For video and pictures from the interview, click here.
Glenn and Dr. Keith Ablow gave their reactions on radio today about their Today’s Show interview. Glenn was pretty optimistic going in, saying that he expected to be put through the “buzz saw”. How did he think it went?
Glenn started off by playing some audio from Natalie Morales. She said, “You say you compare the liberals to fascists?” She added, “And since the Tucson shooting, though, where so many have been outspoken and criticize you in particular, Sarah Palin as well among many others and they've said it's exactly that tone and the political vitriol. That is fueling the fires.”
Ablow was quick to jump to Glenn’s defense. “That's so crazy. I mean, I'm sorry to interrupt, I mean, I know he's the bigger guy on the planet but really we have so much work to do to repair the mental healthcare system in America, a system that would literally send Jared Loughner home from college and say don't come back here. Can you imagine if he had diabetes and he was collapsing all over campus? What doctor would say go home and never come back?”
On air, Ablow said of the question, “It's a distraction. Glenn, we talked this morning. I think it was really important. We were walking to the Today Show and we both agreed that a lot of what you are doing for the country is very much like what a therapist does for a patient. Patients may not want to hear that they're addicted to alcohol. The country may not want to hear that the debt is out of control. There are lots of things that people may not want to hear but they need to from somebody who really cares about them.”
Glenn asked Dr. Ablow, “Do you think the media really doesn't know or they don't want to hear the answer?”
“I think that people, media people included, want to dance around anything complicated and painful that takes tremendous effort to fix. Isn't it easier to call people names and say that political rhetoric causes chaos or violence instead of looking at a shattered mental healthcare system, rolling up your sleeves and saying let's get to work here?” Dr. Ablow said.
Glenn also addressed the fact that the main example they used was a comedy bit that he used in one segment before he was nationally syndicated. Since he was only on one station at the time, its unlikely many people would have heard it. Glenn wondered why the media never focuses on his message of self-empowerment or faith, hope and charity. Glenn wondered how much E4, Wilmington, and 8.28 have changed the world if the media focuses on one joke from years ago.
“ This is about changing the country one person at a time. That's what this is about. You want to solve this violent nut job? I don't know how to do that. You want to make sure we don't go into violence, we don't go into revolution? Change people at the core,” Glenn concluded.