On "This Week" this... errr.... week.
I apologize for the quality of the screencap - taken, as it was, using a digital camera pointed at my TV.
Anyhow, yes, I was one of the "fortunate" few to be caught on film by ABC's cameras when they came to visit Grover Norquist's weekly "Wednesday Meeting" back in January. The "b-roll" footage was used this week for an interview of Grover done by George Will on "This Week with George Stephanopoulos".
You can find the interview at http://abcnews.go.com/ThisWeek/ - it's in the area marked "This Week -- 6.11.06". The segment is called "Voices: George Will gets Grover Norquist's take on taxes and the Republican Agenda"
You can see a shot of Suhail sitting to Grover's left when he comes in to start the meeting earlier in the segment. My shot, of me handing a paper back to someone else, is about 1:52 into the just-over-three-minute segment (I was sitting directly across from Grover at that big conference table).
Enjoy!
- Andrew Langer
posted by Andrew Langer at 4:53 PM
6 Comments:
I find it interesting that in the middle of a piece discussing the direction of the Republican party, with a man known for his economic policy, ABC shows footage of two groups of protesters concerned with social policy; Right-to-Lifers, and anti-gay. I would guess there are two reasons behind this, the first being that this is the perception of the GOP amongst the public, the second being ABC wanting to draw attention to these issues, despite the piece being supposedly focused on domestic spending.
It seems to me that for all the talk of Democrats not knowing what direction to go in, the Republican party is also in the midst of some internal confusion. I remain interested to see what messages they choose to focus on come November- social policy, domestic taxes and spending, or foreign policy and security. Based on the past week, they are not doing too well on two out of three- the Estate Tax repeal and the Gay Marriage Ban Amendment both crashed to the Senate floor with a thud heard throughout the country.
June 11, 2006 10:55 PM
Third reason: That George Will was drawing a contrast between the characterization of the Wednesday Meeting as that of a "leave us alone" coalition and the possibility that some folks who are a part of that coaltion potentially don't want to leave others alone, that Will was going to press Grover on that point, and that the standard thing to do is use B-Roll footage to underscore the point.
There's no great mystery that the GOP has issues which various members don't agree on - the sharp contrast between the vast majority of GOP supporters who are hawks on cutting spending and those who are in Congress who are spending like there is no tomorrow is just one example (which is the point Grover was making).
There's no great mystery or secret regarding the internal debates of the GOP - there's nothing new there.
Just like there's nothing new in the debates within the Democratic party - essentially the same debates they've been having since the early 90s - the war between the progressive wing of the Democratic Party and the "Republican Lite" wing. This has been played out, for instance, by the Naderites and Deaniacs in the last two presidential cycles, and is now being played out in Virginia in the Democratic senatorial primary.
It will certainly be interesting to see which wing wins tomorrow.
What's your prediction, Kess?
June 12, 2006 11:46 AM
Webb, in a closer than expected race.
Allen beats either one of them, though.
June 12, 2006 4:10 PM
Presumably because of stronger Webb support in Western Virginia and the Tidewater, I suppose. I don't underestimate the traditional party machine and the preponderance of party-faithful and ideologues voting in the primary.
Proves my point, though - and underscores the possibility that the internal debates among the Democrats are potentially more serious than those of the GOP going into the fall - thud or no thud on recent Senate Votes
June 12, 2006 4:32 PM
Wow, just ran across this, Andrew. Didn't know you had a blog. I'll make sure to check it out from time to time.
June 15, 2006 11:00 AM
Thanks, Mike!
Hope the new job is going well!
June 15, 2006 11:05 AM
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