After Tim Russert’s ridiculous attempt at guilt by association against Obama in last night’s debate regarding Farrakhan, Attytood has some interesting questions for Tim Russert on whether he will “denounce and reject” Don Imus. Since he recently went back on his show, we shouldn’t hold our breath.
Of course, the whole issue is absurd. There’s nothing wrong with Russert asking Obama about this issue, but his “holier than thow” attitude was disgraceful, and his attempt to read Farrakhan’s outrageous statements AFTER Obama denouced them was a lame attempt to add some soundbites to the MSNBC-sponsored debate. Good taste and fairness be damned when you can get a controversial clip that will be played over and over again on all the networks.
A pro like Russert should know better, but he’s turning into a caricature of himself. Catching politicians in contradictions is important, but it’s not the ONLY thing that matters. At the Cleveland debate, issues like education, forclosures and poverty were not addressed.
It’s not just about Obama. Russert was extremely rude when he cut off Hillary numerous times during the debate. He repeated several times his assertion that she changed her position on NAFTA. As an Obama supporter I’m glad he brought up the point, but he showed little class in the way he asked the questions.
One wonders whether his ego has gotten the best of him.
For the fall, let’s hope all the network anchors are excluded from the debates and we rely on PBS and print journalists to moderate the debates.
