from msnbc.com
Tomorrow will be the first "Meet The Press" since the Democrats swept both the House and the Senate in the midterm elections, and ThinkProgress and HuffPo's own Stephen Kaus point out something interesting: Special guests Senators John McCain and Joe Lieberman were not part of the aforementioned Democratic sweeping of the House and Senate. While both are obviously experienced and no doubt chatty (we know this from McCain's regular appearances on the show), it's interesting to note what they were invited on the program to discuss: "The midterm election results, the Iraq war, the Gates nomination and setting the stage for 2008." Considering both McCain and Lieberman's traditional support for the war, it seems an oddly exclusive choice, not inviting any Democratic candidate who ran — and won — on an anti-war platform to the table (no doubt they were all busy; Russert fan favorite Nancy Pelosi hasn't been doing much press). While Joe Lieberman has reaffirmed his party identification as a Democrat, his electoral experience was an unusual one and not one generally held up as emblematic of the overarching trends in this election (see Claire McCaskill; Jon Tester; Sherrod Brown; and — thank God, that was a close one — Jim Webb). While it's true that MTP host Tim Russert has been running left like the rest of the press in recent months, this post-election slate could have been lively and fresh and instead it will feature a guy whose views we've heard again and again and someone whose election experience was so unique and anomalous that it seems a distraction to bring him front and center right now, especially to weigh in on where the Democrats are going. More than anything, it speaks to how "Meet The Press" is a dinosaur, stubbornly staying with the safe and familiar and digging its heels in to change. After an election where voters surged out in surprising numbers to make sure that they elected a party that would actually force some change, it seems strange to bring on two guests who are so closely aligned with the biggest thing that needed changing.
UPDATE: Russert addressed this point during the broadcast: "Our viewers should know we extended invitations to the new Democratic leaders in the House and Senate, incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Majority Leader Harry Reid. Both declined our invitation, but we hope they'll be here on a future Sunday." That doesn't change the above vis a vis the pr-Iraq war leaning choices who were not part of the Democratic sweep, but it's good to know.
