Actor Hal Holbrook is one of my favorite people to interview, because he -- like the man he portrays on stage, Mark Twain -- loves to fulminate about the mostly sorry state of humanity and the world.

Yesterday, during a phone interview, he said that the reason people still revere Twain is that he dealt in a rare commodity these days: the truth.

Here's a particularly provocative  excerpt from my Holbrook interview:

One of the most serious and very dangerous points of corruption in our life right now is the media. The television media and, of course, talk radio. Because they are misrepresenting so much. Almost lying.

… Anybody who has any thoughtfulness in their brain knows that this is true. Even though we get fooled by believing that the side we favor …  is telling the truth.

Put on MSNBC, they are so far to the left, you know they are twisting and misrepresenting the reality and the truth. And Fox network, of course, is almost famous for that. It’s terrible. And talk radio, it’s almost unbelievable what you hear.

Now the reason this is dangerous – people say, "Oh well, we have the right to do that, and this is America, and this is a free country, and a man has the right to voice his opinions, this is what makes America great!"

Well, it’s not making American great now! Because lying to America, no matter who you are … is not helping us out, What we need is truth and facts, to face the horrible situation that we are in.  

Holbrook will be performing his "Mark Twain Tonight" show at the INB Performing Arts Center on March 12, tickets available through TicketsWest.

What do you think? Is Holbrook speaking the truth?

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