[Huck]

I caught the exchange. I thought Miller showed a lot of emotion, but not much solid argument. Ritter said the war was "illegitimate", and Miller came back that he should be more sensitive and use more tact. He didn't say that the claim itself was BS. Just that it was indelicate. I found that to be pretty weak.

[carton253]

Yes...because, if it were your tv show...you could do it so much better than Dennis. LOL!

What's the old adage...those who can, do... those who can't...come onto Free Republic and critique those who can... </teasing off>

[thesummerwind]

Your assessment is perfect. I saw it, and Ritter went on and on producing pretty good, reasonable thought. Dennis was just left to resort to a plea for more sensitivity from Ritter. But Dennis was in a tough spot. I'm rooting for his show, but to me, he needs an audience. When they pan away to commercials and shoot the stagehands and cameramen, Dennis' show takes on the look of some kind of weird science experiment being observed by a few strange scientists. But, I like Dennis and his humor and his heart.

By the way, the night before he was weak on the Kerry VVAW activities and Congressional testimony when Kerry came back from Vietnam, leading me to write this e-mail to his show:

I'm one of your biggest fans, and I thank you for your wisdom. Your intelligent wit and insight is beyond most others.

As a very involved Conservative Republican and a FreeRepublic guy, I and thousands of others have been rooting for the success of your new show. You are needed for America's health and well-being. But, I have a bone to pick -- yesterday you basically gave Kerry a pass for his VVAW activities after he got back from Vietnam. Either you aren't as smart as I thought you were (and that's not true), or you are conned on this subject.

You totally discounted the effect on his post-Vietnam behavior. His activities aided the morale of the enemy, and it is possible that those activities caused many more American deaths. As some have said, "Joining the antiwar movement was possibly the worst thing Kerry could have done to the soldiers still in the field. Kerry basically gave aid and comfort to the enemy."

Dennis, I don't want to go into detail on this, but you must know of the veracity of all this. Let me tell you, I was a guy who had finished up at Pitt (Economics) and just finished my time in the Army Security Agency in 1970. I thought I was smart enough then, and I became quite anti-Nixon and anti-war. I didn't demonstrate, but I was ideologically anti-war. But even then I wasn't insightful enough to see the damage that the anti-war demonstrations were doing to the war effort, and subsequently, our soldiers. Even more, I didn't consider the POSITIVE EFFECT the American anti-war demonstrations had on the North Vietnamese.

Kerry's testimony before Congress was one of the most destructive things he could have done. For you to apparently not see this on yesterday's show was hard to understand. What's up? Please answer this 'Stiller' fan.

Don't think from this one criticism that I think any less of you. You are the man, and you are important to this country's future. You have been a ray of welcome sunshine in the darkness of the liberal media and Hollyweird. Hoping to hear from you. Give a 'Pittsburgh Hello' to your hairy cohort on the show.

Regards,

[GraniteStateConservative]

I think you and I would be good friends if we lived near one another. I share the same view on Miller's show last night as you do.

[rmgatto]

How does one argue with a hypocrite like Ritter? Seldom is an argument won by making a killer point that causes an opponent to concede unconditionally. What I heard Miller doing was quite subtle and effective. He chastised Ritter for the crass way in which Ritter insulted the dead and wounded soldiers and their families. This was in stark contrast to Rittter's sensitivity to the will of the international community which the US "flouted" by assembling a coalition of the non-French to prosecute the war. (He also called the Polish contingent a "joke").

Miller's interviews are like chess matches, not the chess games played by most TV hosts. The last thing we need is another half-bright Brokaw wannabe jousting talking points with an equally half-bright politico.