Time: Fri Mar 07 14:00:39 1997
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Fri, 7 Mar 1997 06:06:47 -0700 (MST)
Date: Fri, 07 Mar 1997 13:55:30 -0800
To: (Recipient list suppressed)
From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar]
Subject: SLS: J. Orlin Grabbe speaks about 60 Minutes
<snip>
>C-
>
> Sixty Minutes didn't do s***.
>They just gave me a lot of free
>publicity and I have picked up a lot of
>new web page readers--I've got their
>letters of support to prove it.
>
> I won't go into it now. I had
>weeks to prepare for the interview, and
>anticipated every angle (I made a
>couple of slip-ups, but they weren't
>intelligent enough to use them).
>
> There was a lot of pressure.
>Sixty Minutes gets a hour plus of tape,
>of which they will use maybe a minute
>and a half. They are renowed for
>choosing a tiny part that makes them
>look super good and the subject super
>bad. With the same material, I could
>have made Leslie Stahl look like Adolf
>Hitler. But I knew all that beforehand,
>and have no complaints.
>
> It was really funny. They were so
>desperate to do a hatchet job on me,
>they would agree to do it anywhere
>(Leslie Stahl flew out to Reno, went
>straight to the interview, went
>straight back to the airport, and went
>back to New York). It was only the
>second time 60 Minutes had ever been in
>Reno (the other time was the President
>of University of Nevada, Reno, re some
>sports thing). Even the Producer made
>a special trip out ahead of time, to
>reassure me it wasn't a hatchet job.
>(So, of course, I knew it was going to
>be a hatchet job.)
>
> So I made them meet me at a bar
>called "Area 51". It was hilarious.
>
> I gave them no material to attack
>me with except for the subject matter
>(TWA 800, etc.) and Leslie Stahl
>made a fool of herself attacking the
>missile theory as well as advocating
>censorship of the news.
>
> I wore my best Greg Allman wig,
>drank a guinness on camera (to give
>them an out--i.e. I'm just a
>neighborhood drunk [which raises the
>question why they are there in the
>first place] ), which is the spin they
>put on it. Which also will annoy
>about 1/2 of blue collar America--prim
>Leslie Stahl with every hair in place.
>I decided on this image about two weeks
>before the interview: but, as it turned
>out, I had the flu and was losing my
>voice (it was gone by 6 pm, after the
>interview which took place around
>1:30), so I ended up having a second
>reason for the guinness.
>
> In the end, all Stahl could say
>was, in effect: "Parents remember when
>your children are on the Internet to
>protect them from reading the likes of
>J. Orlin Grabbe."--annoying everyone
>who believes in the First Amendment.
>
> It worked out fine. (There is
>more to the story--but I can't discuss
>this at the moment.) But I'm laughing
>all the way to the media bank.
>
> Besides, the CBS editors got to
>see me explaining all about Mike
>Wallace's bribe. That was my best
>moment (never mind that no one else
>will see it). So I expect that rumors
>are flying all over the CBS building
>right now.
>
> Orlin
>
>
>
>-> Send "subscribe snetnews " to majordomo@world.std.com
>-> Posted by: kalliste@aci.net (J. Orlin Grabbe)
>
>
========================================================================
Paul Andrew, Mitchell, B.A., M.S. : Counselor at Law, federal witness
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