The Daily Show Interviews Torture-Justifying John Yoo

When I first saw that John Yoo was going to be on The Daily Show, I had the instinctive reaction that I was going to immediately hate him. If you don’t happen to know who John Yoo is, he’s currently a law professor at UC Berkeley, most notoriously for being the Deputy Assistant Attorney under President George W. Bush, helping to justify the use of torture (more euphemistically known as “enhanced interrogation techniques”) through a series of legal briefs. John Yoo was plugging his latest book, “Crisis and Command: : A History of Executive Power from George Washington to George W. Bush.”

I have never seen John Yoo speak or being interviewed, let alone read any extended interviews with him; I only knew of his role in the Bush administration.  I obviously don’t agree with everything that John Yoo stated; that said, I thought he did an excellent job of explaining and defending his position with Jon Stewart. He came across as rational, intelligent and even funny at times.

Also, Jon Stewart continues to amaze me – that he is a comedian and not a reporter, which I think is a sad statement on journalism today. I’m also impressed that with the Internet today,  sincewe can watch all 25+ minutes of the interview online! (Part 2 here, and Part 3 here.) One of the most educational and informative interviews in a long-time – and to think – on Comedy Central.