Crickets

I watched part of Chris Matthews’ Hardball interview with Don Rumsfeld from Rumsfeld’s office in the Pentagon the other night, and beyond Rumsfeld himself (who’d be any lawyer’s dream witness, a guy who unpacks the assumptions in every question before answering it), one thing struck me: the strong background noise of crickets chirping, presumably outside Rumsfeld’s window. It was definitely the TV – it stopped when we changed channels. (You can pull up part of the interview online here, but the crickets aren’t in evidence). It seemed odd that Matthews’ producers wouldn’t shut the window or find a way to block out the sound, plus it was just a bit unsettling for what’s supposed to be an indoor interview (kinda like the flies buzzing behind President Bush in his speech from the Crawford ranch on the stem cell issue in August 2001). Anyone else notice this?