Ever since Piers Morgan came onto the scene, I have been at a loss. His approach, his choice of questions, his rapport with guests... for a while, I thought I just didn't get it -- that perhaps I alone was missing something.
But over the holiday weekend, watching Mr. Morgan interview the Dalai Lama, I realized that my interest in this man and his program had reached an end. For here are the questions Piers Morgan chose to put forth in the brief, televised time he had with His Holiness... each one with a smirk:
Have you ever taken a drug?
Do you ever drink alcohol?
Do you ever feel temptation when you see a woman?
Do you wish you could be with a woman?
Do you ever watch movies?
(And -- visibly shocked by hearing 'no' to the previous question) What do you think your friend Richard Gere would say to your not having seen him in a movie?
Thankfully, the Dalai Lama chose to be gracious. He brought himself to and endured the conversation without any sense of incredulity or remorse.
Which was fine, as we the audience had more than enough of both to go around.
What in the world is Piers Morgan thinking? This is our next great interviewer? This is our next Larry King? The contemporary of Bill Moyers and Charlie Rose?
Regardless of your interests, no matter your views, one of the world's great spiritual leaders concedes to a conversation on national television and these are the questions Mr. Morgan chooses to ask?
I am at a loss for words. As I so wish Mr. Morgan would have been.