Just a couple of days after the Mideast peace-threatening incident between Israeli commandos and the “peace flotilla” headed to Gaza, Charlie Rose nabbed a great “get” yesterday when he reeled-in VP Joe Biden for an exclusive one-on-one interview.  Yes, Charlie Rose, a guy who has more kudos than the candy aisle at Costco, sat down with our Vice President — and almost nobody noticed.

Biden, the usually reliable, one-man-gaffe-machine actually came out and validated Israel’s actions against the flotilla saying;

Israel has an absolute right to deal with its security interests.

Only Fox News seemed to notice.

Saying the following to Charlie Rose, the Vice President displayed great clarity on the issue and deep knowledge of what actually happened, as opposed to what has been reported on MSNBC and CNN: (more…)

David Brooks is a thoughtful writer and, by all appearances, a nice fellow.

But on his February 9 appearance on Charlie Rose, Brooks painfully revealed the limits of his understanding and the poverty of his vision.  These failings are not exclusive to Brooks — rather, they are typical of the class with which Brooks self-identifies, the hyper-educated coastal elite.

Of the Tea Party, for example, Brooks told Rose, “It’s not conservative, it’s not pro-Republican, it’s just a recoil from what’s happening [in Washington].”  Has Brooks actually convinced himself of this tripe?  The tea partiers recoil from Washington precisely because of their commitment to small-government conservatism; because Washington now represents the antithesis of their deeply held conservative principles.  Brooks would know this if he actually talked to some Tea Party members instead of viewing them with horror and barely concealed disgust from his Beltway offices. (more…)