Tonight's guests are Leon Panetta on The Daily Show and Carol Burnett on The Colbert Report.
Leon Panetta
is an American statesman, lawyer, and professor. He served in the Barack Obama administration as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency from 2009 to 2011 and as Secretary of Defense from 2011 to 2013. A Democrat, Panetta was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 1993, served as Director of the Office of Management and Budget from 1993 to 1994 and as President Bill Clinton's Chief of Staff from 1994 to 1997. He is the founder of the Panetta Institute for Public Policy, served as Distinguished Scholar to Chancellor Charles B. Reed of the California State University System and professor of public policy at Santa Clara University.
He is on tonight to promote his book
Worthy Fights: A Memoir of Leadership in War and Peace
Like his career, Worthy Fights is a reflection of Panetta’s values. It is imbued with the frank, grounded, and often quite funny spirit of a man who never lost touch with where he came from: his family’s walnut farm in beautiful Carmel Valley, California. It is also a testament to a lost kind of political leadership, which favors progress and duty to country over partisanship. Panetta is a Democrat who pushed for balanced budgets while also expanding care for the elderly and sick; a devout Catholic who opposes the death penalty but had to weigh every drone strike from 2009 through 2011. Throughout his career, Panetta’s polestar has been his belief that a public servant’s real choice is between leadership or crisis. Troubles always come about through no fault of one’s own, but most can be prevented with courage and foresight.
As always, Panetta calls them as he sees them in Worthy Fights. Suffused with its author’s decency and stubborn common sense, the book is an epic American success story, a great political memoir, and a revelatory view onto many of the great figures and events of our time.
Book review: Leon Panetta’s ‘Worthy Fights’
Panetta confides that he thought Obama was wrong on some key decisions, just as Gates and Clinton did in their memoirs. Which makes this reader ask: Why did these officials continue to serve a president with whose policies they often seemed to disagree? Retrospective candor is fine, but wouldn’t it have been better to speak out at the time and perhaps even resign on principle? The country would have been poorer without their service, but we need officials who will tell the truth publicly, in real time, before they make the book deal.
One more general gripe before we get down to the substance of Panetta’s memoir: Who thinks of these titles? “Worthy Fights”? Come on. In the bland-title competition, that one tops Clinton’s “Hard Choices” and Gates’s “Duty.” These book monikers are as inviting as a summons to the dentist.
Panetta says he admires the president as “a realist and a pragmatist,” qualities the two men share. But he observes that Obama’s penchant for “playing it cool” has a severe downside: “On occasion he avoids the battle, complains, and misses opportunities.” From Panetta, who comes across in this book as a man who has never shirked a fight he thought was right, that’s a harsh critique.
He has been in the news recently for that criticism.
‘Loyal’ Leon Panetta defends criticism
Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Wednesday defended his decision to speak out against President Barack Obama, saying he did so to help the president succeed in his last two years in office.
In an interview on “CBS This Morning,” host Charlie Rose asked Panetta why he didn’t wait until Obama left office before criticizing him.
“You know what? It’s exactly because I am very loyal to this president and because I want him to succeed that I think it’s important to raise these issues now,” he said. “So that hopefully in 2½ years, you know, we can make sure that he really does have the kind of legacy that I think he deserves as president.”
Panetta continued his criticism of Obama’s actions on Syria, however, saying that the president’s hurt his reputation by failing to act against Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime after saying in 2012 that the use of chemical weapons against the Syrian people would be a “red line” for him. The U.S. determined the next year that Assad had used chemical weapons on his own people, but ultimately did not launch airstrikes against the regime.
I don't know what to expect with this interview. Jon can be weak ordinarily and he may still be under the weather so it may not be that great of an interview. The reason to have hope is that Jon is usually anti-quagmire and Panetta seems to be for never-ending Middle Eastern warfare which means Jon might actually push back some.
Carol Burnett is an actress, comedian, singer, and writer. I would also say she is a comedy legend. She is on to promote her role in the Broadway show Love Letters.
Love Letters remains one of theater’s most enduring romances of the past 25 years, having first opened in New Haven, Connecticut, in November 1988. The show paints a portrait of two friends—Melissa Gardner and Andrew Makepeace Ladd III—who have exchanged letters for over 50 years, having spent a lifetime discussing their greatest hopes and deepest disappointments.
Beginning October 11, Carol Burnett will have a chance to show off her impeccable comedic timing once again in Love Letters. But A.R. Gurney’s play isn’t all laughs. And as we all know, in the past she's had a habit of breaking character. On The Tonight Show on October 6, the comedy icon shared with Jimmy Fallon the secret she's picked up to keep from laughing: just bite your finger…hard. So look out for that at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre.
Watch Incoming Love Letters Star Carol Burnett Reveal Her Nail-Biting Secret to Stifling a Laugh on Stage
She is amazing, if this doesn't make you laugh, you have no sense of humor.
This Week's Guests
THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART
Th 10/9: Jeremy Renner
THE COLBERT REPORT
Th 10/9: Robert Plant
Somebody else is going to have to post for the week of October 20 if you want a diary. I will be in Boston that week helping homeless people.