Saturday, February 12, 2011

CBS’ Bob Schieffer Drops Harry Reid In Favor Of John McCain To Discuss Egypt

On local Washington, D.C. talk radio on Friday, CBS Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer discussed his thought process behind the selection of John McCain to be his guest tomorrow:
We were gonna have Harry Reid, the Senate Majority Leader, and thought this would be the week we could kinda get back to covering what’s going on in Washington. But, we added last night Sen. John McCain from the Foreign Relations Committee. We’ll be spending a lot of time in the square there in Cairo if things continue to go as they are.
The Face the Nation website indicates Harry Reid will not be appearing and that McCain is the only elected official on the show. Listen here:
As Steve Benen and others in the progressive blogosphere have repeatedly noted, the bookers for the Sunday shows lazily turn to John McCain with alarming frequently to fill their guest lineup. Benen noted last month that McCain “has been on 27 times” on Sunday shows since Obama was inaugurated. And this would at least his sixth appearance on Face the Nation over that period of time.
It’s sadly telling that Schieffer, a veteran Sunday morning host, feels the need to frequently turn to a Republican Senator to discuss a foreign policy issue, rather than hosting any number of qualified Democratic voices to opine on Egypt.
McCain has waffled on his views regarding the pro-democracy protests. Initially, he expressed fear about the movement, calling it a dangerous “virus” that could spread throughout the Middle East. But following President Hosni Mubarak’s decision to step down, McCain issued a statement applauding the “Egyptian people” for “beginning…their country’s transition to democracy.” Moreover, in late January, McCain told CNN it would not be wise for the Obama administration to “cut [Mubarak] loose.” A few days later, he was demanding Obama call on Mubarak to resign immediately.
Clearly, we all need to hear more from the renowned Egyptologist John McCain.

No comments:

Post a Comment