Cheney's Legacy Project and the Return of the Media Cringe

The Sunday-morning yak shows on the networks have long since all adopted the late Tim Russert's habit of confronting guests with previous statements that contradict what they currently say. It's the shows' way of demonstrating their "toughness."

But what happens when a member of the Bush Administration, making another stop on the Bush Legacy Project tour, appears live on one of those programs? Judging by Sunday morning's Face the Nation, what happens is a return to the respectful or intimidated cringe that typified Washington media during the run-up to the Iraq War.

Bob Schieffer had the usual stack of papers in front of him as he questioned Vice President Cheney. But, as Cheney trotted out old and new boilerplate -- the intelligence was wrong, all our surveillance and interrogation procedures were done "by the book" -- Schieffer sat as mute as a chastised third-grader.

This is not 2003. At least two well-reviewed and meticulously sourced books--"The Dark Side" by Jane Mayer and "Angler" by Barton Gellman--could supply a week's worth of material with which to challenge and contradict Cheney's bland and ballsy assertions. The names of the intel agents in the UK, Australia and the US who publicly said before the war that the intel did not show what the administration claimed (and still claims) are, or should be, well known by now to the producers of "serious" television news broadcasts. They are, for the record, Dr. Brian Jones, Andrew Willkie, and Greg Thielmann.

Do the producers of such programs think it's presumptuous to submit high officials to the kind of grilling they brag about when Senators or other lesser beings undergo it? Or do they get their big "exclusive" part of the Legacy Tour only by agreeing to cut off what remains of their gonads?

Comments

[stephanemot]

America must fully redeem itself. That means jail for Cheney & co

http://e-blogules.blogspot.com/2008/12/bush-legacy.html

[lionqueen]

It's a conundrum. If you'll be "cut off" by the interviewee, you have only one chance to ask the probing question. Seems to be a fine line that must be walked with those who limit media access.
Maybe the story is "outing" those who do.

[kimleehan]

On Bush's interview with Brit Hume, I noticed Bush spending a lot of the interview trying to defend what he called his enhanced interrogation methods, even going as far as saying he authorized it to be used against one of the detainees. Its obvious to me that he's worried about the alligations of torture and being charged with war crimes.

[gnorrfa]

sorry, tim russert was just one of the boys, not the god of investigative journalism as he is so often portrayed. too bad if you can't remember people like roger mudd, harry reasoner and the younger mike wallace, and many others. the interviewee usually looked like the proverbial deer in the headlights, and with good reason; these guys went after them and asked hard questions. they usually viewed these people as public employees that must be accountable to the public.
now it's old friends meeting with old friends. it is so bad it's embarassing. if you want to find out what's going on tv is the last place to go. you can find out a lot more by just getting on a thread such as this and following the to and fro' of common knowledge. i do watch occassionally, and cringe. this doesn't qualify as journalism. it's modern "modern" art. there's nothing there.

[GeoLee]

Amen. I am tired of the idolization of Tim russert. He typically showed no guts when interviewing Cheney or other major Republicans, specifically. I would tune in hopig he might jsut once really confront with follow up questions, bu talas, he bought their bull pretty easily, but boy did he know how to turn on people like Hillary Clinton and dems he didnto like. He referrd to his papers and his video taped then..and only then. the youngsters who never saw Mike Wallace and Rudd and others inthe 60's have no idea what true journalism is the search for truth. About the only person I would trust to effectively question any of them would be Keith Olbermann. Even Rachel is a little too polite at times.

[democracy7]

There is a reason that I don't watch these so called news shows. A lot of spin, drivel and crap. No substance and no challenge to any one with a thinking mind.

[AnnfromCA]

Pundits used to actually have to figure out what the public was not hearing out of the press release and talking points, and their job was to elucidate that.

Alas, punditry in political shows went the way of reality tv long ago. There aren't THAT many good pundits around, and there are a lot of shows with chairs to fill.

They ask, therefore, odd-ball questions that nobody cares about.

And the public has tuned out, too. Only die-hard political junkies even care.

[Citizen54]

What can we expect when the guy chosen to play the part of "the press" was seen earlier playing the part of backup dancer for Karl Rove?

[jfor]

Harry lets be honest, there is not one anchor, white house correspondent or Washington reporter out there with gonads. Gonads, investigative abilities and the ability to look your quarry in the eye are all trumped by boot licking, whitened teeth and exceptional hair. When you get a chill running up your spine and a wet spot in your underpants when the POTUS gives you a nickname you might just not be qualified to have your job.

[StillAmused]

The "news" media has been virtually comatose since September 11, 2001.

... actually, since November of 2000.

The aimless, stumbling early Bush administration was plainly evident but unnoted by our guard-dog journalists, yet they were all over the Junior-As-Hero meme when he posed with a bullhorn in Lower Manhattan. To this day, with every sordid thing we now know in painful detail, the premier newsmodels STILL feel compelled to toss the bouquet: Bush showed great leadership immediately after 9/11.

Never heard a one of the twits offer a single credible example.

Just the bouquet.

Schools of journalism -- if they still exist a decade from now -- will refer to the period 2001-2008 as 'The Great Blackout'.

[SparkyDash]

Part of what makes Cheney historically our "most dangerous VP," is his ability to intimidate many individuals...but not all, thank goodness. It must be his innate evilness that paralyzes journalists during interviews, or, as this blogger states, "Cheney's bland and ballsy assertions" of which he is allowed to get away with without reproach. Cheney is the ultimate arse, and Schieffer should have done his job. We do expect to hear something different each time we watch or read a Cheney interview...like Cheney admit he and Bush were wrong in any number of ways. The public will never hear those words from Cheney's mouth as long as he is in charge of the interview. Perhaps in a court of law and under oath...who knows.

[darthmaul]

These media guys know where their "bread is buttered." There not going to piss off powerful people that have strings going directly to the FCC. All Cheney had to do is pickup a phone (no emails) and make a few "suggestions."

[Orlando]

The legacy of Bush and Cheney has already been written.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1LX-9Gajyg

[dotmafia]

Cheney and Bush played right into the hands of Bin Laden. They did exactly what he wanted them to do -- and more. For this reason alone, Bush and Cheney should be criminally tried before a U.S. court for their massive incompetence in the destruction of two countries, America and Iraq. All of the blame for the unending evil, death and destruction which has been flowing out of Iraq, and its economic counterpart in the U.S. and around the world -- rests on their shoulders alone. Bush and Cheney have done more damage to the U.S. and the world, than 100 bin laden's combined.

[hippynanainblingland]

"Cheney and Bush played right into the hands of Bin Laden. They did exactly what he wanted them to do -- and more."..........Oh, I dunno... I'd take it further than that. I'd say there was a lot of callous cahootin' going on there. You know, the worlds' kings secretly deciding how to increase their fortunes and power... and making it so.

[ProgressiveVoice]

Every time I see a preview for the movie Frost/Nixon and hear the line "When the President does it it's not illegal" I remember Cheney's role in the Nixon Administration. The leopard doesn't change it's spots.

[mheister]

Preconditions for interviews. Ground rules. MSM thinks the "get" itself is so important that such hamstringing doesn't matter, which is exactly why MSM has lost so much credibility over the past few years.