Daily watch: Ron Paul

October 1, 8:49 PMHouston Entertainment ExaminerRob Cox

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September 29, 2009:

Tuesday’s Daily Show interview featured Texas congressman Ron Paul. After introducing Paul and mentioning his new book, End the Fed, Stewart joked, “You seem to have put a lot of thought and effort into this book; and you call yourself a congressman.”

Paul is a small-government Republican with libertarian leanings, who advocates personal rights and freedoms. In his book, he argues for the end of The United States Federal Reserve Bank, contending that it’s corrupt, outdated and, most importantly, unconstitutional.

The Fed, he asserts, helps government pay its bills by simply printing money when needed, which, ultimately, is extremely damaging to the economy. Such irresponsible production of currency, in the long term, serves to raise inflation, increase government size, and steadily decrease currency’s value over time. The Fed, Paul states, monetizes debt; when presented with a bill, they simply print the money needed to pay it.

At one point, Paul states: “They use this [money] to finance these wars that I think are so ridiculous. Undeclared wars; endless wars; good wars; long wars—all kinds of wars with no end in sight.” Considering the ideology of the Republican party over the last decade and more, this is a fairly radical statement coming from a Republican congressman. Furthermore, Paul’s arguments are both compelling and lucid. And, in contrast to the stereotypical politician, he comes across as both pragmatic and likeable, giving his arguments even further resonance. “It’s hard to enforce fraud laws,” he contends, “when the government participates in fraud.”

This is a terrific interview. There aren’t a lot of laughs, but this session illustrates the qualities that make Stewart such an effective interviewer. Obviously, if a broader range of topics were broached between Stewart and Paul, the pair would likely uncover a number of serious ideological differences. But Stewart approaches this interview respectfully and inquisitively; he asks pointed, intelligent questions, striving to laugh with the guest, not at him. Regardless of ideological differences, Stewart approaches the vast majority of his interviews in the same style (with a few exceptions). He’s rarely timid about asking tough questions though, and those qualities are why he’s among the best [fake] journalists working in TV today.