Adil Najam
UPDATE: Watch video clip from President Musharraf on ‘Daily Show’ here.
Most readers of this blog would already know that Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan’s President and Chief of Army Staff, will be in the United States in the second half of this month; i.e., soon. The key stops in the trip will be a speech at the United Nations General Assembly (Sep. 21), the launch of his autobiography (Sep. 25), a meeting with US President George Bush (Sep. 21 and later), and possibly another with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (Sep. 21 or 22). There will, of course, also be various community and think tank stops across the country.
Also see ATP poll on ‘Grading Gen. Musharraf’s Performance’. Updated story on his media engagements and book tour, here.
However, the stop I am looking most forward to is his appearance on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (See here) – the late night ‘fake news’ comedy show on the cable TV channel Comedy Central, on September 26. It should be an interview to remember and I am not planning to miss it (actually, I try never to miss The Daily Show anyhow; see video clip below).
For those who are unfamiliar with the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning show (either because they do not live in the US or because they like to go to bed early) I can only say that it is a television news phenomenon like no other. Its fans call it the most (brutally) honest news show in America. Celebrities, and particularly politicians from all sides, see it as a must-do stop. And particularly in election season they fall over each other to get booked on it. All of this despite the fact that it is, by its own admission, a ‘fake’ news show, which takes great pleasure not only in making fun of politicians but also of ‘real’ news shows. The shows website describes it as being “even better than being informed… One anchor, five correspondents, zero credibility!”
Gen. Musharraf is quite savvy in dealing with the international media and his matter-of-fact way of speaking comes across well. He will, no doubt, make an interesting guest. But he may well meet his match in the blunt questioning in Jon Stewart.
Stewart is not known for polite questioning. Here, for example, is him interviewing former (and possibly future) US Presidential candidate and one of the most influential Republicans, Senator John McCain (can also be seen here):
The show is, in fact, irreverent to all sides. This is quite evident from this second video clip which relates to President Bush’s visit to India and Pakistan earlier this year (see related ATP Posts here and here). [For volatile South Asian emotions, please realize that this is a late-night comedy show, and the ‘expert’ being interviewed is a fake expert, making fun of self-styled ‘experts’ as much as anything else] (can also be seen here).
So, as you can imagine, it should be an interesting interview to watch; September 26.
The date, by the way, is not coincidental. It is the day after Gen. Musharraf’s autobiography – In the Line of Fire – will be launched. This highlights the importance of the show, as well as of this appearance. The publisher (Simon and Schuster) is keeping a very tight lid on the contents of the book until its launch and, surprisingly, not much of what is in the book has yet leaked out. So, we will have to wait till later for a review of its contents; meanwhile, see related op-ed by Hussain Haqqani, here.
He would make a wonderful guest on Aaj TVs ‘Begum Nawazish Ali’
I agree with Adil, that his appearance on the Daily Show is going to be worth watching.
Teeth Maestro, he is not only scheduled to appear on Daily Show, but also on 24 September on CBS’s ’60 Minutes’ and on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ on 1 October.
I’d like to see him respond to Tim Russert as well.
Jon’s book on democracy is also a must read. Just can’t stop laughing whenever I go through it. The most impressive stunt (and it was not a publicity stunt) from him was to show up on CNN’s cross fire and rip it apart for legit reasons. From that day on I started seeing him differently and he had my respect. That, by the way, pretty much ended Tucker Carlson’s career, as it was.
Husain Haqqani seems to have made a name for himself recently but it’s hard not to see the underlying intent of his columns about the current setup. Of course we are looking at foreign ministership or something equivalent if BB ever comes to power. It would have been nicer to see a column from someone else or maybe even a different name on his column.
Continuing from the second The Daily Show link, here is another site where they asked the opinion of people on India Pakistan conflict.
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/37876
I am sorry if it has little to do with this post.
Actually, he is here for a long trip. Maybe as long as 12 days. After the first two days it becomes a personal trip to promote his book. I do not know who pays for it but assume the publisher does. So many interviews are unusual and will be arranged by pblisher to sell book. Most Presidents will not be asked to do so many interviews. In his past trips its been a couple maybe. I dont think there is anything wrong with that as long as it is not paid for by Pakistan government. I don’t think it is. In some countries (US) politicians in office cannot write memoirs. I do not think there is any such rule in Pakistan, so he is not breaking any rules.
Also, no, you do not do diplomacy over the phone. It is, hopefully more serious business than that and a little more complex than ordering Chinese over the phone :-)