Welcome to No Fact Zone’s weekly roundup of ‘Colbert Report’ guests, created in the spirit of the oft-enjoyed Fantasy Colbert League. While we can’t start up the online version of the game again, we can make it so that you can get the information you need about the guest before they come on the show.Just like you, we want to be it-getters before the interviews start. So we’ve compiled brief bios, issues or events that Stephen might bring up during the interview, and a fun Fract (Freedom Fact) to impress your fellow viewers during the commercial breaks.
Read, enjoy, and see if you can anticipate how Stephen might nail each of the following guests!
Monday, 10/1: Charlie Savage
Charlie Savage is a journalist for the Boston Globe. Based in Washington, D.C., he covers the Supreme Court and homeland security, particularly U.S. detention and interrogation policies in Guantanamo Bay and other locations. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 2007 for his reporting on Presidential Signing Statements and is well-known for articles on the controversial legal theories of the current Bush administration. His new book, ‘Takeover: The Return of the Imperial Presidency and the Subversion of American Democracy,’ was published in September. The Constitutional Project liked his writing enough to award him the first ‘Award for Constitutional Commentary‘ on Constitution Day, September 17, 2007. He’s got a lot to say about the effect Bush and Cheney have had on the checks and balances provided by the Constitution.
- Fract: Not so long ago, Charlie Savage started out writing movie reviews for the Miami Herald.
Tuesday, 10/2: John Mearsheimer
John Mearsheimer is an international relations theorist and a proponent of the ‘offensive realism’ theory. In his book ‘The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy,’ he maintains that nations seek hegemony to ensure that they will not be challenged by another nation with equal or greater power, and discusses the current worldwide state of security competition. Mearsheimer teaches political science at the University of Chicago and is a distinguished scholar of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He also contributes to the ‘New York Times’ and the ‘Chicago Tribune.’
- Fract: ‘The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy’ has been translated into Arabic, Catalan, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish.
Wednesday, 10/3: Jim Lovell
Jim Lovell isn’t just any former NASA astronaut – he’s the commander of Apollo 13. He and the rest of the crew brought the shuttle safely to Earth in 1970 despite an explosion in the shuttle on its way to the Moon. Lovell started his career in the U.S. Navy and flew numerous Apollo missions, piloting the Apollo 8, the first manned mission to orbit the Moon. He retired from duty into business, writing, and speaking at colleges about his experiences.
- Fract: Jim Lovell served as president of the National Eagle Scout Association in the mid-1990s and has received their Distinguished Eagle Scout Award as well as the Silver Buffalo Award from the Boy Scouts of America.
Thursday, 10/4: John Kao
Dr. John Kao is chairman and CEO of Kao & Company, an enterprising group that assists struggling organizations with innovative ideas, strategic insight, development and best practices. A self-described “instigator of new things,” Kao has written a book titled ‘Innovation Nation: How America Is Losing Its Innovation Edge, Why It Matters, and What We Can Do to Get It Back.’ Kao notes the decrease in both motivation and innovation in the United States, in areas ranging from education and health care to national security. He cautions that the U.S. may soon find itself far behind other nations in innovation and opportunity – just as we are already behind in education.
- Fract: John Kao has been dubbed “Mr. Creativity” and “a serial innovator” by ‘The Economist.’
Thanks so much for all the good info! Sounds like a potentially fascinating week (though probably no singing)….
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