This is topic Christine O'Donnell walks off Piers Morgan Tonight in middle of interview in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.
Here's the story, and the video of her walking off: Link
Now, my gut reaction was to title this thread "O'Donnell implodes during interview," but I reserved judgment in case Piers really was being rude, and frankly, I don't think he was. It might have been a little annoying to be asked about questions that she was hounded about so much during her Senate campaign, however, she's not exactly a disinterested party. She wrote a book where she addressed some of these issues, she's trying to make money off of it, she's trying to be a player, even if only a money-grubbing one, in the conservative arena, so I don't think she gets to exclude parts of her own book from being discussed. If she had left them out of the book, that might be different.
In general though, I think Piers is right. He's the host, he gets to ask the questions. If they only talk about what she has a canned answer for, then why even have an interview? Why not just let her make a 20 minute speech? That seems to be what she wanted to do.
I think she would have been better off giving the standard Tea Party response to the question, or just answering however she sees fit, and Piers probably would have dropped it and moved on. Now it's a much bigger issue than it needs to be, and while the right might see Piers as a bully, I think most people will think she overreacted.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote:Originally posted by Lyrhawn: If they only talk about what she has a canned answer for, then why even have an interview? Why not just let her make a 20 minute speech? That seems to be what she wanted to do.
Many people before her have tried much the same thing on a variety of talk shows -- usually when hawking a new book. I suspect their publisher/agent/handler gives them unrealistic expectations, because free publicity is exactly what they want.
This isn't really a political issue. It's a "give me free publicity MY way" issue, and most hosts won't let people get away with that.
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
Yeah, that's my reading. Though, she's the only one I can think of in recent memory who threw a hissy fit on camera and stormed off the set when she didn't get her way.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
She was a call-in guest on a local radio show yesterday and opened with a really odd speech about how the "witch" ridiculousness was a consequence of not trusting her gut, and she hopes to inspire voters to "trust their gut". And the show host said "isn't that what happened to you in the election? The voters trusted their gut, and decided you were crazy?"
I had to turn off the radio when she paused, then forced a laugh, and then started to try to get back on message. It was too much awkwardness.
But I thought it was a hilarious subversion of her sales pitch for the book.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
It's kind of amusing to see O'Donnell back in the spotlight, in one of the only ways she could have accomplished it: reminding people who she is, how helpless she is as a candidate, and how gracious and helpful the tea party is to the democrats during primaries.
Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
I did think Piers was a bit rude; but he's that way with almost all his conservative guests. (Penn Gillette being the semi-exception, as he's not a social conservative, but IS (IIRC) a fiscal conservative) If you don't know what you're getting into, don't get into it.
O'donnel actually said, on air, something to the effect of, "I came to talk about my book. As a talk show host, that's your job, to talk about what I want to talk about."
I laughed aloud. Then I went back to my game of Kingdom Rush.
Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :
Rude is so contextual. In this case- she was very foolish to believe that she could manipulate him and use his airtime to get a free advertisement for her book. He probably felt insulted by that, and I would as well.
Posted by scifibum (Member # 7625) on :
I think they had an agreement to use the airtime to advertise the book.
Where they apparently weren't in agreement was whether the airtime would also be used for anything else, like "probing questions" or "anything interesting."
Posted by Strider (Member # 1807) on :
Scott, that's roughly accurate of Penn. He's a libertarian.
Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :
quote:Originally posted by scifibum: I think they had an agreement to use the airtime to advertise the book.
Where they apparently weren't in agreement was whether the airtime would also be used for anything else, like "probing questions" or "anything interesting."
Well, I can imagine that she thought "advertise," and he thought "discuss." And just as casual viewer, she's not very bright if she thinks "discuss" is not on the menu. I mean really, it's in the book. She won't talk about it?
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Well as a ploy it succeeded. I had completely forgotten about O'Donnell, until I saw that clip. I am now consciously aware of her existance. :\
Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :
:snort: Oh joy.
Posted by Rakeesh (Member # 2001) on :
I'd think twice of crossing her, but thankfully she's not a witch, so I can scorn and mock her with impunity!
Wouldn't be pullin' that on Baba Yaga, lemme tell ya.
Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
Koschei would be pissed.
Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
quote:Originally posted by Orincoro: Rude is so contextual. In this case- she was very foolish to believe that she could manipulate him and use his airtime to get a free advertisement for her book. He probably felt insulted by that, and I would as well.
Piers said she was being "weird" for not answering questions about a subject that she'd already said she wasn't going to talk about. Piers, as far as I can tell, did not attempt to come at the question from a different angle; he just demanded that she extemporize on a subject she said (twice) she wasn't interested in discussing.
I don't care for either of them. Piers is rude and poor interviewer; and O'donnel comes off as a bit of an airhead.
Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :
Yeah, he's not a great interviewer. She definitely came off like an airhead. Had ii been there, I would have explained to her more directly that she was there to disucss the book, and that this was part of the book, and that I have every right to ask about it.
But still, really, she was a fool to go in blind like that, and expect to be treated nicely.
Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
quote: that this was part of the book, and that I have every right to ask about it.
I recall her saying that it WASN'T part of the book-- am I wrong?
Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :
I think your mistaken- he was asking her about her views on homosexuality, which he said ARE discussed in the book. Just, she didn't want to talk about it because it wasn't part of the marketing for the book, basically. She did say that it is in the book.
Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
Maybe it was a part of the book she hadn't written herself.
Posted by Parkour (Member # 12078) on :
quote:Originally posted by pooka: Maybe it was a part of the book she hadn't written herself.
Posted by kmbboots (Member # 8576) on :
I have to admit that my first reaction to this thread was, "Who?". At least she is getting attention.
Posted by LargeTuna (Member # 10512) on :
I've met O'Donnel once, and she was pretty terrible at conversing with people about anything serious.
However, this was after a friend of mine accused her of turning him into a newt.
![[Laugh]](graemlins/laugh.gif)