Senator Mary Landrieu Hangs Up on Conservative Talk Show Host
Right before her defeat at the polls last week, Sen. Mary Landrieu appeared on Jeff Crouere’s talk radio show. Things got messy when Crouere announced his admiration for the Tea Party and started to hammer away at Landrieu’s vote for Obamacare.
But it’s never a good idea to hang up on a talk show host because you don’t like the way an interview is going. The problem with hang-up up is that you now provide the host with a PR hook for promoting himself/herself and you put a spotlight on the exact issue you didn’t like talking about. What Landrieu should have done was to keep talking, say what she wants to say, act like she is happy, and sound like she believes she is winning. (yes, I know that Landrieu lost the election on Saturday by a landslide and this particular talk show appearance had no bearing on the election)
Nevertheless, I do blame Landrieu for how she handled herself on the interview. But I also blame Landrieu’s staff for booking her on Crouere’s show in the first place. Regular followers of my blog and YouTube channel know that I normally advocate saying yes to all interview requests. However, there are exceptions. I’ve personally appeared on Crouere’s talk show and I can tell you he is one of these hosts who believes that even the most conservative Democrat is an utterly contemptible creature worse than Stalin and Hitler combined. There was never any good that could have happened by putting Landrieu on the show.
So another lesson is that you have to do some homework before saying yes to every talk show. You don’t say no just because someone doesn’t favor your team or ideals. But you do say no if someone’s only shtick is mocking, ridiculing and vilifying everyone who is associated with your viewpoints.