I hadn’t seen his March 16 appearance on “Late Night” – indeed, I hadn’t even heard about it – but I was happy to have the chance given last week’s news. It might have been forgettable the first time around, but that wasn’t the case two weeks later.
Meyers may not have intended to do so, but on the show he exposed the crazy extent to which the media fans the flames of stories that are only partially true or simply not true at all. And he did such a good job interviewing Cruz and keeping the conversation civil and informative even when discussing topics on which they do not agree that I hope his show becomes an essential stop for all candidates from all parties during the next 20 months.
Just two days before his March 16 appearance on “Late Night” Cruz had been in New Hampshire “pre-campaigning,” as Meyers put it. Cruz and Meyers started their exchange with happy banter about the influence enjoyed by the Granite State (where Meyers is from) over politicians in general.
“When Senator Obama was on ‘Saturday Night Live’ in 2007, I went in his dressing room and I was talking to him and said, ‘You know, I’m from New Hampshire,’ and he stood right up!” Meyers recalled. “When you tell a politician you’re from New Hampshire it gets very exciting.”
The most interesting part of the conversation by far was when Meyers mentioned a moment that had been caught on video two days earlier (at the time of the original telecast) in New Hampshire. It showed “what the campaign trail can be like,” the affable host asserted.
“You put a scare into a three-year-old,” Meyers continued, before stopping himself and adding, “through no fault of your own.” He then said to Cruz, “Let’s take a look at this clip, because I did enjoy watching this.”
In the clip, which can be viewed by clicking on the image below, Cruz criticizes “the Obama-Clinton foreign policy of leading from behind,” calmly but firmly asserting that “the whole world’s on fire.”