The Sunday Morning Talk Shows (preview)
By Mark Kilmer Posted in Special Features — Comments (6) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
For Sunday, July 22, 2007
Meet the Press (NBC): Tim Russert will talk terrorism with Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell. Next, he'll talk to Russ Feingold about whatever.
FOX News Sunday (FNS): Host Chris Wallace will talk to Fran Townsend, the President's Homeland Security advisor, about that National Intelligence Estimate from last week. Then he'll chat with Senators Kit Bond (R) and Evan Bayh (D).
Face the Nation (CBS): Host Bob Schieffer is getting one view on the Iraq war from two Senators: dingy Harry (D) and one of his Maine gals, Olympia Snowe (R).
This Week (ABC): Host George Stephanopoulos and the crew have the morning off, as the golf tour gets to show off its (alleged) 'roid rage at the British Open.
Late Edition (CNN): Host Wolf Blitzer talks to Fran Townsend, Mitch McConnell vs. famed Nazi hunter Dick Durbin, and two Dem politicos turned campaign ops: John Edwards campaign manager David Bonior (former Hous Dem whip) and Congressman Artur Davis of Alabama, whose with the Obama campaign. And he'll have his usual cast of thousands.
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Townsend is sharp, in appearance, demeanor, in intellect. I am not empowered to nominate her to be Attorney General, and the Dems haven't skinned this current one yet, but I'd give her some serious thought. (Yet...)
Is Wolf's duel between Mitch and Durbin the shape of things to come, assuming the Dems simply promote Durbin when the sack Reid, which they'll have to do before the campaign begins in earnest. (There is an argument that Durbin and Chuckie Schumer run the Senate as it is, which is an interesting notion.)
Schieffer's show looks to be the least bearable – Reid and Snowe?!? They'll talk Iraq, both from the anti-surge side, with Reid, who shouldn't remain Dem leader for long, mouthing other people's words and Snowe offering nothing of any use. I doubt she'll be Hagel/Smith, in sync with Schumer/Durbin/Reid, but it will be the same nonsense with a different mask.
Feingold is pretty much as waste of time, sounding his one outdated note to the point of metronomic torture, but Russert's show is saved by Mike McConnell. This is his first stab at these shows, and perhaps he can explain why it took the intelligence community months to draw up that National Intelligence Estimate when a few of us could have done it in a morning.
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The Sunday Morning Talk Shows (preview) 6 Comments (0 topical, 6 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
self serving crap into a blender to produce a document that supposedly defines our national security situation.
Boy, I feel better already.
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CongressCritter™: Never have so few felt like they were owed so much by so many for so little.
with time off for leaks to the press and reviews of pension benefits. Considering that we are at war the idea of sixteen different rest homes for the useless, reviewing the reviews, analyzing the analysis, and making the bland blander, doesn't strike one as grounds for confidence.
Not being an expert on intelligence matters I'd still bet that in other wars both speed and efficiency were crucial. Did we not have an intelligence czar enthroned atop this giant ant hill precisely to coordinate and expedite the process?
But in Washington reorganization means nothing, just more of the same or worse, while media types and insiders chortle in glee and anticipation at the big news, the great expectations.
Which is why we are governed by the brain dead, experts at mismanagement.
"a man's admiration for absolute government is proportinate to the contempt he feels for those around him". Tocqueville
anger. Especially when what he's angry about is deserving of said anger.
I'm with you johnt. I'd love to storm the fort.
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CongressCritter™: Never have so few felt like they were owed so much by so many for so little.
"a man's admiration for absolute government is proportinate to the contempt he feels for those around him". Tocqueville
Mike Gamecock DeVine @ The Charlotte Observer
www.race42008.com
www.hinzsightreport.com
www.theminorityreportblog.com
"One man with courage makes a majority" - Andrew Jackson
perhaps he can explain why it took the intelligence community months to draw up that National Intelligence Estimate when a few of us could have done it in a morning.
The US Intelligence Community has sixteen distinct departments/agencies in it. Each with their own opinions, biases, rice bowls and agendas (spoken/unspoken) to protect. For those reasons alone, it can take forever to come up with language, especially in the Key Judgements, that most NIE contributors will agree to.
Not to mention the time it takes to do the NIE's basic research, identify gaps in our knowledge, do the additional research necessary to close those gaps, etc. I suspect it's possible to bang out a first draft of a NIE in a morning. But, it's not the product of one person---it's the official opinion/position product of the US Intelligence Community. Products like that never happen fast, and that's not only understandible...it's a good thing. NIEs are supposed to be deliberate documents.
Of course, the judgements these NIEs render can---and often do---make you scratch your head and Jim-Webb-furrow your brow. But, this comment is about speed.
"Who will stand/On either hand/And guard this bridge with me?" (Macaulay)