Decision ‘08

Watch Out, George…

…the Hitch is getting warmed up! In case you’ve forgotten, on Wednesday, the great Christopher Hitchens takes on former Weekly Jackass and apologist for tyrants George Galloway mano-y-mano. Hitch gets warmed up here at Slate (I can’t even print the best parts - as you know, I try to keep it relatively clean here).

Be sure and follow the links back to the Hitchens Web, and look at all the great material our good friend has lined up. You may (then again, you probably aren’t) be wondering why there was no Weekly Jackass this week; simply put, on Sunday, since it was the 4th anniversary of 9/11, it didn’t seem appropriate, and today, I’m just too tired. Will there be one this week? Only the Shadow knows…

6 Responses to “Watch Out, George…”

1 Clint Says:
September 12th, 2005 at 9:38 pm
I hate to say it, but I’m not anywhere near as confident as you are as to the outcome of this debate.

Jon Stewart on the Daily Show was able to trip up Hitchens by saying completely outrageous things (”We’re trying to redraw the map!”) and repeating them loudly to audience cheers while Hitchens forgot what he was saying. Stewart is an amateur compared to Galloway at the debating equivalent of no-rules street fighting. Hitchens is an expert in the relatively refined art of written punditry.

Hitchens certainly shows an awareness of the nature of his adversary — and I look forward to listening or reading. But in a political “debate” where in one breath Galloway can utter enough absurdities to take half an hour to properly debunk… truth has few advantages over simpler fiction.
2 Greg Bullock Says:
September 12th, 2005 at 10:14 pm
I have a ticket to attend this show.

I agree with Clint; Hitchens will have his work cut out for him and most likely the crowd will be behind Galloway. The “moderator” Amy Goodman, an old time New York far left winger, certainly will be.

I think it will be interesting just to watch the 2 men face off, though I imagine it will quickly devolve into name calling and cursing, with the Angry Left contingent of the audience going berserk. I won’t be surprised if a fistfight breaks out in the crowd. (I saw a fight break out just yesterday at a small demonstration in a local park.)

Here’s a story: I went to a local pub and watched one of the Bush/Kerry debates. It was, for the most part, ridiculous because every time GWB spoke the place erupted with hissing and name calling, generally making it impossible to hear what was being said. Ultimately, it was a waste of time to try and watch a debate in this kind of a venue.

I’m not expecting much more than that with this event, especially if they’re serving beer & liquor, but you know, whatever happens, for $12 it can’t really be too much of a disappointment.
3 Mark Says:
September 12th, 2005 at 10:28 pm
Greg, please report back, in excruciating detail! I’m quite jealous, you know…
4 Yehudit Says:
September 12th, 2005 at 11:12 pm
Some of us will be handing out anti-Galloway leaflets.
5 Mark Says:
September 12th, 2005 at 11:14 pm
Yehudit, beautiful…it’s things like this that make life worth living. Get him, Hitch!…
6 utron Says:
September 13th, 2005 at 10:00 am
Much as I admire Hitchens, Clint and Greg both have good points: the audience is going to be heavily pro-Galloway, and Galloway himself is, to put it as politely as possible, a despicable thug. Still, should be interesting. Those of us who can’t be there in person can listen to the webcast here:

http://kpftx.org/

Personally, I hope that after Hitchens finishes with him Galloway has to carry his teeth home in his hat. Metaphorically speaking, of course.