I'm running way behind this morning for a variety of reasons, so I'm going to swipe another easy question and throw it back to the audience. this one's from Eric Lund, who asked:
If you could attend a dinner with any major political figure in the world, who would it be, and why?
The answer that makes this an easy question is "Barack Obama," who is currently the most major of world political figures, and comes off as almost too good to be true on tv. So I'd like to have dinner with him (after playing hoops for a while to work up an appetite), just to see if he's really that good.
But that's too obvious a question. So, other than Obama, what major political figure would you have dinner with, if you could?
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Oddly enough, Barack Obama wasn't the obvious answer I had in mind.
My answer would have been the King of Sweden. That's because that dinner invitation is part of the Nobel Prize package.
Does it have to be someone who's name I know? I want dinner with a member of MJ12, so I can ply him with wine and try to get some info about the ET presence on earth out of him! :)
Your average Head of State is a paper rectum inflated with faint echos. The interesting ones are criminals, sex addicts, and megalomaniacs. Retards might qualify, but Bush the Lesser was uninteresting even as a tail-amputated monkey and Prince Charles is less charming than a marionette.
Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria would have been an interesting evening. Janet Ann Napolitano is a paper rectum.
I'd say Obama but I suspect that the dinner would deteriorate into arguing about a lot of his broken promises especially in regards to transparency and civil liberties issues.
Al Franken
Al, Charlie isn't king yet. It's still QEII as Head of State.
From British politics I would have to go for one of the old guard, definitely someone for whom New Labour is a recent footnote on the end of their career. Tony Benn and Ming Campbell are the obvious ones and still on the right side of the House of Lords. Boris Johnson would be tempting, but I couldn't discuss politics with him - he doesn't do debate and I don't do Conservative policy.
On the US side it's harder to say still. I'd be tempted to go for someone in the administration, maybe Rahm. Other than that one or more of the Supreme Court. Pretty much any of the liberals or maybe Scalia if there was other entertainment and no politics discussed, but I'd have to sit on my hands for most of it.
Nelson Mandela. He's been around so long on the world political stage that he is probably a fascinating person with whom to discuss the 20th century.
Aung San Suu Kyi, if I could eat dinner with her without committing a crime. She's walked such a fine line between supporting dissent and being killed by the military junta in Myanmar!
Vladimir Putin, because you ruled out Mr. Obama and he is the other major shaker in world politics.
The president of Cal Tech, Agapie Theodor, just because he sounds mighty interesting.
Honestly? Sarah Palin.
There is so much hyperbole about her. I would like to know if she really has a head on her shoulders, and if she knows how to use it. Does she really believe the things that have come out of her mouth? When she said the things she did about fruit fly research, did she understand the distinction between olive grove pests and the model organism used in genetics studies and the interesting questions that raises about peer review vs earmarks in science funding? Or were words just coming out of her mouth?
W would be on the list for similar reasons. I would really like to try to get a read on this guy - his policies were so destructive for science. Did he realize this? What was going through his head?
I would most enjoy and learn the most from dinner with Obama - but I know where he stands (except on certain rights issues) so I don't have these burning questions about his competence and worldview. He wrote his books - so I can read them to get a feel for his beliefs.
Ted Kennedy. He's had ringside seat for lots of key moments in American politics. He's also one of a dying breed of old school reach across the aisle, find common political ground and get something done Members of Congress. I'd love to hear about some of the compromises and deal brokering that went on as well as how the culture of the Senate has changed
It would depend on the dinner. For a private diner where I really had a chance to get into a good discussion, I'd say Peter Orszag. For a public dinner with lots of other participants, I'd say Al Franken.
I would take Roger Scruton or Theodore Dalrymple simply because they have a subversive sense of humor and the discussion could be very interesting
Although I'm not necessarily a fan,
Either Putin or Netanyahu. Two figures heavily involved in their own respective regional conflict, but probably Putin moreso because I think he's really smart and would be a lot of fun to both debate and learn from.
Are we allowed to talk to the dead? If so, then this is an easy question for me. Richard Nixon. The man is endless fascinating to me.
If we're restricted to the living, then Mikhail Gorbachev. I would love to know what his private thoughts were about how Perestroika worked out, and where Russia is headed today.
Michelle Obama!
Dick Cheney.
The menu would be mainly Bacon Triple Cheese Burgers, Poutine, with a desert of Lard Tarts accompanied by random loud noises and being thwacked on the head with rubber dinosaurs.
I'd also like to drinks of holy water, flavoured with garlic and served in silver goblets.