And Their Postwar Stubble

BREAKING! Developing! MUST CREDIT THERS!!!! (Siren, etc.)

Tim Russert slams John McCain for his inability to recall how many troops were in Iraq before Teh Surge!

If somebody wants to be president of the United States [they need to] have a sense of the military.

Also piling on McCain is Kit Seelye, writing in the New York Times, who pulled a devastating quote:

Mr. Russert said: ''There's concern about your awareness and positions on national security. You must acknowledge that.''

And the chorus of denunciations is becoming deafening -- McCain's national security credentials are looking incredibly shaky:

Russert planted a seed that grew into a tree, casting a big shadow of doubt on McCain as the Post, the Times, and the Sunday morning pundits asked, "Is McCain Presidential material?"

The New York Times called the show a "debacle."   

Howard Kurtz, media critic for the Post, summed up a host of other bad reviews: New York Daily News columnist Zev Chafets called McCain's interview "perhaps the worst performance by a Presidential candidate in the history of television." The Dallas Morning News quoted unnamed Democrats comparing McCain to landslide victims George McGovern and Walter Mondale. ABCNews.com said, "The politico-media establishment continues to look at him as an antiwar pipsqueak ... decidedly not ready for prime time."

Amazing.

Oh, wait. My mistake. This was actually the ganging up that Howard Dean got in June of 2003.

Well, I'm sure we can expect the same treatment for McCain, because, after all, he's supposed to know this stuff and is a big old military expert, so everyone will see that he has no excuse, and all of Punditland will now wonder if McCain is Presidential material.

...  yeah, I know. Nah Guh Happa. 

Honestly, Russert loves these "gotcha" questions -- love to see him field this one, though I'm not holding my breath.

UPDATE: The always entertaining Don Surber looks at McCain's attempt to spin away his mistake as "verb tenses" and the non-nothing about Obama's uncle, and remarks, "That, hopefully, taught both campaigns a lesson."

In Greater Wingnuttia, this is "balance."

MORE. Media Matters, biting my lines.

Comments

[trifecta]

But it's different. McCain is a foreign policy expert. I was told that by Russert himself.

[Jemand von Niemand]

Russert: Fluffer for Team Bush. One of many examples:

For a reporter who snarls like a rabid pit bull when the occasional Democrat shows up, Russert's subdued tone and tender questioning [of CJC Peter Pace on the March 5, 2006 'Meet The Press'] is telling. Unlike interviews with Democrats, where Russert hammers a point with manic intensity, the Russert we [saw] is reserved for administration officials and apologists. No follow-ups, no gotchas, no furrowed brow, no table-hammering... Obligatory 'tough' questions notwithstanding, [Russert's interview was] simply a platform for Pace's propaganda and Russert is willingly providing it (the ensuing segment with John Edwards has Russert returning to the gotcha format, showing old video clips and pressing Edwards for an explanation).

[slag]

Damn you! I got excited for a minute there.

I hate this bizarro notion of "balance".