News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Weds. Jan. 15, 2014: Former Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, is seen outside the NEP studio, as he leaves after his taping on the Daily Show, with Jon Stewart on Wednesday January 15, 2014, in New York City.
Secretary Gates, Â is wearing a neck brace for a fall he sustained at his Lakefront home in Washington State, on News Years Day. He still plans to go ahead his book tour for his forthcoming memoir “Duty.” Â Stewart was curious to find out exactly why so many people have become so fascinated by Gates’ book.
“I’m pretty blunt and candid about the mess in [Washington],” Gates said.
“Have you been surprised that the media has glommed onto the more sensationalist aspects?” Stewart asked.
“Not surprised,” Gates said. “I’ve been around too long for that. Washington is so polarized that absolutely everything is used to prove one political point or another. So people have cherry-picked individual quotes if it supports their position. … If you’re for Bush, there’s stuff; if you’re against him, there’s material. Same thing with President Obama. But I think it’s a very honest account.”
Gates book has grabbed headlines by criticizing Obama for failing to support his own surge strategy in Afghanistan and for privately admitting, along with Hillary Rodham Clinton, that they opposed the Iraq surge in 2007 to court Democratic voters.
