Charlie Rose

SharkswithfrikingLazers  08/08/2011 10:37 PM Report

The "Fog of War" is a great movie. I will always remember the story of the protester outside McNamara's office who burned himself to death (and almost his child). It reminds me of Tunisia and the start of the Arab Spring--very, very sad and poignant.

Robert McNamara:

~ Norman Morrison was a Quaker. He was opposed to war, the violence of war, the killing. He came to the Pentagon, doused himself with gasoline. Burned himself to death below my office. He held a child in his arms, his daughter. Passersby shouted, "Save the child!" He threw the child out of his arms, and the child lived and is alive today. His wife issued a very moving statement: 'Human beings must stop killing other human beings.' And that's a belief that I shared. I shared it then and I believe it even more strongly today. How much evil must we do in order to do good? We have certain ideals, certain responsibilities. Recognize that at times you will have to engage in evil, but minimize it.~

He also says:

I was in his command (Curtis LeMays) in March 1945. In that single night, we burned to death one hundred thousand Japanese civilians in Tokyo. Men, women and children.

SharkswithfrikingLazers  07/28/2011 05:14 PM Report

Regarding the Barbara Bush story and her handlers--she did have issues related to control.

The car accident the night of Nov. 6, 1963, when Laura was 17, would come close to derailing her life.

This accident and her poor eyesight (corrected with glasses only in the second grade) seem to have intensified her sense of caution and love of order. She is someone who organized the books in one of her houses by the Dewey Decimal System and writes in her book that she not only dislikes “clutter and its complications” but is also “wary of the responsibility of too many things.”

So it really is not that surprising that she wanted all the questions before the interview. What is surprising is that she let Errol Morris off the hook.

robdverity  07/27/2011 04:47 PM Report

Back in coach we read the in-flt mag. and wait for the peanuts.

SharkswithfrikingLazers  07/27/2011 04:44 PM Report

The pace of this interview was a Largo tempo (Very slow and broad, with dignity). Normally those out promoting something operate at an Allergo tempo ("Merry", quick, lively, bright).

With a largo tempo it is easier to lose focus and drift.

SharkswithfrikingLazers  07/27/2011 04:39 PM Report

Yes people want to talk about themselves but you have to not only listen but ask the right questions and show the right emotions to their responses.

I have found the best place to talk to people is in the First Class section of an airplane. The large leather seat and a personal attendant make it easy to open up to strangers.

charlizecourriers  07/27/2011 04:32 PM Report

McNamara lacked imagination and thus acted in all his old and tested patterns. That's why T.S. Eliot said that "old men should be explorers." Lacking that desire for the new, interviewers can be "torture" to watch and listen. If Rose had gone to Vietnam as young man he might be more imaginative now. I note that Morris graduated from Madison in 1969, but doesn't appear to have served in the U.S. military, either.

robdverity  07/27/2011 03:27 PM Report

Overall, I don't think I would buy a used car from him.