Dubya and MTP

Well, that was pointless. Perhaps I am too much of a news junkie and policy wonk, but Russert asked the stupidest damned questions. I can think of dozens of questions/followups and I am sure those of you who follow current events and politics could as well. Russert relied on a gotcha script that reflected conventional media/Liberal wisdom, polls and biased stats.

Imagine you have an hour with the President would this be your script?:

Russert: Will you testify before the commission?
Russert: Will you testify before the commission?
Russert: Would you submit for questioning, though, to the 9/11 Commission?

Subtext: Bush refuses to testify: Gotcha.

Russert: How do you respond to critics who say that you brought the nation to war under false pretenses?
Russert: But can you launch a preemptive war without iron clad, absolute intelligence that he had weapons of mass destruction?

Subtext: Bush is reckless/manipulated/uninformed: Gotcha.

Russert: You do seem to have changed your mind from the 2000 campaign. In a debate, you said, "I don't think our troops ought to be used for what's called 'nation-building.'"
Russert: We clearly are involved in nation building.
Russert: But this is nation building.

Subtext: Bush lied in 2000: Gotcha.

Russert: Now looking back, in your mind, is it worth the loss of 530 American lives and 3,000 injuries and woundings simply to remove Saddam Hussein, even though there were no weapons of mass destruction?

Subtext: Prevailing media anti-war opinion: Gotcha.

Russert: Mr. President, this campaign is fully engaged. The chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Terence McAuliffe, said this last week: "I look forward to that debate when John Kerry, a war hero with a chest full of medals, is standing next to George Bush, a man who was AWOL in the Alabama National Guard. He didn't show up when he should have showed up."

Subtext: Bush is privilaged coward: Gotcha

Russert: But when you proposed your first tax cut in 2001, you said this was going to generate 800,000 new jobs. Your tax cut of 2003, create a million new jobs. That has not happened.

Subtext: Bush is incompentent/lied: Gotcha

How can a credible journalist formulate economic questions that don't take into account the devastating effects of the months after 9/11? Russert's economic graph was so transparantly bias that it was laughable. A perfect example of the old adage that there are lies, damned lies and statistics.

Russert: How about no more tax cuts until the budget is balanced

Subtext:Bush will give more tax relief to oil cronies and "the rich": Gotcha

This exchange forces me to ask the farggin' obvious: Does the media realize that life, ergo political policy, is dynamic? They approach news from an isolated, statistical, out-of-context viewpoint, which may explain why they are so often wrong.

Russert: This is Time magazine: "Love Him or Hate Him: Why George Bush arouses such passion and what it means for the country."

Subtext: Bush is unpopular/dangerous: Gotcha

Russert: But around the world, in Europe, favorable ratings unfavorable ratings, 70 in Germany, 67 in France.
Russert: Why do people hold you with such contempt.

Subtext: Bush is an embarrassment in Europe: Gotcha.

Russert: This is what John Kerry had to say last year. He said that his colleagues are appalled at the quote "President's lack of knowledge. They've managed him the same way they've managed Ronald Reagan. They send him out to the press for one event a day. They put him in a brown jacket and jeans and get him to move some hay or move a truck, and all of a sudden he's the Marlboro Man. I know this guy. He was two years behind me at Yale. I knew him, and he's still the same guy.”

Subtext: Bush is an idiot: Gotcha.

Russert: Are you prepared to lose?
Russert: If you did, what would you do?

Subtext: This one is a pure Gotcha, designed to close the interview with a negative.

Thusly, the dumbing down of the electorate continues; this interview says much more about Russert's and NBC News' opinion of their viewers than Bush's character or job performance.

No one will be convinced either way. Bush didn't make a major gaff nor did Russert score any news or make any serious policy points. It was news-pap.

Bush haters will grasp on Russert's questions as proof that Bush is a liar/idiot. Bush's supporters will take comfort that he was the George Bush they admire and expected.

The rest of us are left stratching our heads and wondering what the hell happened to journalism and Tim Russert.

Posted by feste at February 8, 2004 10:26 AM | TrackBack