A tale of two 60 Minutes intreviews

[DarrinS]

Compare these interviews and keep in mind, there's no media bias.


Scott Pelley interviews Bush (2007)




Steve Kroft gushing interview with Obama/Clinton (2013)





Here are the questions, for those who hate yootooobs

The war on terror, in a sense, began in this room, began in this cabin where your Cabinet meeting was held. Back then the whole country was with you. And now you seem to have lost them. Why do you think so?
Most Americans at this point in time don’t believe in this war in Iraq. They want you to get us out of there.
You actually thought about that?

You think the whole region could be in play? Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait?
Instability in Iraq threatens the entire region?

But wasn’t it your administration that created the instability in Iraq?
It’s much more unstable now, Mr. President.

You mention mistakes having been made in your speech. What mistakes are you talking about?
The troop levels . . .
Could have been a mistake?
Fair to say there are not enough American troops on the ground to provide security for Iraq?

Do you think you owe the Iraqi people an apology for not doing a better job?
Well, that the United States did not do a better job in providing security after the invasion.

Americans wonder whether . . .
You are gambling a lot, Mr. President, on the [Iraqi] Prime Minister [Nouri] al-Maliki. Why do you think that’s a gamble worth making?

Let’s be blunt. You’re a plain speaker. Let’s be blunt. What have you told Maliki he has to do?

Is Muqtada al-Sadr an enemy of the United States?

I was on the battlefield in Najaf when al-Sadr’s people killed your United States Marines.
Is Muqtada al-Sadr an enemy of the United States?

Without al-Sadr, there’s no Maliki government.

You don’t fear that al-Sadr’s actually running the show?

Did you see the video of Saddam Hussein’s execution?
What did you think when you saw that?
I wonder if there was also some sense of satisfaction. You’ve had this guy in your sights for a long time.
I’m curious. How did you see the video?
You called it up on the internet and watched it?
Well, you keep saying “parts of it.” What do you mean you didn’t wanna watch the whole thing?
You didn’t wanna see him go through the trapdoor.

Do you believe that the House has the cons utional authority to prevent you from the troop build-up? Can they stop you?
That would be one . . .

The Democrat leadership says, “We wanna support the troops who are on the ground. We just wanna redline the extra 20,000.”
There’s no Democrat plan.

Do you believe as commander-in-chief you have the authority to put the troops in there no matter what the Congress wants to do?
You know better than I do that many Americans feel that your administration has not been straight with the country, has not been honest. To those people you say what?
Well, sir . . .

No weapons of mass destruction.
No credible connection between 9/11 and Iraq.

The Office of Management and Budget said this war would cost somewhere between $50 billion and $60 billion and now we’re over 400.
The perception, sir, more than any one of those points, is that the administration has not been straight with . . .

You seem to be saying that you may have been wrong but you weren’t dishonest
When was it that you first found out or it dawned on you that, indeed, there were no weapons of mass destruction? And I wonder, did you think, “What have I done?”
You had to be angry as .

What should the American people look for in this war plan? When will they know whether it’s working or not?
We’ll know in weeks?

Your military officers say that Iranian agents today are killing American troops on the ground in Iraq. Is that an act of war on the part of Iran against the United States?
Is that an act of war against the United States on the part of the Iranian government?

What would you say right now in this interview to the Iranian president about the meddling in Iraq?

I wonder if you feel like you’ve been ill-served by your Cabinet members, [Defense Secretary] Mr. [Donald] Rumsfeld, perhaps even Vice-President [ ] Cheney. Wrong on WMD. Wrong on the connection between 9/11 and Iraq. And now you’re in a fix. And I wonder if you look back and wonder who let you down.

The vice-president suggested there was a connection, not necessarily 9/11, but certainly to al-Qaeda.
Yes, sir.

Vice-president involved in these war plans?
As much as he ever has been?

Final question. How can you escalate the war when so many people in this country seem to be against it?

This is very improbable. This is not an interview I ever expected to be doing. But I understand, Mr. President, this was your idea. Why did you want to do this together, a joint interview?
There’s no political tea leaves to be read here?

It’s no secret that your aides cautioned you against– actually were against you offering Secretary Clinton this job. And you were just as determined not to take it. And you avoided taking her phone calls for awhile because you were afraid she was going to say no. Why were you so insistent about wanting her to be secretary of state?

You’ve been quoted as thinking or telling people that there was no way you were going to take this job and you weren’t going to let anybody talk you into it.
What did he say that night that made you—
What did he promise you? And has he kept the promises?

Has she had much influence—
–in this administration?

How would you characterize your relationship right now?

It’s one thing to have disagreements between cabinet people. I spent time with both of you in the 2008 campaign. That was a very tough, bitter race. And I’m going to spare you reading some of the things that you said about each other during that campaign.
But how long did it take you to get over that? And when did it happen?

You said the staff took a little longer to ignore, to forget the campaign stuff. What about the spouses? Is that an impertinent question?

This administration, I mean, you’ve generally gotten high marks. You’ve generally gotten very high marks, particularly from the voters for your handling of foreign policy. But there’s no big, singular achievement that– in the first four years– that you can put your names on. What do you think the biggest success has been, foreign policy success, of the first term?

What’s the, I have to ask you, what’s the date of expiration on this endorsement?
No, no, I have to ask that question. I mean, come on. You’re– I mean, you’re sitting here together. Everybody in town is talking about it already and the inter– and this is– it’s taking place.

I want to talk about the hearings this week. You had a very long day. Also, how is your health?
Right, I noticed your glasses are—

You said during the hearings, I mean, you’ve accepted responsibility. You’ve accepted the very critical findings of Admiral Mullen and Ambassador Pickering. As the New York Times put it, you accepted responsibility, but not blame. Do you feel guilty in any way, in– at a personal level? Do you blame yourself that you didn’t know or that you should have known?

The biggest criticism of this team in the U.S. foreign policy from your political opposition has been what they say is an abdication of the United States on the world stage, sort of a reluctance to become involved in another entanglement, an unwillingness or what seems/appears to be an unwillingness to gauge big issues. Syria, for example.

I mean, that—
Thank you very much.

[TeyshaBlue]

2 interviews, 6 years apart, by two completely different people are somehow markedly different. Shocking.

[DarrinS]

2 interviews, 6 years apart, by two completely different people are somehow markedly different. Shocking.

Every Kroft interview of Obama is softball city.

[DarrinS]

Kroft explains it best.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/vid..._with_him.html


PIERS MORGAN: Let me ask you at the top, why do you think he keeps coming to you? Because there’s two schools of thought. One, is that you're the most brilliant, penetrating interviewer on American television. And the other one is that you give him a soft time. Neither of which I suspect is entirely the true picture.

STEVE KROFT, "60 MINUTES" CORRESPONDENT: No, I think that first of all, I think he likes "60 Minutes." It’s, you know, we have a huge audience. We have a format that suits him, it's long. We can do 12 minutes or 24 minutes. We do, you know, we do a good job of editing. And I’ve been doing these interviews with him since a few weeks before he declared his candidacy. So I covered him during the campaign and have kept doing it in the White House.

But I think it's a question of fairness. We have not -- I think he knows that we're not going to play gotcha with him, that we're not going to go out of our way to make him look bad or stupid and we'll let him answer the questions. (Piers Morgan Tonight, January 28, 2013)

[ChumpDumper]

So Darrin, which interviewer plays gotcha with Obama and goes out of his or her way to make him look bad or stupid and doesn't let him answer questions -- you know, the things you look for?

[DarrinS]

So Darrin, which interviewer plays gotcha with Obama and goes out of his or her way to make him look bad or stupid and doesn't let him answer questions -- you know, the things you look for?

Does journalism serve a purpose anymore? If not, it's okay for a 60 Minutes interview to be like something you'd see on Ellen.

[ChumpDumper]

Does journalism serve a purpose anymore? If not, it's okay for a 60 Minutes interview to be like something you'd see on Ellen.

How much Ellen do you watch to be able to make that comparison?

[DMC]

You're wasting your time trying to tell worshipers that the pastor is crooked.

[ChumpDumper]

And I'll also ask you how many of the Obama 60 Minutes interviews you have watched.

[DMC]

And I'll also ask you how many of the Obama 60 Minutes interviews you have watched.

Do you sit at your PC hitting the refresh button? Ever smell under your arm? When is the last time you bathed? Do you consume a lot of caffeine? Ever had a sexual partner? Have you had one leave you because you never looked away from the monitor when she/he was talking to you?

[Spurminator]

Does journalism serve a purpose anymore? If not, it's okay for a 60 Minutes interview to be like something you'd see on Ellen.

Do you think that Bush and Obama walked into these interviews with no idea what they were going to be asked? Do you think they had no part of organizing the interviews in the first place, and no agenda to discuss certain things? Do you think any of the questions they were asked was a surprise?

Who are you to talk about journalism when you obviously have no idea how these things work? If the questions to Bush seemed tougher in the example view you chose, it's because President Bush wanted to discuss some controversial topics in front of the nation.

[ChumpDumper]

Do you sit at your PC hitting the refresh button?

No.

Ever smell under your arm?

No.

When is the last time you bathed?

Today.

Do you consume a lot of caffeine?

No.

Ever had a sexual partner?

No.

Have you had one leave you because you never looked away from the monitor when she/he was talking to you?

Never happened.

Why are you so interested in me personally?

[ElNono]

One interview is at the 'lame duck' stage of the presidency (Bush), the other is right after winning a new term (Barry).

They both won re-election, which means people voted for them twice to be president regardless of evil MSM...

Barry will get to the lame duck stage too in a couple of years...

[Wild Cobra]

That's right liberals. Defend your team.

[ChumpDumper]

One interview is at the 'lame duck' stage of the presidency (Bush), the other is right after winning a new term (Barry).

They both won re-election, which means people voted for them twice to president regardless of evil MSM...

Well, the 2013 interview is really more about Clinton than Obama. Darrin could easily find very different tone and content in an Kroft/Obama interview if he looked beyond the links that were spoon fed to him, but that's expecting far too much of him.

[ChumpDumper]

That's right liberals. Defend your team.

No one would expect you to look either.

[ElNono]

I like how capt libertarian () comes into a strictly partisan thread, starts pointing fingers and goes to bat for the red teamer...

[Wild Cobra]

No one would expect you to look either.

I looked at both. The bias is clear from the start. You guys are defending the bias with unknown suggestion, without acknowledging the OP just might be right.

[ChumpDumper]

I looked at both. The bias is clear from the start. You guys are defending the bias with unknown suggestion, without acknowledging the OP just might be right.

No one would expect you to actually read post #15 correctly either.

[spursncowboys]

You're wasting your time trying to tell worshipers that the pastor is crooked.

This

[spursncowboys]

I like how capt libertarian () comes into a strictly partisan thread, starts pointing fingers and goes to bat for the red teamer...

Here you are defending, once again, journalist-Who have somehow defied human behavior and not let their biases interfere with their job.

[spursncowboys]

Got your lol too. You should live a long life arguing politics with such an amused at ude.

[clambake]

he had a hard on for saddam long before he lied his way to get him.

[ChumpDumper]

This

You wouldn't look either.

[ElNono]

Here you are defending, once again, journalist-Who have somehow defied human behavior and not let their biases interfere with their job.

what journalist I defended?

Another instance of snc playing...


And yeah, red team fake outrage is just as amusing as blue team fake outrage...

Teysha got it, is he an MSM apologist too?