Comments (0) Best Local Public-Affairs TV Show - 2011
Inside OC With Rick Reiff
Even though Congressman Dana Rohrabacher wore what appeared to be a suit jacket made of cheap, industrial, gray carpet, his late-August appearance on Inside OC With Rick Reiff on SoCal PBS was a prime example of the value of the show. For eons, Rohrabacher has paraded himself as an opponent of bloated, wasteful spending—rants that most often coincide with Democratic occupancy of the White House. But the Costa Mesa Republican voted to spend an extra $2.5 billion for C-17 military cargo planes that the Pentagon insisted it did not need. Reiff, who doesn't hide his own conservatism, pressed the congressman for an explanation. He even wondered aloud if Rohrabacher championed this pork spending because the recipient of the deal would be Boeing, which is based in the congressman's district. Nope, replied Rohrabacher, who has no military experience. He argued that spending the extra money on unneeded aircraft actually saves taxpayers money. Reiff didn't take that answer lightly—another great interview for the head of the Orange County Business Journal whose show might be the only place in Orange County where Democrats and Republicans can take each other's positions and not get lampooned mercilessly for their double standards.
