ABOUT THIS BLOG

I shall post videos, graphs, news stories, and other material there. We shall use some of this material in class, and you may review the rest at your convenience. You will all receive invitations to post to the blog. (Please let me know if you do not get such an invitation.) I encourage you to use the blog in these ways:
To post questions or comments about the readings before we discuss them in class;
To follow up on class discussions with additional comments or questions.
To post relevant news items or videos.

There are only two major limitations: no coarse language, and no derogatory comments about people at the Claremont Colleges.


Search This Blog

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Rand Paul Interveiwed on The Daily Show

I'm sure that most of you remember Senator Rand Paul from Sabato and from our test. On March 7th 2011, Senator Rand Paul was a guest on The Daily Show with John Stewart to promote his new book, The Tea Party Goes to Washington.

Senator Paul's main argument is that we need to go back to a balanced budget. Unlike many politicians Rand argues that we need to cut entitlement spending and military spending as well as discretionary spending if we ever want to balance the budget. Stewart debates the correct level of government with Paul. Stewart argues that larger government arose out of demand by the people for a better living. Stewart said, "Where we've come in two hundred years in terms of racial equality environmental quality, food quality, life expectancy, I really hate to demonize very government by the people for the people that helped get us there."
Paul agrees that Stewart is right about the good the government can do but maintains the government has gone too far now. They also touch on the legitimacy and efficiency of the government bailout. Paul argues that the correct choice was to let the bad firms fail even with the possibility of a recession.

Paul and Stewart both conduct themselves well and argue their points clearly and effectively. Also, both bring out a lot of numbers and statistics to better argue their points. Though the debate is a short and simple one, I was pleasantly surprised by the level of discourse and the knowledge that both Stewart and Paul brought to table.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Rand Paul Pt. 1
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full EpisodesPolitical Humor & Satire BlogThe Daily Show on Facebook



The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Exclusive - Rand Paul Extended Interview Pt. 2
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full EpisodesPolitical Humor & Satire BlogThe Daily Show on Facebook

No comments:

Blog Archive