Arianna Huffington: Russert Watch: Let the Games Continue

[PhilipShore]

Yahoo! News
Arianna Huffington: Russert Watch: Let the Games Continue
Sun Feb 5

http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/20060206/cm_huffpost/015149;_ylt=A86.I2jh2eZDSUQAFRb9wxIF;_ylu=X3oDMTBjMHVqMTQ4BHNlYwN5bnN1YmNhdA--

This is the first-ever Russert Watch/Super Bowl Sunday extravaganza. And Meet the Press and the Super Bowl share a common bond: it's all about the game.

A perfect example of this was the segment with today's lead guest, new House majority leader John Boehner. Here is a broad sketch of the pre-game analysis: Are the Republicans -- now awash in scandal -- going to make wholesale reforms and change the culture of Washington, or will they put on a few meaningless Band-Aids and continue wringing the system dry for as long as they can?

Of course, if you knew anything about John Boehner, you'd already know the answer. Indeed, calling Boehner the reform choice for majority leader -- as many in the media have been calling him -- is like calling Jeffrey Skilling a reform CEO just because the other guy was Ken Lay.

All Boehner's reforms are about changing a few rules within the game -- the equivalent of changing the penalty for a personal foul from 15 yards to 20 yards. There was nothing on the show about the need to change the game. Indeed, there wasn't even the slightest question about the fundamental premises of the game.

[jsamuel]

1. nice

[Justice Is Comin]

2. Ariana cuts to the chase don't she?

[flordehinojos]

3. she do!

:-)

[deesy58]

4. Weasel

I changed channels! I couldn't stand Boehner's double-talk. What was worse, Russert let him weasel around every answer. It appears obvious that many "journalists" are intimidated by the people they interview, and this includes Tim Russert.

[dchill]

6. "intimidated by the people they interview..."

strikes me as "in awe of" or "jealous of" (their ability to lie and seemingly get away with it.) It's like a "Man, that guy's got some chops!" thing.

[FreedomAngel82]

11. Don't you know?

They all bow down to them.

[NewJeffCT]

13. Welcome to DU

Intimidated? I don't think it's that, unless you mean intimidated by the threat of Karl Rove potentially Swift Boating him & torpedoing his career...

[deesy58]

16. Access

Journalists -- especially TV journalists -- are afraid that if they ask tough, potentially embarassing questions, then persist if the interviewee gives an unresponsive answer, they will lose access to key players in the government. To me, that says it all. They have become intimidated by the threat of losing their access, and it hurts the very foundations of our democracy when journalists abandon their role as government watchdogs and assume the role of political campaign message outlets. There is way too much incest in the relationship that has developed between TV journalism and government.

deesy

[newyawker99]

15. Hi deesy58!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Spinzonner]

5. Tweedle crook

and Tweedle Crookeder

[bigbrother05]

7. Maybe it was the "less taint" thing n/t

[Saturday]

8. And I thought Delay was slimey,

this Boehner guy is equally as slimey. From my experience, you can't trust a guy whose hair is laquered down.

[Skidmore]

9. Don't forget to rate the story to keep it at the top on

Yahoo.

[democrank]

10. As usual

Arianna shows the Big Boys how it`s done. Why does Russert even bother? He asks a question, gets a non-answer, then moves on to the next question and the next non-answer.

[FreedomAngel82]

12. And than turns around and challenges every democrat

from Bill Clinton to John Kerry.

[democrank]

14. Russert has to challenge Democrats.

That helps solidify his importance with White House insiders. Remember....he`s with Bush, not the terrorists.

[deesy58]

17. Sad

Your observation is accurate, but sad. To say that Russert is "with Bush, not the terrorists" suggests that he is not with the American People. Is there some twisted logic that declares that if a journalist does not support George Bush, then he/she must, by default, support terrorists? That's just more sick, perverted rhetoric from the extreme right.

deesy