This will be my last RNC post.
Friday started out with the news that I might interview Henry Kissinger, a man whose deeds and intellect I’m mightily afraid of. I was given the task because I’m always the earliest low-level employee to show up. Kissinger is considered old stuff by the established journalists I was working with – none of them could spare a moment of covering McCain’s upcoming speech to talk to the aging icon.
So I got the assignment. I had about three hours to prepare for my interview, which was not enough. I was assigned to ask only questions on Palin’s foreign policy experience, to plump up another reporter’s long-ish story on it.
When I arrived outside the restaurant, only one other reporter was there – Chuck Plunkett from the Denver Post. He told me he was nervous. I concurred.
We were eventually led in. There was Kissinger, planted on a black leather couch at the farthest corner of the restaurant. I sat next to him, Chuck on my other side. You can read what happened.
It was not a great interview, certainly one of the worst I’ve done. But then, he’s my first major subject, and it didn’t go terribly. I am hoping to score some time with him while I’m in Delhi, and prepare a lot more beforehand.
Speaking to him was like communing with a large, glistening brain. His sharpness was palpable, his empathy, not so much. He smiled a couple of times and made jokes, but mainly he was all business. It struck me how uncomfortable he was speaking outside of his “field of competence,” as he put it, that of foreign policy. But as soon as I introduced it – in the form of the India America nuclear deal – he visibly perked up. His speech was actually clearer.I had his resume fresh on my mind when I arrived, but all of the things he’d done sort of fled my brain as I sat next to him. It’s near impossible to have both experiences at once – a comprehensive understanding of a person’s life and a spontaneous discussion with said person.
It reminded me of something a Cuban expat told me during an interview. He had been forced to meet Fidel Castro in the 90s, when he went there as part of a medical team. Castro drove this man’s father out of the country and changed the course of his family’s history. But as he stood in front of Castro, now an old man, he felt nothing but pity.
I didn’t feel quite pity for Kissinger, nor awe. I felt like I was talking to any other stranger, this one old and German. There are moments in the interview where it’s clear I’ve forgotten who he is (I almost ask him if he’s ever been to India). I suppose I had to do that simply to calm my nerves. Someday, I hope, there will be enough depth to my own life and personality that I need not do that.
Immediately after Kissinger, I ran down to the floor to hold a spot for my photographer. The AP and Reuters photogs share the two center spots at all of these events – it seems it’s just a convention agreed upon by the other news groups – a little unfair, maybe, but nice for me, because I got to hover around the very front section with my guy every night.
I made sure the spot was secure, then headed to the California delegate section to meet Harmeet Dhillon, a delegate who is running for a position in the State Assembly of Dist. 13 in California (which includes the proudly liberal San Francisco).
I asked her what she thought of Palin, and she was resoundingly positive. When I brought up P’s beliefs in creationism, here’s what she said:
“As a Sikh, I believe in reincarnation. I don’t think people should not vote for me because of that. We have something called a constitution and first amendment rights. What she believes is not going to affect that.”
It had been brought up at the Indians for McCain dinner: religious values are a patently good quality in a person, even if they differ in particulars from one’s own. The significance of a religious politician isn’t about policy – which as Dhillon contends, religion can’t affect – but what it says about that person’s character. Palin, who has shown by example that she believes what she says she believes, is in Dhillon’s mind, a person of character.
I brought up the camp Dhillon’s family started, at which Amardeep Singh has taught, and she nodded a curt yes.
“Amardeep knows me.”
(I should point out: she was more intimidating in person than Kissinger.) She told me as a State Assembly member, she will take a vow never, under any circumstances, to raise taxes. And she will insist that California follow federal government standards.
Her explanation of why she holds an ACLU member card was uncannily like her defense of Palin’s ultra-Christian beliefs.
“I don’t agree with everything they believe in. But I think they are an important and necessary institution for protecting religious freedom.”
I like what that statement shows she has: the ability to hold two opposing views in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function, what F. Scott Fitzgerald called “the test of a first rate intelligence.”
Dhillon and her fellow Indian-American Republicans are very clear: they know they are different from the average republican, and even from the politicians they support – perhaps fundamentally different. But they say those differences – religious, social, intellectual – will not come in the way of the shared goals these groups have. And in that way they reconcile opposing realities. Indian and Republican.
I worked until 2 in the morning and couldn’t sleep until 4, I was so keyed up. This past week has been exhilirating, troubling, incomparable. I would do it again tomorrow.
I flew home and was “selected” for special screening, as I have been each time I’ve traveled in the past three months. This time I asked the woman why they aren’t upfront with their policy, calling it screening for people who look Middle Eastern, rather than “randomized.” She said I’d have to talk to the airline.
Standing aside to be checked as hundreds of white people walked through, uninterrupted, I felt bad. Like I’m not a part of the country in the way they are. It brought me back to a moment on the floor when some Texan delegates laughed that the protestors clearly have nothing better to do because,
“They’re democrats! Democrats don’t have jobs.”
I turned to them.
“I’m a Democrat and I have a job,”
“Well you’re the exception, honey! If you’re a Democrat and you have a job, you’re clearly a Republican!”
I got angry. They reminded me so much of the obnoxious white Republicans I’d grown up with in Texas, simplistic in their thinking, clad in expensive clothes and alienating. I reacted. I shouldn’t have, shouldn’t have said anything to begin with.
“I guess if you’re rude, you’re clearly a Republican too.”
It was horrible. I had no journalistic integrity left. I had let my feelings escape into the reality around me, the reality I am meant only to record. So as I stood there in the airport security line, remembering that, I tried also to remember the words of Fitzgerald, to keep in mind that this is my country too, this country of Republicans and Democrats, white people and Indians and black people and Native Americans, like the Ojibwa man who would sit next to me in an hour on the plane and tell me how his tribe’s reservation land has been stolen over decades, but even so – there are fierce Republicans and Democrats and mainstream thinkers among them. That we can be different and fight and still somewhere share a purpose. I tried in my mind to hold these two opposing thoughts, and to still function.
Wow! That’s a great post. Don’t beat yourself up Mallika, I don’t think being objective requires you to put up with rubbish – I think that your response was quite clever.
Maybe “powah ees dee ulteemaht afrodeesiac” 🙂
Congrats on the post, I would have been intimidated. There is a certain amount of boorishness in the RNC. Dhillon must have gotten used to it while at Dartmouth Review
“I guess if you’re rude, you’re clearly a Republican too.â€
Just saw the indian news channels reporting that india got the waiver from the NSG member group and the ban on fuel trading is now lifted specifically for India. China and Austria were the two nations opposing the waiver, but it was interesting to know that George W Bush had to personally call the Chinese president to pursuade him not to oppose the waiver and China agreed. India is now one step closer for enhancing the civilian nuclear energy program, just a couple more hurdles to clear, major one being the approval from US Congress. It will be interesting to see how the new Government will affect this deal by the time it gets to the US congress for approval.
Mallika — thanks for your hard work and your posts! I’ve enjoyed them.
I do know the Dhillon family rather well, and I did teach at the Lohgarh camp for a week one summer in 1998 — “modern Sikh literature.” It was an interesting experience for me; I might have to blog about it sometime.
I’ve only met Harmeet a couple of times (I know her brother better), but wish her all the best in her campaign. It probably isn’t easy running as a Republican in San Francisco!
Republicans lie. Don’t believe a word they say.
Her type of Republican could be very successful in the South Bay (even excluding the desi vote) from what I have seen in my frequent visits, but SF seems a bit quixotic
Hey M….
Your insecurity shows. Your resentment for all things white…..as for being kept out of the line…why don’t blame the fundamentalists who want to destroy ‘our’ way of life…instead of being angry at your fellow citizens who want take a flight without thinking it might be used as a missile!!!
You’re a good, thoughtful writer, Mallika. Whenever you’re done blogging on SM, please let us know where we can keep reading you.
9 · Dash Riprock said
Please explain your scare quotes, if you would
Great post – reflective, sincere, and inquisitive are the words I’d pick.
In short, like someone else said, don’t beat yourself up for being a person – journalists do far worse in practice than express their opinions honestly in their personal lives to the dipshit in line in front of them 🙂 In fact, it can become the content, rather than thinking of everything as objective newsy when nothing really is entirely (it’s impossible almost).
But this is a much longer conversation than can be had here about the dual nature of human beings as subject and object even when they’re voctionally assigned to be observers 🙂 it’s fun! you should look into it 🙂
Wow Mallika. Very sincere, thoughtful reporting. It’s as if I were there. The reader is connected. Incredibly three-dimensional.
Hello!
Thanks for the kind comments. I will be writing on my personal blog: http://mallikarao.wordpress.com/, probably forever. I haven’t written for a few weeks, but as I’m starting some new things (life in Delhi), I will definitely be updating it. Please check it out if you’re interested.
Whose god is it anyways – they didn’t really respond, just muttered things about me (“She’s not saying anything now!” as the Cindy McCain biopic flashed onscreen, while I stood there.)
I have a feeling I may have had a similar run-in at the DNC, if my time at Middlebury is any indicator. People who guffaw about stereotyped versions of their opponents are just frustrating.
It’s been fun writing here. Thanks for all the constructive commentary. I learned a lot.
-M
What Dr. A said.
Thansk for being so receptive to it! It’s the sign of a journalist / commentator with a lot of upside 🙂
I loved the Fitzegerald quote. It is entirely appropriate given that the convention was held in the town of his birth. Dhillon seems to have bought into some of the Republican party’s dogmatic assertions such as tax hikes (The Democrat party has plenty of assertions too!). As for First Amendment it was intended to guard against state religion and sanction of religious practice, something that the early arrivals in the country had found to be oppressive in Europe. It does not preclude individuals questioning or debating other’s beliefs, especially when such beliefs could be examined using “scientific” methods. The Scopes trial really settled what could be taught in sate schools in America even if some of that differs from religious beliefs. It is very doubtful if reincarnation could be asserted as a fact in state schools today, and anyone who attempts to advocate that would have to explain to voters why they do so. In that sense what beliefs a candidate holds would matter to voters, I am sure of that.
9 · Dash Riprock said
I used to get pulled up a lot earlier to be put in the special line. I did not mind getting pulled up (at the end of the day it is just a minor burden). Frankly what annoyed me was when it was called a random check. I do mind “my fellow citizens” treating me worse and lying about it saying had nothing to that my nationality. I’m guessing the duplicity was a factor behind Malika’s anger too. Maybe the stench of the BS smells like roses to you. That does not mean others should not try yo avoid it.
That was an amazing post, Mallika. First, wow. You met and talked to Kissinger. Wow. Re: your reaction at the airport and to the Republicans, totally understandable.
7 · Manju said
Phew! So DR didn’t really insinuate that anyone she views as a hyphenated American doesn’t enjoy the civil liberties and protection of life and property afforded to unhyphenated Americans.
Mallika,
I think you should congratulate yourself..It sounds like you did very well and did your homework, too. In my opinion, you are off to a really good start, and to have Kissinger anywhere in your portfolio is great. And frankly, as a newish reporter, hindsight comes up a lot. On the other hand, don’t be afraid to take risks. Two example, when I was an intern for the Heritage Foundation (gasp and choke), where I SOOOOOO did not fit in, I got to interview the Washington rep for the Contras. Had I a better grasp of the situation, I would have asked much more insightful questions and done some better background. But by the time I got to the press conference for the Renamo folks from Mozambique, I asked one of the hardest questions in the room which was why should my government support people who press gang and rug children into military groups and cut off people’s appendages and if you are so pro-African, what are you doing aligning yourself with Pic Botha and South Africa? Time has proven me right on Renamo. So, yay for you.
As for DR (and Palin) sure, they believe these things, but do they also believe that the rest of us don’t have to and don’t want them legislated into being? Sort of curious.
As for being “randomly” searched, I get “randomly” searched periodically, used to get searched all the time at the beginning. There is nothing “random” about it, let me tell you. And btw, I’m white, and I think it’s because of who I know, what I do and what I write. And (dash ripcock this is for you), I sure as hell don’t like it, not for me and not for you. It is a not so subtle way of keeping certain folks in line and of keeping the citizenry off balance. Color, religion, origin, accent and Free speech writing are not probable cause and for the rest of the public to say smugly, aw,just suck it up, is undemocratic at best and draconian to say the least.
14 · Mallika said
They were just having a little fun. You were taking them a little too seriously. I have to deal with an entire family of democrats! you have no idea about the amount of ignorant comments that I have to put up with.
Thanks for the wonderful series of posts! I really enjoyed reading them. I doubt is consolation, but I get pulled aside for “randomized” checks all the time, even though I am 100% white. This, without a doubt, has to do with my passport stuffed full of visas and entry-exit stamps from counties that end in the word -stan (Hindustan included.) Interestingly, it is mostly the airlines that instigate the special treatment. On a flight back to the US from Dushanbe, Tajikistan, via Istanbul, Delta airlines made me sign a paper stating that I was not a terrorist. There were many other signatures on the page from previous passengers…most of them had either signed in Arabic, or had Arabic names. The special security can be beyond degrading. Surprisingly, though US customs doesn’t seem to have much of a problem with me, although a few weeks ago the agent suspiciously got out a red pen and circled the names of Morocco and Pakistan from among the other 12 or so other countries I visited.
So, not ALL the white people are passing through uninterrupted. 🙂
Great series of posts, Mallika. Thanks for the coverage.
“they didn’t really respond, just muttered things about me (“She’s not saying anything now!” as the Cindy McCain biopic flashed onscreen, while I stood there.)”
thanks. sound a charming bunch.
“I have a feeling I may have had a similar run-in at the DNC, if my time at Middlebury is any indicator. People who guffaw about stereotyped versions of their opponents are just frustrating.”
see, your journalistic instincts and integrity are intact:)
best of luck in delhi.
Brashly disingenuous. The Christianist Republicans very openly claim that America is a Christian nation, and everthing – schools, courthouses, the Supreme Court itself – should bear the imprimatur of Christian symbols and values. I suspect she is not that dumb – she knows very well that to the “base” she’s a pagan seduced by Satan’s darkness, but opportunistic politics demands a little compromise. The older desis are likely there out of inertia; they came to the Republicans during the Reagan era, when the party was less self consciously Christianist, are semi-rich, don’t want to pay “excessive” taxes, believe they escaped Indian socialism and have the self image of rising to greatness through their Own Hard Work. Unfortunately, some are there for the pictures and the “things you get” (little things, really) once you become active in local politics.
“As a Sikh, I believe in reincarnation. I don’t think people should not vote for me because of that. We have something called a constitution and first amendment rights. What she believes is not going to affect that.â€
Well, then push for teaching reincarnation in science classes, to encourage alternate ideas, as republicans want to with creationism. I just wish people understood what a scientific theory is , before supporting someone on creationism. Its not a matter of belief, you can believe in earth supported by a turtle for all I care, its for pushing the belief as a theory to support Christian version of human existence.
Yes – her response about the creationism issue does seem a little too easy. But each time I pressed it, she insisted that in the US, such beliefs could never temper policy.
She is a lawyer, and probably has a very detailed conception of legislative process.
On that point, she is a lawyer, and very capable of not answering questions fully.
Daniel and Zazoo – Yay for random searches! For me the issue is calling it “random,” as another poster pointed out. How absurd. Interesting Daniel, that being white and full of -stans merits random checks too. If ever we’re in the special line together, say hi.
Ummm, you dont really look middle-eastern.
Ms Dhillons replies about religion are typical lawyer doublespeak. Made me sick to hear her endorse Palin like that. Wonder how she would feel if she knew what Palin feels or knows about Sikhs or for that matter any non-christian. A classmate of my wife came to our house for a study session once-happened to be a very nice charming person. Until religion came up. She firmly believed that we as a family were destined to burn in hell because we are not christian. The only thing that prevented me throwing her out was the tradition of hospitality hammered into my head by my non christian parents. Dhillon is a slimy lawyer who will say whatever to win just like her ‘christian’ counterparts. I hope she loses!
31 · baingandabhartha said
Or maybe she is trying to rescue her party and restore it to what it used to be, something that can only be done from the inside. There are devout minority communities that vote Democrat, believe me they also have us Hindus/Sikhs/Buddhists hell bound. They just leave that stuff at the door when it comes to party business, so I agree that the Dems at least make an effort to be more welcoming. I am voting for Obama so I am generally happy to lay into the Republican mainstream
It was horrible. I had no journalistic integrity left.
I’m so glad you said something. So many times I feel like Repub commentators make jibes and the dems never answer back — when I think of people like GWB who had all their jobs and education just handed to them w/o any merit and that’s who they elected to lead their party and then I hear a Repub characterize Dems like that, well it just pisses me off.
Thanks for your posts – they were insightful and what an opportunity to interview Kissinger!
Integrity? What’s that?
34 · Sean Hannity said
Can I go home now, Sean?
The sign of a first-rate intelligent and circumspect man. I don’t know the “ins and outs” of Kissinger’s war criminal charges, but it is refreshing when someone in power fesses up “they don’t know”.
BFD. I fly internationally frequently, and get selected for additional screening. It takes all of 90 seconds, and I feel safer for it. The screeners are unfailingly polite and professional. Why are Indians such whiners about this? BTW: it’s poor form to make pejorative comments about someone after interviewing him, particularly when the interview covered none of the subjects being negatively portrayed. Have the courage to confront the individual with the question before going negative.
My question to the Republican powers would be, “Why do you create a culture of fear?”
Naturally the common people don’t want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country. — Hermann Goering
Brava, Mallika, brava. I’ve enjoyed your posts from the RNC floor. You’re a much braver soul than this “erstwhile Republican,” as ANNA puts it. Republicans like Dhillon are the ones I’d like to see at the forefront of the party, but it seems to have been devoured by jingoistic brainsuckers, to put it mildly, who have very little faith in a Constitution they purport to pledge allegiance to.
And it’s hard not to engage the trolls, even and especially in real life, so don’t be so hard on yourself about it. Thanks for your well-written and well-researched posts.
36 · vv__varaiya said
Well, I am a full bearded South Asian guy, and very worrisome for you, I haven’t been stopped once. (True story). I have only been selected for “random” screening twice, when I flew two weeks after 9/11, when they even had manually selected “random” bag searches at the gate in addition to regular security.
Do you feel unsafe now? Or since you seem like such a logical guy, maybe you should carry a bomb on the plane next time you fly? Because, really, what are the odds of two guys on the same plane having a bomb?
mallika, just checked out your blog. it’s interesting. will visit again. keep up the good work. don’t let people get you down.
30 · abdul said
Yeah, that’s why it is even more annoying.
And for every brown person like you, there’s one like me, who’s never been selected for special screening even though I’ve been on about 25 flights since 9/11, while I’ve seen tons of blondes and white grandmas going through special screening.
One can’t fault them for making jokes especially considering that some protestors dropped sandbags from highway overpasses onto a bus full of people, threw bleach-like substances on delegates, attacked police officers, etc., etc.
I am an athiest. And I get uncomfortable with the religious pandering by both parties. But no big deal as long as it doesn’t affect the non christians. But people like Palin like to impose their values on others. And if I may extrapolate, I am willing to bet that Palin thinks that people like me will go to hell because I am not saved. That’s OK. In my view, if there is a hell, there is no guarantee that it is such a bad place anyway. It could be a nice fun place that bland dull angels are afraid of.
Also, I do not have to be an atheist to laugh at Palin’s assertion that the Under God phrase was placed in the pledge by our founding fathers. Looks like she did not put “COUNTRY FIRST” when she studied history. She probably knows more about the history of Alaskan beauty contests.
41 · bleh said
You forgot to mention: and Barack Obama worries about reading them their rights!!!! (insert sneer here).
43 · Pravin said
Revising history – now, that’s change the repubs can believe in.
Isn’t a phrase that goes…”Better to rule in hell than serve in heaven” ?
Palin is a f-g moron (sound of me spitting tacks here)- that phrase was added in 1954 by Eisenhower, as we dragged our sorry derrieres through the Red Scare. And THIS, this Barbie doll masquerading as Barbarella is what is only a gasping breathe away from the presidency? I am beginning sniff to miss Dan Quayle. In this case, I think his phrase has come homw to roost: a waste is a terrible thing to mind- and I DO mind Palin.
You see, this is one of the reasons (one of several) I’m voting 3rd Party in a safe state (in swing states, PLEASE VOTE FOR OBAMA). I want to see Obama get elected and I definitely don’t want to see McCain get elected and I DEFINITELY don’t want to see Palin anywhere near the White House, but if this is the level of homophobia and especially misogyny that are going to be considered acceptable among Obama supporters, I’m voting McKinney or Nader or someone along those lines. I’m not putting up with this $hit just because i want to see Obama get elected, and when Democrats stops putting up with it by cracking down on it, that’s when I’ll be a Democrat again.
Cavitty Search,
Send this quote to the DNC IMMEDIATELY! Great idea for tee-shirts, tv commercials, …
I know you have ideological reasons for voting 3rd party, but that’s pretty weak. Obama is not appealing to that sentiment so why hold it against him? Is Zazou someone in the campaign he can repudiate or just someone else on the internet?