George Tenet, still making the rounds promoting his book At the Center of the Storm and trying to win friends and influence people, was on The Daily Show on 8 May 2007. But he was still throwing up bricks.
Host Jon Stewart devoted over half the show to the interview, and started off with something novel: a video pastiche of Tenet's previous talk-show appearances (O'Reilly, Russert, et al.). Very effective. In most of the appearances the host treated Tenet with disdain or disbelief as he peddled his tale. "Air Ball" often appeared to be in a state of extreme discomfort; I almost started feeling sorry for him.
He gave a credible performance on the show, but nothing he said caused me to decide that my new nickname for him should be anything other than "Air Ball". I still would love to know why he kept his mouth shut all those years while that perfidious pair Bush and Cheney led us down the treacherous road into Iraq in pursuit of WMDs, democracy in the Middle East, or whatever the raison du jour is.
He did have a sense of humor. Must be laughing all the way to the bank.
"That makes me cry a lot." -- George Tenet, when told by Jon Stewart that Douglas Feith is upset with him.
"Well, you're a little better looking." -- George Tenet, when asked by Jon Stewart if this is how White House meetings went.
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