Tom Brokaw Discusses Iraq, Network News, and the Upcoming Election During Romantic, Candlelit Interview With Howard Kurtz

Howard Kurtz broadcast a long interview with former "NBC Nightly News" anchor Tom Brokaw on today's "Reliable Sources," allotting the entire first half of the show to the newsman's thoughts on a wide range of subjects, including his new book, "Boom! Voices of the Sixties: Personal Reflections on the '60s and Today," for which he has recently been making the rounds. Brokaw had a lot to offer in the interview — the transcript of which is available here — clearly the result of Howie Kurtz's flickering-candle decor loosening Brokaw up, presumably after welcoming him to the strains of Barry White on the stereo and a little Courvoisier . At any rate, Brokaw had much to say but we found the below excerpt putting the recent progress in Iraq into context to be of interest:

Here's the full excerpt:

KURTZ: In recent months, though, casualties are down in Iraq. Some would say that the surge is having some modest success. Yet conservatives say that is not getting enough coverage. Is that because of Iraq fatigue? Is that because only bad news is news?

BROKAW: No, I think it is time to take a look at it again. You know, what, Howie? These are small signs of some progress four years later.

KURTZ: Sure.

BROKAW: And the Iraqi government still doesn't have it together. And after four years, if the Iraqis can't take care of themselves with all of the money that has been poured in there, all of the help that they have been given, that's a truer measurement, I think, of what is going on in Iraq.

It does not mean that we ought not to take notice of the fact that the attacks are down, that the insurgency has been hurt. I had a briefing the other day about what is going on with IEDs. After billions of dollars, we have finally found a way to be more effective at protecting our troops from them and detonating them early. But it has taken a long time. That won't solve the political issue about whether Iraq can handle its own destiny.

Other nuggets from Brokaw:

• On not being a cokehead, though pot was cool: "There was this early benign attitude, certainly toward marijuana, and then even toward cocaine later on, which was not an area for me. I didn't go there. But you know, marijuana was being passed around at very establishment cocktails parties like an after-dinner drink of some kind." (Brokaw has admitted to inhaling, as the kids say, but has said it "didn't agree" with him.)
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• On the enduring/waning influence of network evening news: "It is not as dominant as it once was, but between them they deliver 20 million people a night...and sometimes more. There is no other establishment that does that. When people say to me, that Bill O'Reilly is popular, and I say, now what do you suppose his proportion of audience is compared to, say, Katie Couric, who is not doing well at CBS? It is a third....The trend lines are down, there is no question about it. We are living in a -- what I call the big bang, which is that we are creating a whole new universe. We are trying to figure out which planets are going to support life and which ones won't, which ones will drift too close to the sun and burn out."

• On BriWi on SNL: "I think the rules have changed a lot now, I think people are much -- moved much more easily across those lines...Brian has got a very good barometer about what is going too far and what is not. And he was very funny. And he liked doing it. My -- the problem for me that night was switching between the Boston College football game and 'Saturday Night Live.'"

• On the return of Don Imus, when Kurtz mentioned how Brokaw called him after the Rutgers comment and his subsequent removal from CBS and MSNBC, and said that the hoped it would "lead to an elevated racial dialogue in the country": "He said, "Call me at the ranch when that happens," because he didn't expect it to happen, and he was right. It hasn't happened. And it's one of the things that I have addressed directly in the book. I think that we do need to have a dialogue in this country.

  We don't have language for dealing with race. Everybody hides behind political correctness or a certain mythology. No one wants to offend, no one wants to get at the facts of it. You are in danger of being a racist if you go against the merits of some issues and just try to look at it objectively.

  That goes on across the racial spectrum, by the way. Within the black culture there is a fear about speaking out, about what some people see as wrong, because they say, don't go there, you know, it will only hurt our people. So I do -- we used to talk about race with a lot more candor than we do now."

Tom Brokaw interviewed by Howie Kurtz on "Reliable Sources" [CNN]

Comments

[maxdenn]

Quality "Network news"? Is this what we can expect from HRC and her pal Rupert Murdoch?

[maxdenn]

Don't worry. Hillary will take care of us.

[ROBOT8]

there is no change! only lies
HAD THE PATRIOT ACT which is neither NOT BEEN PUT INTO PLACE, THERE WOULD BE A REVOLUTION TODAY IN THE UNITED STATES.......WHO KNOWS? PERHAPS A REVOLUTION ALREADY OCURRING.........PERHAPS A GOOD SHOW OF FAITH WITH THE REST OF THE WORLD WE COULD TURN OVER BUSH, HIS CHILDREN, HIS BROTHERS, HIS PARENTS, HIS RELATIVES, HIS FRIENDS, TO THE IRAQI GOVERNMENT. GIVE CHENEY, RUMSFORD, ROVE TO THE INTERNATIONAL WAR TRIBUNAL AS WITH GONZALEZ AND RICE

[Richard729]

The media are working extra hard to convince us that because I.E.D.s are being detonated before they kill our soldiers that that is evidence that the surge is working.

But Time magazine a few weeks ago reported yes, there has been a decrease in killings in Baghdad, but not because of the surge. It was because of the ethnic cleansing by the mostly Shiite militias who have killed or forced out tens of thousands of Sunnis whether they are insurgents or not.

According to most reliable sources, over 2.5 million Iraqis have fled to other countries and another 2 million are in scattered areas throughout Iraq, mainly in the quieter area of Kurdish northern Iraq.

If so, why not pull out of that country now? The reason is clear: Oil. As a matter of fact, the original invasion was dubbed Operation Iraqi Liberation. The acronym: OIL. Oil is still what it's all about but these nitwits in the Bush administration told the American people that the war would be paid for with Iraqi oil revenues. Instead, it's costing $1 trillion in American taxpayers' dollars.

As we speak, 15 people were killed in Baghdad yesterday and 9 more today. This has occurred since al-Maliki lifted the curfew. So, what can we expect? Well, we know it isn't really much news if only Iraqis are killed. Has anyone anywhere said a peep over the slaughter of over 700,000 Iraqi citizens, all put in early graves because of the grandiloquence of one autocrat, G. W. Bush, who bombed, invaded and occupied a country that didn't have one thing to do with 9/11?

Yet, his fear-mongering still works in spite of the fact that U.S. fatalities in Iraq have dropped. According to the latest count Bush has put 3,875 U.S. military in body bags. If the voters decide in 2008 to 'stay the course' they need to ask how many more will die during what is expected to be a "long slog," according to former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Ryan Crocker, ambassador to Iraq.

[fourex]

There will be no progress for the 650,000 murdered,

[maxdenn]

I'll take Olbermann over Brokaw anytime.

[raptor]

I've ignored Tom Brokaw ever since he declared Oliver North's "testimony" as a "Home Run!".

[maxdenn]

I'll say this for HRC respective of her vote to attack Iraq. She's not trying to CYA herself by saying her vote was a mistake. The Senator remains, on this point, as stubborn and foolish as George W. Bush.

[kellygrrrl]

I am really getting sick of everyone "speaking truth" only when they are trying to make a buck on a book.

[maxdenn]

What was Mr. Brokaw's position on what Bush was trying to do during the ramp-up going into Iraq? Was it basically the same cheerleading that Hillary and the rest were doing in supporting a war based upon not just lies, but 'gross' lies?

[viper123456]

Well, it looks like Brokaw at least is trying to defend a bit of his integrity by not just jumping on everything is going well in Iraq bandwagon. (posted on skewz.com)

[SmellyOne]

It is undeniable that the situation on the ground in Iraq has changed in the last few months, and it's partially due to the surge.

Let's hope that the situation on the ground continues to improve for the sake of the Iraqi people.

Remember, the less violence on the ground, the less our troops are needed in Iraq.

I know everyone wants the troops home now, but it's not going to happen because the Democratics, who were elected with a mandate, are failing against Bush and the Republicans.

[djonan]

did my comment insulting sklar's performance on fox just get removed? for what reason? are we that afraid of disent?

[djonan]

i finally caught sklar on fox news...man she is like a pretty alan colmes. ineffectual, harmless to the republican gangbang and silly.

[hydenorhare]

What Brokaw said was the absolute minimum he could have said and still have any claim to credibility.

It would help if he left the NBC family.