Carville and Begala on Dean's blog from the Harkin steak fry!

[hedda_foil]

It's to promote the premier of K Street on Sunday (HBO), which will feature Dean. Now I have to call my cable company and see if I can get HBO turned on today. But this is Too cool!


Begala and Carville: Dean on K Street

Hey, bloggers. This is Paul Begala and James Carville (Paul's on the keyboard, James is on the phone. He's not the most computer literate guy in the world.)

We just wanted to let you know about K Street - a new series debuting on HBO Sunday night at 10:35 eastern. This isn't a commercial, though. We wanted to let you know that your man, Howard Dean, is our featured guest star.

The show, like Gov. Dean, is completely unscripted. Not to give the plot away, but James plays a political consultant/lobbyist who volunteers to prepare Gov. Dean for the Congressional Black Caucus debate. This thoroughly pisses-off his Republican wife, Mary Matalin. So he recruits Paul to help out.

In a gutsy and unconventional move, Gov. Dean agreed not only to appear on the program (as do various Republican Senators) but also to let James and Paul do debate prep with him - as Steven Soderbergh, George Clooney and others filmed it. The prep was real - we did it on Monday in anticipation of the CBC debate on Tuesday. We offered him our best and most honest advice. Like any smart person, he took some of it, rejected some of it, and modified some of it.

Because of our "Crossfire" gig, we can't play favorites. We've given advice to every major presidential candidate. But if you like Dean, you'll like him on K Street. He was very funny - did an impression of James that is spot-on. He was also very real. He forgot about the cameras (they're small and the camera operators are very unobtrusive) and the result is an authentic behind-the-scenes look at Gov. Dean preparing for the debate. We offered the governor a few lines, just as we always did for President Clinton. He used one of them - and we hope he uses them all as the campaign progresses.

Again, while we can't and won't endorse anyone in the primaries, both of us were impressed with Gov. Dean and his campaign. They took a big chance, and we think it pays off. Millions of people who never watch "Crossfire" or "Meet the Press" will see Gov. Dean on HBO Sunday night. They'll see an unvarnished, unscripted, plain-speaking guy who really wants to take the fight to President Bush. In a world in which too many politicians are seen as phonies, Gov. Dean comes across as the real thing. What you see is what you get.

We had fun, and hope Gov. Dean did. K Street is groundbreaking television--part fiction, part reality show, part documentary. We hope you like the show. We know you'll like how your candidate did.

Paul Begala and James Carville

Posted by Guest Writer at 02:49 PM

[Bush_has_Parvo]

1. Can't wait! This should be a blast!

It really is going to be an unusual show--the mix of fiction and reality. But hey, the Rajun' Cajun and Gov Dean, this will be worth the price this month!

[Cheswick2.0]

2. OMG, just drain my brain and put a TV tube in

this is all a money making game to these people.

[Sophree]

3. Can't wait for K Street

Should be interesting. Good for Dr. Dean.

[Clete]

4. Does this mean that they support Dean?

Or are they spamming on every Democratic candidates blog? :-)

[madfloridian]

7. No, they don't. Republicans will be on the show as well.

No, they do not take sides, read the blog.

[VolcanoJen]

5. I cannot freaking wait for K Street!!

This show is a dream-come-true for a political junkie like myself. I often spend my bored hours at work dreaming of life in politics, and I can't wait to see it get the class treatment from Clooney and Soderbergh.

Yippeeeee!!!!!!

[VolcanoJen]

6. The Debate Prep segment should be fascinating...

... the NY Times reported yesterday that Dean was given his winning line, "If a percentage of minorities that's in your state has anything to do with how you connect with African-American voters, then Trent Lott would be Martin Luther King," by Carville and Begala during the taping of K Street.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/13/politics/campaigns/13DEAN.html?ex=1064030400&en=d2ed9fd94530e2d5&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE

[Capn Sunshine]

8. Carvilles wife is one of the producers

Mary Matalin produces along with George Clooney.

Shameless whoring by starry-eyed pols if you ask me; but it's all in fun I suppose.After all, they made the blog...
:nuke:

[tedoll78]

9. This is going to be great publicity for Dean.

And they're right about people who never watch 'Meet the Press' and 'Crossfire'.. these people are in the majority. I can think of tons of people in my own life who fit into that category, where if they were to see this show they could form an opinion about a candidate right then and there.

Here's hoping Dean really does make a good impression. I can't wait to see his Carville..

[Eloriel]

10. while we can't and won't endorse anyone in the primaries

both of us were impressed with Gov. Dean and his campaign. They took a big chance, and we think it pays off. Millions of people who never watch "Crossfire" or "Meet the Press" will see Gov. Dean on HBO Sunday night. They'll see an unvarnished, unscripted, plain-speaking guy who really wants to take the fight to President Bush. In a world in which too many politicians are seen as phonies, Gov. Dean comes across as the real thing. What you see is what you get.


Woohooo!!!! From a coupla people who ought to KNOW. Sounds like they'd LIKE to endorse him, doesn't it?

Eloriel

[arendt]

11. Wipe off the drool, droids! This is boundary-warping at its worst

To sophisticates, this is just another way to get publicity.
But, it is really just another step deeper into the morass
of media about media about media ad nauseam.

This kind of self-referential blurring of the line between
reality and show biz makes it ever harder to claim that
there can ever be objectivity in the reporting about politics,
or any kind of enforcable standards. To Joe Six Pack, this
kind of stuff is more confusing than the plot line of The
Matrix. They will wind up confusing fiction with reality.

How can you forget Rush Limbaugh's all-purpose excuse:
I'm just an entertainer, not a politician.

I really don't care if Dean did well. He might just as easily
have done badly. This is not the kind of thing we want to
encourage.

I do not care to have Presidential candidates judged on
their ability to "look natural". By that standard, Ted Bundy
would have been a great prez.

I want to get show biz out, and real discussion about real
issues in. That's what the Internet does. That's why a
Bev Harris can make a difference. Because government,
which is about boring stuff like counting the votes, cannot
take a back seat to the phony glitz of politics.

arendt

[LittleApple81]

12. Is your DU name because of Anna Arendt? n/t

[arendt]

15. Yes, Hannah Arendt

FYI, somewhere at Adbusters, there is a flash animation about
how Hannah dated Leo Strauss for a bit. After getting to know
him, she not only decided she didn't like him, but she spent
years attacking his philosophy.

Interesting that I despise Straussians as well.

arendt

Somewhere =

http://adbusters.org/magazine/49/articles/leo_strauss/flash.html

[Eloriel]

13. Well, I think you have some good points

So why don't you go after all the other politico-entertainment shows like, you know, all that's on CNN, MSNBC, FOX. Heck, you haven't even seen this show yet. It might surprise you. And it might not. In any case, I'm a lot more troubled myself by those "news" shows that are really not any more than infotainment.

I don't disagree with your point so much as your focus.

Eloriel

[arendt]

14. I'm "agin 'em all" - politics has been reduced to mud wrestling

I attack this stuff whenever a target presents itself. I am
not "focusing" on this particular show. Although, the
self-referentialness of a TV show about how politics is
done for TV should be obvious to everyone.

When politics is reduced to sound bites, nobody gets
to apply critical thinking to a logical argument. Instead,
everyone winds up emotionally manipulated.

Paraphrasing Jacques Ellul:

..The idea that propaganda from one side should be balanced
..with propaganda from the other side is akin to arguing
..that a blow to the right side of the head can be balanced
..by a blow to the left side of the head.

I could also quote Neal Postman, Warren Bennis, Jurgen Habermas,
and Hannah Arendt on this point, and I have in the past.

I watch as little "TV" as I can. It is beyond mind rot; it is
emotional re-programming in service of the corporate state.
It goes without saying that CNN, MSNBC, and FOX are
propaganda outlets. To say that I haven't even seen the
show in question assumes that this genre of voyeuristic
"reality TV" has any value at all. I won't watch it because
I have better things to do than rot my brain while ingesting
corporate propaganda.

If I want to see Howard Dean, I will go up to New Hampshire -
which I did on Friday night. My wife shook his hand. That is
reality. This media circus you are referring to is "unreality"
at its worst.

arendt

On edit: spelling, identation