My no TV tour
Thursday, February 5, 2009 at 8:25AM Plenty of response from radio so far, but nothing from TV so far and nothing set up yet for the remainder of the tour (save five minutes on local DC station Tuesday to promote the Politics & Prose appearance).
So when people just say, "Why don't you just go on the "Daily Show"? You need to understand that we pitched and they said no, preferring somebody famous.
I should have written a dumber book, filled with wild accusations and extreme logic. I missed the hyperpartisan boat by navigating the calm, sensible waters of the middle, resulting in a book that I'm proud of and one that will last, but not one that breaks through the TV din in an unprecedented season of budget cutting (meaning everyone wants famous people--especially actors--to boost ratings).
I met O'Reilly once at the White House correspondents' dinner in 2004. He asked one question, "Does your book have any dirt on Rummy?" I said, "It's not that kind of book." His reply, "When you get something, we'll have you on."
Admittedly, optimism is a tougher sell. I should have predicted all manner of catastrophe and promised all manner of future war, but I just can't sell that shit--to my marketing detriment.
On a brighter note: The Carnegie Council will post a web-video of my talk there last night, so we got one version of the new brief teeing up. Looks like we'll do the same with the Boston Public Library as well (with more control to us).
Last night, for the first time in maybe a half-dozen years, I did the brief with no Core-Gap map, and it was great, showing that the material may change but the quality remains high. Doesn't mean I'll lose the slide. Just means it doesn't make the tight-cut-for-non-professional-audiences.
Back to email interviews...
Reader Comments (7)
Note you both made it into the acknowledgments, but I fear I misspelled your man's name. Either that, or I misheard you last night before signing.
I know that television gets more exposure as far as numbers are concerned, but I think radio is a better format for interviews anyway. Talk radio gets slammed all the time, but when it's done right, a lot of great ideas can be discussed. It sure beats the sound byte contests and distractions of television. Also, talk radio listeners tend to read more books than viewers of the O'Reilly Factor or Hardball.
I first "found" you through the C-SPAN video you did in 2004 and have been a disciple ever since. Couldn't you swing a similar gig through your Pentagon contacts? TED is another venue that calls for an encore. Great Powers is really more in their ballpark and your new brief would likely tie in as a far grander view (appropriate for a grand strategist after all) of what we can and should do than Gates anti-malaria pitch this week : )
I was wondering, have you thought about Fareed Zakaria's show on CNN? It's called GPS and I think you would be perfect for it. A convo between you and Fareed would be very fascinating and enlightening, especially with respect to your concerns about the idea of a 'post-american world.' Just a thought. Keep up the great work! Thanks.
Everything is spelled right I didn't realize it until I looked and saw that I got hyphenated! Ha! Thank you again! This is great.