has been sorely missed from the political media landscape in the past few years by entertaining the views of the political RW without trying to silence them.
Maher invites RW guests on his show weekly, occasionally going along with them (which we often hate) and sometimes smacking them down (like last night when a guest spewed that stupid line about the world being safer without Saddam. Maher said we are not.)
Franken is the same way, I used to think he was too much of a softie because he doesn't challenge his RW guests. He presents facts and lets them speak for themselves when he has these people on the show. If they become belligerent or try to evade the truth, he doesn't bully his opponents. I listened to Franken once when Sean Hannity was on his show. Instead of arguing with Hannity, Franken let Hannity be the bully that he was. Had they both argued, Franken would have ended up looking as silly as Hannity. Instead, Hannity looked a bit silly repeating himself over and over and drowing out Franken. Afterwards, when a caller asked why Franken didn't call Hannity on the carpet Franken said it's not necessary to be nasty and that you don't win that kind of discussion.
At the Democratic Convention, Jon Stewart said the same thing--that he invites people from both parties onto his show and he's civil because the lines of communication must be kept open. (While Jon was a teensy bit uncivil yesterday :evilgrin:, we forgive him and love him for it.)
I am proud to have these smart men presenting the liberal/progressive viewpoint, to people who would rather those views not be heard. They are American heroes.
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