All day long, my thoughts were fixated on 7pm and the big Lamont/Lieberman debate (as was everybody elses in the online community).
So much that I nearly forgot that Larry King was going to be interviewing George and Laura Bush live from the White House. I knew which event I would rather see, but I was curious about the type of questions King would ask.
And CNN wanted to hype the interview as much as they could....
more below the fold.
This morning at about 10am, CNN.com began hyping "the interview". They tried to make a mystery out of the whole event when they posted
this story entitled "King won't decide first question until cameras roll".
This excited me a little bit. I thought that it might end up being a thought-provoking question, or at least a lead-in to a much tougher subject. CNN wanted me to think that way, obviously;
"What will be your first question for the president?"
No idea. It might be about Ken Lay, maybe North Korea. Lay was a friend of his. It's the president's birthday so I might go there.
I never know in advance. I won't know until I say hello and start the interview.
OK, so maybe we'll hear about Ken Lay right off the bat, maybe about North Korea??
BUZZZZZZZ!!!!!!!
King's first question???
"What does it feel like?"
Yep. That was King's first question. He asked how it felt to be 60. Wow. Hard-hitting there, Larry.
OK, he was just warming up. Give him a chance. His second question? This one was to Laura Bush......
"Does he feel ancient to you?"
BOO-YAAAA....oh, never mind. I thought there would be some journalism in question number 2.
OK< but I'm ready for question number 3. This one's GOTTA be good, right????
"What's going on?"
You gotta be shitting me, Larry. WHAT'S GOING ON? Dude, is this small-talk at a kegger or something? I mean, come on???
It wasn't until the fourth question before King showed any ability to conduct an interview with a head of state. He finally asked about North Korea, but then laid THIS one on the viewing audience....
"But, also, Mr. President, you're into taking the lead on things. Iraq was an example. You took the lead on Iraq. The United Nations went along."
Jesus, Larry. Do you even watch the news anymore? At what point do YOU recall the United Nations giving the United States the authority to attack Iraq? I'm pretty sure they said no.
What an asshole.
The softballs kept coming.
- He asked if the missile tests in North Korea affected Laura's 4th of July.
- He asked if Laura "loses sleep" over what George has to go through.
- He asked if they ever think "why me?"
- He asked "wouldn't you rather be popular?"
- When he asked if he'd do Iraq all over again, he said "would you do it the same if he knew the WMDs weren't there?". LARRY!!!! He DID know they weren't there! ASK HIM THAT!!!!!!
- He led off a question by saying "You've always had a lot of compassion for the Mexican people...."
Finally, Larry did press Bush on the Lieberman independent thing...Bush wouldn't answer it, saying he'd leave that up to the Democrats. Larry pushed him for a few questions, but didn't get anywhere.
Pretty much, CNN hyped up a giant turd. Actually, three giant turds.