Reason.tv: C-SPAN Founder and CEO Brian Lamb Interview

In 2003 Reason named C-SPAN Founder and CEO Brian Lamb one of our 35 Heroes of Freedom for "turning a surveillance camera on the den of iniquity known as the U.S. House of Representatives." Lamb sat down with Reason.tv editor Nick Gillespie for a wide-ranging -- and distinctively non-stoned faced -- discussion about the network, his views on politics, and a possible alternate career choice as a drummer for Merle Haggard.  

Approximately 10 minutes. Produced, shot and edited by Meredith Bragg, Dan Hayes and Josh Swain. Scroll down or click here to watch the full 40 minute interview. 

Go to reason.tv for downloadable versions and subscribe to Reason.tv's YouTube channel to receive automatic notification when new material goes live.

Brian Lamb Full Interview:

Comments

[Suki]

Brian Lamb is one of my heroes too!

[bendover]

Agreed. One of the few people in DC that I'd cross the street to shake his hand.

[Suki]

Me too! I know who person who met him just like that. Said he was very nice.

[Rahm Emmanuel?s kippah]

I see though that Reason subscribes to the new math if 5:45 = "approximately ten minutes". Other than that, nice to see this.

[?]

Huzzah! Time to settle back with a cold one and get my Lamb on.

[Jordan]

den of iniquity known as the U.S. House of Representatives

"Hive of scum and villainry" would be more accurate.

[Kolohe]

That's really more the Senate, doncha think?

[Warren]

No I think of the Senate as more of a marsh of depravity and despots

[BakedPenguin]

Kolohe - in case you didn't re-read the WikiLeak thread, I apologize. My comment to you there was over the line and uncalled for.

[Malto Dextrin]

A wretched hive of scum and villainy

[joshua corning]

The idea that he is apolitical is absurd on its face.

Obviously he is no anarchist, Feudalistic or a tyrant.

He even stated that he disagreed with cronyism and state workers being forced to pay the party in power 2% of their pay. As well as stating "How are you going to pay for it?" indicating a view of fiscal restraint.

How are these positions not political?

[?]

He never said he didn't think.

[Warren]

Oh sweet! Can't watch at work, but I've been waiting for a libertarian themed interview with lamb since the 80's. Hope they ask all the questions I would have.

[Warty]

Brian Lamb has a good "we are not amused" face.

[Episiarch]

Like this?

[BakedPenguin]

Wow, a libertarian cat.

[Episiarch]

Most cats are rational anarchists. If they find a rule tolerable, they obey it; if they find it intolerable, they break it. Like puking up hairballs--they find the rule of "no, no, NO not on the couch!" intolerable.

[sage]

They also don't care for "it's for your own good" type of attitude. Which is why they go buzzsaw on you if you try to give them a bath.

[Episiarch]

I can haz dandruff?

[Cap'n NoStar]

Since cats hate baths so much, try giving them showers.

http://icanhascheezburger.com/2007/01/15/im-in-ur-shower/

[BakedPenguin]

My last cat was a Chomskyite / socialist anarchist. He had no respect for property rights whatsoever.

[Episiarch]

Mine was an authoritarian oligarch. He demanded that I feed him, on my own dime, since he felt he was from a superior race, and would randomly attack me. That's why I had to distract him with a laser pointer.

[Warty]

Cats go absolutely apeshit for these little fake grass thingies.

[John]

Cats are hysterical. They spend their entire lives with this totally assured coolness about them. James Bond has nothing in demeanor on the average house cat. That is until someone bounces something on a string in front of them. Then they go completely ape shit and loose all sense of dignity.

[BakedPenguin]

Cats also love paper grocery bags. Drop one on the floor (on its side), and watch the cat run in.

[John]

That is another good one.

[Warty]

I prefer those paper bags with the loops that you get from clothing stores. The cat will run into the bag, and if you're lucky, it'll get caught in the loop and then run around the house in terror because the bagmonster is chasing it.

[St. V]

Had a cat that got its head temporarily stuck in a spicy Doritos bag. It was like feline ballet. He just kept jumping in the air, twirling about.

[Malto Dextrin]

Actually sneak up on a cat sometime, and surprise him. He'll look so absolutely embarrassed that he let a human get the drop on him. Then for good measure laugh at him. Believe me, he'll know exactly why you're laughing.

[John]

My cat is an absolute believer in the castle doctrine. She attempts to use deadly force on any other cat or animal that gets into her yard. She doesn't like rules but strictly adheres to property rights.

[Warty]

My cats are spoiled-ass welfare whores. They think they deserve ham every time I open the fridge.

[sage]

But instead you give 'em sausage, right?

[capitol l]

No top-hat = No libertarian

Though, that cat does look racist.

[AA]

What could be more racist than a monocle?

[The Gobbler]

My cat's a unich.

[Behrens]

Unfortunately, C-SPAN does not deliver on Lamb's original idealism.

C-SPAN has been absorbed and neutralized by the Potomac political culture.

C-SPAN programming is plodding, predictable, and no threat at all to the political status quo.

[Kolohe]

?
C-Span programing consists of putting a camera on a tripod, pressing "REC", and walking away for 1 to 3 hours.

[P Brooks]

Apparently, a "victory celebration" in Los Angeles involves arson and indiscriminate destruction of property; imagine my astonishment.

[Brian Sorgatz]

So, like, I'm Brian Rabbit and he's Brian Lamb? Six degrees of separation, I guess.

[Episiarch]

And it begins again!

[sage]

I have to agree with Brian - his parents did a terrible job. After all, he's still alive.

[Warty]

I'm too confused to even be mean to you. Why do you suppose we care about your stupid life, dude?

[Brian Sorgatz]

Am I popular here at Hit & Run? Your comments say no; your hits I can observe at my SiteMeter account say yes. Over the past few minutes alone, I've had three visits from this post page and one from the "vanity tax" post page. It reminds me of the American public who claimed they hated the news media's preoccupation with the O.J. trial as they kept on giving those stories good ratings. Human nature is funny.

[Episiarch]

I understand what has happened. Brian encountered the opposite of that wish granting gypsy thing in Big, and instead of making him older, it made him 12 again. It all makes sense now.

[Warty]

Can you start hating Mexicans, dude? You might make a good Lonewacko replacement.

[The Gobbler]

I say the banhammer brian and...

Free Lonewhacko!

[sage]

Am I popular here at Hit & Run? Your comments say no; your hits I can observe at my SiteMeter account say yes.

STEVE SMITH TOTALLY UNDERSTAND STATEMENT "NO MEANS YES"! STEVE SMITH HEAR NOTHIHNG BUT YES!

[R C Dean]

I, for one, would have no problem with H & R dropping the banhammer on anyone using this site for blogwhoring. Would anyone (other than the blogwhore) object?

[Brian Sorgatz]

I know you didn't address the question to me, but I'll say that whatever my rants lack in decorum, they make up for with relevance to the call for individual liberty.

[P Brooks]

Hugh Hefner isn't going to let you anywhere near his wizened little pee-pee, Sorgatz. Give it up.

[Brian Sorgatz]

You're leaping to conclusions about my agenda, pal.

[sage]

Yeah, PB. He want to buy Heff a drink or three first.

[Brian Sorgatz]

You misspelled Hef.

[BakedPenguin]

Brian, give it a rest. And find a better therapist.

[Warty]

Perhaps he should find the rapist.

[Episiarch]

What about an analrapist?

[Warty]

"So what do you do?"
"I'm a phal... phil... phulonrapist"

[Episiarch]

"What's that smell?"

"I ate some cheese."

"How much cheese?"

"Well, a block about this big..."

[Warty]

"I'll have a milk steak, boiled over hard."

[BakedPenguin]

Or alternatively, write a book about it and go on Oprah. I think you'll find that audience far more sympathetic than the one you have here.

[Episiarch]

"A Million Little Blogwhore Posts"

[sage]

"You get a book plug! And you get a book plug! And you! And you! And you get a book plug!"

[?]

Lamb revealed a tiny bit of cynicism--or perhaps marvelous perception--at about the 10-minute mark, when he described the busy-work of the House and Senate (the legislative process) as a means of campaign fundraising. Threaten the rights of Pressure Group X and watch the money pour in. Putting aside for a moment the notion that legislators might actually believe in these lawful abuses of power, perhaps this explains those idiotic trial balloons that have no chance of ever getting out of committee, but serve to rouse the rabble into opening their wallets.

[James Ard]

Too Brian Lamb didn't see fit to have a segment on the failed Massachusetts health care system on the Washington Journal until after the health care bill passed. And I'm still waiting for that segment on Climategate. Not to mention the fact that his network is the mother of all lobbying efforts on behalf of the cable monopolies. He is, unfortunately, a bigger lover of big government than y'all give him credit for.

[-]

You must be watching the Bizarro World version of C-SPAN, James.

[James Ard]

I've been watching the Washington Journal regularly for twenty years. I've spoken to Lamb at least a dozen times. He has his agenda.

[James Ard]

Oh yeah, and California will have already legalized marijuana before the Washington Journal has another drug prohibition segment.

[replica watches]

Just want to say what a great blog you got here! I've been around for quite a lot of time, but finally decided to show my appreciation of your work!

[Scarpe Nike]

is good