Hubba's House: South Dakota's Blooming Jon Stewart?

Matthew J. Trask, the mastermind of Hubba's House, generally steers clear of politics. But this weekend he scores a citizen media coup with a spontaneous 10-minute interview of South Dakota's elder statesman George McGovern.



Dang right I'm envious, Hubba! Envious... and proud of what we regular folks can do with a pocket camcorder and the Internet (though to call Matt "regular" is to be "loose with the truth"). It beats anything we see on regular local TV. It's Jon Stewart Lite: less political edge, but no lack of interesting political observations as quoteworthy as anything in that Sioux Falls paper (McGovern names Daschle as one of South Dakota's monumental historical figures; McGovern sees Heidepriem riding pro-Dem trend to gubernatorial victory in 2010). Hubba also interrupts less than Jon Stewart. That's good online TV!

Watching these two intelligent South Dakotans talk in a bookstore made me think how nice it would be if our current elected officials would sit down with regular folks for on-the-record conversations like this. Sure, Representative Stephanie Herseth Sandlin could take Michael Sanborn up on his invitation to a Decorum Forum town hall. But I'd be happy to see more moments like Hubba's interview with McGovern: no studio, no crowd, no particular agenda... just good conversation.

And note that title on the video: "Mr. McGovern and Me"—a nice reminder of how close we ought to be able to keep even our greatest political figures.