Transcript here (via Julia via Susie). Naturally, I forgot to program the TiVo for it. I'll see about catching the rerun today. Anyone out there actually watch it?
And here's an AP wire report. Note something interesting here:
"I watch a lot of the cable news shows, so I understand that you were never in Vietnam," asked Stewart, host of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show.""That's what I understand, too, but I'm trying to find out what happened," Kerry joked.
[...]
"Are you or have you ever flip-flopped?" Stewart asked.
"I've flip-flopped, flap-flipped," Kerry said, poking fun at the GOP's label.
Stewart also sought answers to another hard-hitting question: "Is it true that every time I use ketchup, your wife gets a nickel?" The candidate's wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, is heir to the Heinz food fortune.
"Would that it were," Kerry said.
[...]
Many presidential candidates appeared on late-night comedy shows this year. John Edwards, now Kerry's running mate, even announced on "The Daily Show" that he was a candidate for president -- which Kerry said he watched.
"I think that's why he lost," Stewart said.
"No, he won," Kerry insisted, then jokingly offered to hold their inauguration on the show.
Kerry offered an interesting observation on life as a presidential candidate.
"You'd be amazed at the number of people who want to introduce themselves to you in the men's room," he said. "It's the most bizarre part of this entire thing."
People were convinced that Al Gore was stiff and boring, too. Smart, dry, and wry doesn't translate well, apparently, especially when combined with an explainer personality.
Yeah. I thought he was pretty good. My favorite part was when Jon Stewart did jokingly grilled him on Vietnam / Cambodia and starred at him with a "now, what is it John" sort of face and Kerry just got right up in his face about it. He didn't have to say anything - the look was worth it.
Posted by: Byron L on August 25, 2004 9:30 AMTo be honest, it was a bit dry. Certainly nothing compared to Clinton playing sax on Arsenio Hall back in the day but - go figure: that kind of charisma only graces a candidate once in a blue moon.
Overall, it wasn't painful and Kerry did manage to come across as a likable guy even if he did seem a bit too eager-to-please. A solid B+ by my book.
Posted by: sarah on August 25, 2004 11:51 AMTim and I watched it over lunch today. I was somewhat surprised by how well Kerry did, since the man just doesn't seem to do extemporaneous speaking very well.
I'm still planning on voting Libertarian, though, unless something bizarre happens, like Bush being recorded as saying, "I hate Texas" or something like that and there's a chance he could actually lose the state.
Posted by: Sue on August 25, 2004 12:37 PMI had it Tivo'd and watched it last night. I thought Kerry did great. He avoided the temptation to dive into wonkish explanations and seemed like he was relaxed and having a great time. I though he definitely scored
Better yet, last night GOP Party Chairman Ed Gillespe was on the show and tanked. Stewart spent a lot of time pushing him to get Bush on the show.
It was great. Dig up last night's transcript. After Gillespe said he'd take back the invivation and bring it up, Stewart called him on it and said "No you're not, you're not really going to do that are you?" and then leaned in conspiratorily "He doesn't even know about us does he? Does he watch the show? Does he know we exist? Does he hate young people? We'll get him a free t-shirt if he come's on!"
Stewart wouldn't let go and made Gillespe look like a fool.
Posted by: Kent on August 26, 2004 11:44 AM