Taylor Marsh – TaylorMarsh.com – News, Opinion and Weblog on Progressive Politics

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When things like Katie’s
interview with John and Elizabeth Edwards, or her
nutty notebook come up, I wonder why I push so hard for women to get their
due in news. It’s a constant refrain of mine. But whether we deserve it really
gets lost when people like Katie get an interview with the Edwardses, but turn
it into some accusatory hamster wheel questioning on whether Elizabeth is selfish
for wanting to live a normal life, because, get a grip, woman, you’re doomed!
However, Diane Sawyer’s interview today with Al Gore actually does Katie one
better.

As you know by now, The
Assault on Reason, Gore’s
new book is coming out this week, with Gore doing lots of press
for it, including “Good Morning America” this morning. Tomorrow there’s
more press, including Larry King. One of the main points in the book is that
the media is obsessed with things like Jon Benet, “American Idol,”
Paris Hilton and other trivia, with the important things not being discussed.
The American media’s “serial
obsessions,” as he calls it, is hurting this country.

At first I thought the exhaustive, nonstop coverage of the O.J. Simpson trial was just an unfortunate excess—an unwelcome departure from the normal good sense and judgment of our television news media. Now we know that it was merely an early example of a new pattern of serial obsessions that periodically take over the airwaves for weeks at a time: the Michael Jackson trial and the Robert Blake trial, the Laci Peterson tragedy and the Chandra Levy tragedy, Britney and KFed, Lindsay and Paris and Nicole.

It’s in evidence today. Only CNN is even covering what’s
happening in Lebanon with any detail at all. McCain’s eff bomb is more important,
or Cornyn – actually it was Chambliss – getting booed when talking about immigration. Chris Matthews practically
popped a tent on “Hardball” today once again talking about the Clinton
marriage. I’ll have much more on that on my radio show tomorrow. But trust me,
it was unbelievable. Lebanon did not escape his lips. Ratings must be really bad.

Anyway, it should be obvious what Gore wanted to talk about, because, duh,
he’s publishing a new book this week on the assault on reason. After the interview it was clear that Gore’s book couldn’t have come at a better time. However, Ms. Sawyer had something else on
her mind. You can imagine what it was, right?
Sure, you ask the question, but how many times does Gore have to say he’s got
no plans to run in ‘08, etc., etc.?

“I’m not a candidate and this is not a political book, this is not a candidate book,” Gore told Diane Sawyer on “Good Morning America” Monday. “It’s about that there are cracks in the foundation of American democracy that have to be fixed.”

Sawyer continued to ask the same question again and again. It was the most
embarrassing spectacle since Katie’s
last notebook disaster.

There were so many delicious things to ask Gore, because he
unloads on Bush in the book.

Gore writes that since “Iraq had nothing to do with the 9/11 attack…then that means the president took us to war when he didn’t have to and that over 3,000 American service members have been killed…unnecessarily.” When asked if that meant U.S. troops had died in vain, Gore said Monday that “those who serve our country are honored in memory” but that the issue is “there is hardly anybody left in America…who doesn’t believe that it was a terrible mistake to invade a country that didn’t attack us. But all of the evidence necessary to make that judgment before we invaded was available…We have been making a series of really important, really big mistakes, and the question is how can we reinvigorate the role of ‘We the People’ in American democracy so that we’re part of the conversation and so that those (in power)…are listening to reason, are looking at the facts and not brushing past them.”

Sawyer had such a great get. She blew it badly. Watch
the video. It’s one for the books.

SAWYER: Well, I want to come back to that thesis because part of it involves our jobs in television news, and I want to deal with that. But nonetheless, Mr. Vice President, it’s going to be very hard for people to read this book and say this is not a political book, because this is a book that really does go to the current administration. And my question… GORE: Just as one of many examples of how our conversation of democracy has turned toward these buzzwords and phrases, like the frame for the discussion, the logo Campaign ‘08, that’s not what this is about. You know, for anybody who has asked the question, Has something gone wrong in our country? this book is about that. It’s about what’s gone wrong and how we can fix it. […] SAWYER: Again, not to come back to this and fall into your thesis that the press only wants the horserace of the political campaign, but one way… GORE: But back to the horserace. SAWYER: … back to the horserace. Sawyer Interviews Al Gore (full transcript available)