Ronn Owens is broadcasting his KGO talk show this week from Washington and had Russert on his program. A caller asked whether the media is doing its job when 40% of the public still believes there is a connection between Saddam and 9/11. Russert said that everyone was for the war when it started, and the media covered the antis. He said that the media have gotten Bush and Cheney to admit there is no connection. My comment: big deal, since you engage in he said/she said reporting, you take the Republican side of the issue when questioning Democrats, so it settles nothing. But here's the good part:
Russert claims that MTP offered Kerry and Edwards a full hour to respond to the charges leveled at him at the Republican convention. He also claims to have offered a full hour for Kerry to discuss Vietnam service. And finally, he claims to have offered a full hour of McAuliffe versus Gillespie, but the Democrats passed it up. He said the Democrats are going for things like Regis and the Daily Show instead.
I don't know what to think about this. On the face of it, it seems like the Democrats should certainly have played. If Kerry feels they should have, maybe this was a factor in the recent campaign leadership changes. But I also think it may be likely that the time was offered under unfavorable circumstances, or that the Democrats didn't want to appear in a situation where Russert makes the wrong side appear more credible than the other. Hard to say. Any ideas?