[IP] more on British Prime Minister Tony Blair cross-examined on the BBC

[Dave Farber <dave@farber.net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Richard Fritzson <fritzson@cs.umbc.edu>
Date: Fri, 07 Feb 2003 22:07:04 -0500
To: dave@farber.net
Subject: Re: [IP] British Prime Minister Tony Blair cross-examined on the
BBC

I was in a hotel near London and just happened to tune into this
broadcast. I've been telling many people about it. Paxman was well
informed; he had a stack of notes. His questions covered many different
issues surrounding the war, including under what circumstances Blair
would go to war without a new security council resolution, why Iraq is
important *now*, the increased risk of terrorism which might result from
a war, the high cost in innocent lives, and more. He was relentless. He
never let Blair off the hook for an actual answer to the question.

Blair was articulate and in command of his facts. He spoke without
notes. He did not try to deliver sound bites. He delivered logical
arguments for his positions and ensured they were understood. While I
disagree with him about Iraq, I was tremendously impressed by his
performance.

I've never seen anything like this on US television. It's not only
George Bush who could not survive this type of questioning. I doubt that
many American politicians could do it. And I don't know who in the US
media could match Paxman's questioning.

Overall I think the two of them conducted a much more thorough debate of
this issue than the US Congress.

    Rich Fritzson




Dave Farber wrote:

>------ Forwarded Message
>From: Chris Spurgeon <CSpurgeon@electronicink.com>
>Date: Fri, 07 Feb 2003 13:51:34 -0500
>To: "'dave@farber.net'" <dave@farber.net>
>Subject: British Prime Minister Tony Blair cross-examined on the BBC
>
>Dr. Farber...
>
>Last night the BBC aired an 85 minute live interview on Iraq with British
>Prime Minister Tony Blair.  INCONCEIVABLE that George Bush would ever agree
>to, much less survive, this type of tough, intelligent journalism.
>
>The interview is available (in RealVideo format) at
>http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/nn/-/olmedia/cta/progs/newsnight/smil/blair_03/blai
r.ram
>
>------ End of Forwarded Message
>
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