Tim Russert is often described as the most incisive, well-prepared interviewer out there. With the seemingly constant new revelations about this administrations duplicity, coupled with the ever-escalating violence in Iraq, I sat down to watch Rumsfeld's appearance on MTP with great anticipation, looking forward to seeing our esteemed Secretary of Defense's feet held to the fire. Okay, I'm lying. Russert is a tool who wouldn't know a follow-up question if it bit him in the ass. For example:
MR. RUSSERT: Did you make a misjudgment about the cost of the war?
SEC'Y RUMSFELD: Anyone who tries to estimate the end, the time, the cost or the casualties in a war is making a big mistake.
Hey Tim? Do you think this might have been a good time to put up this graphic?
"It is not knowable how long that conflict would last.
It could last, you know, six days, six weeks, I doubt six months."
- Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, February 7, 2003
It was truly amazing...time after time Rumsfeld gave responses that had no basis in reality, yet Russert would just nod and move along...
Another example:
MR. RUSSERT: There's been a lot of discussion of the Downing Street memo...which said this. "There was little discussion in Washington of the aftermath after military action."
SEC'Y RUMSFELD: There was a great deal of post-major combat planning. [...]
Now I'm not a trained professional like Mr. Russert, so maybe it would have been out of line to follow that up with a question about this:
In March 2003...Near the end of his presentation, an Army lieutenant colonel who was giving a briefing showed a slide describing the Pentagon's plans for rebuilding Iraq after the war, known in the planners' parlance as Phase 4-C. He was uncomfortable with his material - and for good reason.
The slide said: "To Be Provided."
Or how about when Russert asked Rumsfeld about the reported meetings between US officials and the insurgents?
SEC'Y RUMSFELD:
They're not going to try to bring in the people with blood on their hands, for sure, but they certainly are reaching out continuously, and we help to facilitate those from time to time.
MR. RUSSERT: Is that negotiating with terrorists?
SEC'Y RUMSFELD: No, no.
Really? So if we're only dealing with terrorists without blood on their hands </extreme sarcasm>, I think it would have been a good time for Mr. Russert to ask about this excerpt from The Sunday Times:
On the rebel side were representatives of insurgent groups including Ansar al-Sunna, which has carried out numerous suicide bombings and killed 22 people in the dining hall of an American base at Mosul last Christmas...
You get the idea...I think it's time for Meet The Press to change their name to something more appropriate. Perhaps Meet The Liars, brought to you by your chief-enabler, Tim Russert.