For his part Dominic opened the interview sounding like a jilted lover confronting her abuser more than anything else and held that demeanor for most of the proceedings. Ramlogan, who always appears uncomfortable in grown up clothes, did his best to hold onto what ever little composure he brought with him despite the onslaught unleashed from the word go. The entire exchange had all the makings of a schoolyard match up and with neither prepared to flinch, as they say in dance circles, this one was on.
From the first word Dominic seemed to be trying on big boy underwear and went wading into Anand looking for a fight. What seems to have come across to others as a local version of a foreign interview came across to me as a parody of a real interview and I would not have been surprised if Jim Carrey and the Wayans brothers had joined them on set. Going so far as accusing the AG of 'softening' when he refused to be baited (00:42 seconds into the interview), Kalipersad's agenda was clear from the get go.
Ramlogan for his part was doing his best to stay on point as he was obviously there to promote his and the government's agenda, but started to squirm under the constant jabbing of the interviewer and one could tell this was about to get interesting. The same Kalipersad who later accepted from Police Complaints Authority Chair Gillian Lucky that she cannot comment on the issue of the Commissioner for fear of prejudicing the matter refused to accept the same position from the AG and did his best to get something like an answer on a subject despite the AG protests that he could not comment on it without compromising it and insisted that he preferred to defer the question to the Police Service Commission.
Now, while I am loathe to defend any politician for evading a direct question, if he could not answer because of the Office he holds he could not and Kalipersad should have shown him the same respect he showed Lucky. Perhaps Gillian handled herself differently and would not give Kalipersad the wiggle room that that Anand did or perhaps Dominic had an agenda with Ramlogan that he did not have with Lucky we will never know, but why treat two interviewees differently when asking the same question begs more than it answers.
Between 1:56 and 2:02 Dominic picked at a silly issue over what the AG may or may not know from his (Kalipersad's) perspective, which started the steep and sudden decline from interview to spat. From 2:25 on Dominic seemed to lose perspective and was in fact asking and answering his own questions, leaving the already etiquette-challenged Ramlogan no alternative but to bark his responses, taking the matter even further and making for the type of lackaray Trinis live for. Continuing his heavy footed two step, the AG went on to deliver his agenda with Dominic listening briefly in silence, and had we known then what we know now, we would have paid closer attention as this was no polite pause, this was lock and reload.
From 3:16 on the battle of wits began in earnest, opening with a barrage of 'he said/she said' and culminating with a line being drawn in the sand. At 3:30 Ramlogan smirkingly inferred that the entire country understood the proclamation by the Prime Minister on the State of Emergency better than he (Kalipersad) did, and if you listen carefully you could almost hear the claws coming out. At 4:39 Kalipersad sarcastically thanked the AG for his explanation while accusing the Prime Minister of misspeaking, to which the AG replied "I do not accept that at all."
"Well you may not accept it but it was the reality" was Kalipersad's curt response, causing Ramlogan to sit up in his chair with it dawning on him that in this game of cat and mouse he was expected to play the role of mouse, a realization that did not appear to sit well with an AG bent on selling the government's view as to what was real or not and was obviously having a hard time taking attitude from this two by four interviewer.
Body language is a hell of a thing, and at this point both masks came off for all to see. By 4:58 and with arms flailing the normally sedate Kalipersad 'dissed' the success of the first night of the government's effort and rattled off figures in a condescending way designed to provoke, causing Ramlogan's face to contort between smirk and smile and showing his discomfort with what was taking place. In response he accused Kalipersad of having preconceived notions, to which he (Kalipersad) cut him off and reiterated his position, further causing Ramlogan to lose all composure and by 5:08 his amazing response to Kalipersad was "If you insist on interviewing yourself I shall leave the set."
Dominic's response, far from trying rein in this 'interview gone wild,' baited the Attorney General even further and told him he was free to leave if he wanted to. At this point the interview was at the lowest it was going to go without eye gouging and hair pulling, and the entire nation stood as one slack jawed in disbelief. Mr. Kalipersad for his part did his profession little service, and his parting jab at the Attorney General as to him 'inviting himself there' showed an almost partisan disrespect if not for the Office then surely for the man, and to this writer Dominic Kalipersad, being the seasoned and professional journalist that he is ought to have known and done much better.
The remaining five odd minutes were filled with Ramlogan trying to make the government look better than it should considering the paltry results of the effort thus far, doing his best to make the seizure of six guns and the arrest of twenty two petty thugs sound a whole lot more than they were in reality. Looking all the part of the mouse who belled the cat, Kalipersad was now rocked back in his chair allowing the AG to speak and exposing the holes in his contribution which were coming now fast and furiously. His (Ramlogan's) second agenda seemed to be to revise history to accommodate for the glaring inconsistencies in the appointment of the Acting Commissioner of Police, and he walked with a letter to prove that the government was willing to do everything they could to make their mistakes fit their version of the truth.
By 8:21 Dominic was asking probing questions on the veracity of the AG's prop, but by now the storm had passed and no one was paying any real attention which lulled us into believing the worst was behind us, preparing none of us for Kalipersad's now famous parting jab 'please don't be rude,' which was supremely ironic as this was a public demonstration of rudeness journalistic style.
Having lost what amounted to the most revealing issue in the whole interview, that the government made a mess of the handling of the entire State of Emergency and are caught up in a web of if not outright lies and deceit then absolute creative trickery to make their shaky ground solid, Kalipersad tied the fiasco together with a neat little bow and allowed the AG to make his final point and at 10:37 on the fade out one could distinctly hear the AG say "Why yuh So..." with the rest drowned out behind the TV6 News theme, leaving all who heard to speculate as to how that particular line ended.
Handled better more could have been accomplished, and I am ashamed of Dominic Kalipersad and embarrassed by the mess he made of this. In a country woefully lacking in journalistic integrity or excellence, his actions in this interview set us back even further. As is becoming the norm in this country, people seem content to accept odor over substance and I fully expect more of this sort of thing than less in the very near future as others rush to emulate this new style. As the saying goes, if what we reward grows, strap yourself in and brace for a bumpy ride.
"Why you so miser....?" is what I heard.
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