Did anyone see Brokaw's interviews that aired today on NBC with Kerry and Bush?
Partisanship aside, I think these are the toughest and most professional interviews I've seen of these candidates. His questions to Bush were particularly probing, which was so strange to see since Bush's press corps has been so lenient in interviews. I was really blown away by how rigorous and tough these questions were. Bush's answers were pretty good and he maintained his composure. Honestly, I think this is the most presidential I've seen him. I hope this is a sign that television journalists are realizing they haven't held up to their responsibilities over the past few years and that they are going to start actually questioning leaders again.
Here are some of his questions to Bush:
Brokaw: "One of our principal allies in that part of the world is the president of Pakistan, Musharrif. He's a great friend of yours. When I asked him if invading Iraq made it worse for the United States and that part of the world, he said, quite simply, "Yes."
...
Brokaw: "Mr. President in the opening of his debate, Dick Cheney, your vice president, said that if I had it to recommend all over again, I would recommend exactly the same course of action for Iraq. Even if you knew that there was no storage of WMD in Iraq, even if you knew that the Republican Guard could fade into the north and the west with their weapons and mount a very effective insurgency against us, even if you knew that we didn't have enough troops to secure all the sights in Iraq necessary to be secure at the time, you would recommend exactly the same course of action?"
...
Brokaw: "But, these are legitimate and important questions for the American people. The Economist, which is a well known conservative international publication, said invading Iraq was not a mistake, but changing the regime so incompetently was a huge mistake. It's cost hundreds of lives of American soldiers and thousands of Iraqis. And The Economist then reluctantly endorsed your opponent, Senator Kerry, saying it's a choice between the incompetent and the incoherent and they went with the incoherent."
...
Brokaw: "Mr. President, Osama bin Laden is back, on videotape at least. How can the fact that he is alive and at large be seen as anything other than a failure of your administration?"
Although I haven't found full transcripts, there are links to partial transcripts for both interviews on the following page:
BadYeti
Sacramento, CA
September 2004
NOV 01, 2004 08:31 PM