Talk Talk: Pirates, Policy and a Pooch

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Every weekend CUIP's president Jacqueline Salit and strategist and philosopher Fred Newman watch the political talk shows and discuss them. Here are excerpts from their dialogues compiled on Sunday, April 19, 2009 after watching selections from "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," "The Chris Matthews Show," a Charlie Rose interview and "This Week with George Stephanopoulos."    Newman: When you look at the picture on the front page of the Times where Chavez and Obama are shaking hands, it seems to me that the first thing you see is that two people of color are shaking hands.   Salit: Yes.   Newman: And that overwhelms any of the substantive issues that they may or may not discuss in Trinidad. It's a very big change for them. And for us. That's a big cultural, human, psychological factor.   Salit: I had a similar thought when I looked at the photograph.   Newman: One's a communist. One's part socialist, part capitalist. But they're both people of color. One has enough oil. One has too little oil. But that's not the issue.   Read Talk Talk in its entirety here.

Talk Talk: Out of Chaos Comes...

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Below are excerpts from this week's Talk Talk, Out of Chaos Comes... .  Every Sunday CUIP's president Jacqueline Salit and strategist and philosopher Fred Newman watch the political talk shows and discuss them. Here are excerpts from their dialogue on Sunday, December 21, 2008 after watching "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer", several Charlie Rose Interviews" and "The Chris Matthews Show".   Newman: I'm the world's most outspoken advocate for that position. That's been true for nearly the entirety of my life. But it doesn't follow that opportunity will win out. You have to appreciate that chaos might win in different cases.   Salit: That chaos might win out over the creation of a new system which is stable and progressive?   Newman: Yes. It might prove that no such system is creatable. History might tell us that.   Salit: But, we don't know.   Newman: Right. Is this a situation that is ultimately unmanageable or is it one of those manageable dialectical situations Kissinger is so fond of? I don't know. I don't think he knows. I don't think anybody knows.   Salit: So, progress and development can emerge out of chaos but are not a necessary outcome of chaos.   Newman: Yes. But, I would go so far as to say that it's only possible out of chaos.   Read Talk Talk in its entirety here.