Thread by @bradleyrsimpson

1/ On the 25th Anniversary of @democracynow I will share one of my favorite memories: being Amy Goodman's producer on election day 2000 when she interviewed President Bill Clinton, who called into WBAI for what he thought would be a routine GOTV call. democracynow.org/2000/11/8/demo…

2/ I was in grad school, living in NYC, and had run out of money. I owed Amy a few huge favors after breaking a $1200 digital tape recorder of hers, and ran into her on election eve, telling her if she ever needed a producer I could help. She said "can you come in tomorrow?"

3/ I came in the next day and was given curt instructions: cut and paste headlines for Amy to read at the start of the show, keep my head down, and don't screw anything up. We literally cut the daily papers and taped headlines together, writing intros and transitions.

4/ Right before we left the tiny office to go to the studio for the show the phone rang. Amy picked it up and someone said, "Hi, I'm calling on behalf of the President." Amy said "The President of what?" and hung up on him. He called again. She hung up on him again.

5/ After the show we were debriefing and Amy was complaining about my terrible handwriting on headlines when the phone rang again. "Hello, this is the assistant to the Pres of the United States, we are being patched into your board in 60 seconds for a quick GOTV message."

6/ Amy looked at me and the other producer, said "you have 60 seconds to write down whatever questions you think we should ask President Clinton," grabbed her stuff, and sprinted down the hall to the studio. We followed, madly scribbling on scraps of paper.

7/ In the studio, two Puerto Rican producers were hosting the Latino dance music hour, and we could hear Clinton's voice over the thumping techno beat "Hello? Is anybody there?" Amy ran up, threw herself on the soundboard and slid all the buttons up. The room was totally hot.

8/ Amy grabbed the microphone, introduced herself, and said "President Clinton, millions of Americans think both parties are bought and paid for by corporations and that there is little difference between them. Why should people vote for either candidate?" Clinton was pissed.

9/ He answered and then we just started handing her questions. She asked him about the deadly impact of the sanctions on Iraq, Leonard Peltier, East Timor. The Puerto Rican producers jumped in and asked why Clinton was still sanctioning Cuba and bombing Vieques. It was amazing.

10/ He stayed on for 30 minutes. It was the longest radio interview of his entire Presidency. I don't think he'd ever been treated like that before. At one point he called Amy hostile and combative. "I'm a journalist, Mr. President," she said. "I'm just doing my job."

11/ It was thrilling. Clinton had never been asked about many of these things before. The next day Amy got a call from the White House telling her she was banned. She asked why. They said she "hadn't followed the rules" when Clinton called. "Those aren't my rules," she said.

12/12. The interview captured everything I love and respect about Amy Goodman. Fearless, rigorous, refusing to back down or be intimidated, and encouraging everyone in the room to ask questions of the most powerful person in the world. She's still like that, 20 years later. END