The Ohio Dem Debate: Russert's "blow-hard aggressiveness"

[DeepModem Mom]

Austin American Statesman: Tim Russert annoys on MSNBC’s debate
By Diane Holloway | February 27, 2008

Somebody needs to tell Tim Russert that it’s not all about him. Oh, OK. Let me be the one …

During last night’s Democratic debate on MSNBC, Russert was beyond obnoxious. I know he thinks he’s just being a tough journalist, boring into the candidates with long-winded questions and barking, bug-eyed follow-ups. But really, he’s just being rude.

At least he didn’t play favorites. Russert was equally nasty to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. But he did seem to get under Clinton’s skin more than Obama’s.

The format for MSNBC’s Ohio grilling was awkward at best. Anchor Brian Williams and Russert were on one side of an enormous table, with Clinton and Obama on the other side seated about 4 inches apart. The audience was somewhere out in the darkness, off-camera, and apparently warned, under penalty of waterboarding, not to utter a peep until the end. The silence was deafening.

Russert and Williams were armed with “gotcha” questions, dramatized by video clips. Did the Clinton campaign send those photos of Obama in Somali Muslim garb to The Drudge Report? Was the Obama campaign engaging in Karl Rove tactics with those mailers stating that Clinton’s health-care policy would force citizens to pay for insurance whether they could afford it or not?...

Russert’s blow-hard aggressiveness comes across as counter-productive. People are not tuning in to watch him puff up, turn red and ask questions that are longer than the answers. And they’re not rooting for him to provoke angry or inappropriate responses. If we wanted that, we’d be clamoring for Bill O’Reilly and Chris Matthews to host a smackdown debate.

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/tvblog/entries/2008/02/27/tim_russert_annoys_on_msnbcs_debate.html

[hay rick]

1. Don Imus' friend n/t

[flordehinojos]

2. there was a moment during that interrogatory when ...

hillary was answering a question put to her by timmy rushette, i think it was, and BO put up his hands and hid his face in them ... wow! i thought. this guy does not want to hear what hillary is saying. i wonder what made him react to her words in such a, "i dont want to hear it" or, "let me hide my face from the truth" ... although, by the time she finished his facing was showing again and he had a response to what she had said.

i saw the debate live and have not seen a video of it since so i don't recall what that question/answer were about ... i do recall the impression BO's hiding his face in his hands made on me.

it confirmed one more time that BO is the kind of guy who hides a lot, just like GWB.