This segment from Friday's Dylan Ratigan Show is worth watching for several reasons.
One is that Ratigan correctly sees the relationship between the "mosque"–Quran-burning controversy and the economic crisis — namely, that the first obscures the second.
Another is that the segment provides a good instance of where Ratigan's head is at. (I personally think he's under-appreciated, or at least under-quoted, which may just mean he's under-watched by his natural audience. Here's Ratigan, for example, on Obama and BP.)
And finally, there's our friend, Matt Bai. The blinking before he gets his first opportunity to speak alerted me to his discomfort, and if I'm not over-reading him, his "Hello, Arianna" sounded wary. I've got Mr. Bai as a stealth conservative activist, so I was watching for the classic double move:
- Make sure you seem reasonable, no matter what comes out of your mouth.
- Push the Movement obfuscation, whether it makes sense or not.
Now think of the context of the segment — the economic crisis — and the question Mai was asked, and try to anticipate what Arianna's will say to him. (Hint: The question was "What is your perception of the president's understanding and attunement to what is actually troubling the country?")
The rest is magic, even the Freudian slip in Matt's first response to Ariana's reply.
Note also the interchange that pivots around Matt's "What's new?" at about 6:12. That part goes on a while and is worth your attention as well. (I also really liked the way Arianna ended the segment. I've heard similar stories, and they're both touching and right on.)
The bottom line is that while Matt makes reasonable statements, he consistently refuses to engage either Arianna or Dylan on their main point — that the Big Boys are taking the "small people" to the cleaners. His job is to shine a light on those spinning political hubcaps, and distract from the fact that there's an actual something happening — and that you can be on the right side of it, or the wrong side.
Neither Arianna nor Dylan take the bait. "It's not about the hubcaps, Matt," they seem to be saying. "Look, the car just killed someone."
Nice segment. Mr. Bai stays on our list (thanks, sir, for the confirmation). And Mr. Ratigan goes on our other list — people who need more listening to. "Predatory economy" indeed.
GP
(By the way, I couldn't find a reference in the google for Ratigan's "six major industries that control the government" but I'll keep looking. It would be interesting to hear more on this.)
