Bob Costas
Call me crazy, but I think Bob Costas’s interview of George W. Bush has been way more enlightening and substantive than what you typically see when people interview politicians. No horse race stuff, no goofy gotchas — just serious questions about the US-China relationship and the conflict in Georgia along with, of course, some stuff about sports thrown in. If you could see that kind of attitude brought to Meet The Press, I think it’d be a good thing.
What’s more, to his credit faced with serious questions Bush mostly gave serious, reasonably impressive answers (UPDATE: Of course there was the “I don’t see America having problems” moment, but still…) . Still, someone should really make sure that all prominent U.S. officials can say “Dmitry Medvedev” as it was a bit odd watching Bush twist and turn to try to avoid using his name.
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August 10th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
I thought the same thing. Costas did a great job. Heck, Bush even got a little petulant at one point. Great that you’re back blogging!
August 10th, 2008 at 9:15 pm
I must admit that I moved over to the Cubs/Cardinals game when Bush came on. I still can’t stand the sound of his voice.
August 10th, 2008 at 9:18 pm
Bob Costas is arguably one of the top 5 greatest sports reporters of all time. He’s a legend.
August 10th, 2008 at 9:20 pm
“Dmitry Medvedev” isn’t such a complex name. The fact that many US politicians still can’t pronounce the guy’s name, months after he has been elected president of a sovereign nation (not an obscure one at that), is the kind of thing that fuels perceptions of American pomposity.
August 10th, 2008 at 9:28 pm
Bob Costas is arguably one of the top 5 greatest sports reporters of all time. He’s a legend.
His commentary during the Olympic opening ceremonies was, however, vapid.
August 10th, 2008 at 9:39 pm
I was saying the same thing about Costas, it was really good, and it really was interesting to see Bush respond, he was relatively smart. If Olbermann can do Countdown, then Costas could certainly do Meet the Press.
August 10th, 2008 at 9:57 pm
thehova and Tyro are both right, as is Matt: the Costas interview today was terrific. It seemed to me that Bush was trying to avoid saying Saakashvili’s name, not Medvedev (he didn’t totally butcher Medvedev’s name when he said it.)
August 10th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
Maybe it’s because he was talking to a sportscaster and, in part, about sports, but I think a big part of the success of the interview (on both sides) was that Bush actually seemed both to know what he was talking about, and care about it. He wasn’t saying anything totally remarkable about US-China relations, but he was also very much not taking the neocon Great Powers Conflict line on China. Which is of course exactly what McCain is doing.
Overall, just kind of bizarre in that Bush wasn’t totally embarrassing or terrifying. And kudos to Costas for an excellent job.
August 10th, 2008 at 10:28 pm
Bob Costas was being groomed to replace Larry King, but that ended when Costas refused to do a show on the blonde gal from the South going missing in Aruba. He wanted to do a show about the federal budget, I believe.
(http://mitchellfreedman.blogspot.com/search?q=Bob+Costas)
Yes, the sports guys and the comedians (Stewart, Colbert and Maher) are where one gets substance. The so-called serious political reporters are the shallow jokes. Welcome to the Empire…
August 10th, 2008 at 10:41 pm
Costas was swinging his racket during the opening ceremonies, Lauer just wasn’t hitting the ball back.
August 10th, 2008 at 10:54 pm
I agree - Costas was great. Bush seemed to be smiling a bit too much while talking about genocide, though.
August 11th, 2008 at 12:03 am
How about we swap all network sports divisions with their news divisions?
August 11th, 2008 at 12:08 am
How about we swap all network sports divisions with their news divisions?
Absolutely. I’ll take Al Michaels over Charlie Gibson any day of the week (I know Michaels is an NBC guy now, but I still think of him as the ABC guy).
Jim Nantz, however, doesn’t quite do it for me.
His commentary during the Olympic opening ceremonies was, however, vapid.
Are you kidding me? It’s a thankless role. And his line about the sultan of Dubai’s daughters was priceless.
August 11th, 2008 at 12:19 am
You asshole, Matt. Here I was thinking you’d actually stick to August 11th to come back, little knowing you were posting merrily away.
ps I always used to wonder how Bob Costas could continue to call NBA playoff games with Kobe’s phallus wedged so deeply into his mouth, and I’ve never forgiven him for his blatant bias.
August 11th, 2008 at 12:44 am
i’ve actually followed a blogger to a new address. i feel strange. no offense but this place is uuuugly man. pithy is yr mode and it showed at the last place…will aesthetics get in the way of the microeducating…good to have ya back.
August 11th, 2008 at 12:47 am
Why does Bush always have that goddamn smirk on his face? He was smiling through the whole interview - even when being asked about Chinese human rights violations, etc. What exactly is so fucking funny, asshole?
August 11th, 2008 at 3:33 am
no offense but this place is uuuugly man.
agreed. grey + sepia =/= whimsical commentary. it’s more the like bataan death march coverage: hour 37.
fuck the brand. get an aesthetician in here, stat!
August 11th, 2008 at 5:14 am
Off topic, but I would complain about not having a preview function in the blog post software. So I guess now we can post typos and bad grammar just like “Big Media Matt”!
Hey wait, have I missed something? Does Matt have an intern here? I didn’t see any typos or crappy grammar in his first posts?
But, hey, at least the server seems to be working. That’s a huge step up from The Atlantic.
August 11th, 2008 at 5:28 am
I’ve actually wondered about this. Sports journalists seem, on the whole, to be much more on the ball than MSM journalists covering politics. They are less prone to making stupid comments and informing viewers of evidence free “facts”, and more willing to say critical things about the people they are covering. Statistics are also used more in sports coverage than in political or even economic coverage, and are relatively less likely to be used misleadingly.
Steve Sailer once noted that business programs and sports programs both catered to predominantly male audiences, but the business programs and not the sports programs used attractive female eye candy as television reports. He postulated that this was because the audiences put a higher premium on getting accurate information about sports than about business and the economy. I wonder if something similar is going on with the difference between sports and poltical coverage.
August 11th, 2008 at 6:27 am
His commentary during the Olympic opening ceremonies was, however, vapid.
Were you expecting Deep Thought during an Olypic opening ceremony? About what- the color of the Jamaican team’s uniforms?
no offense but this place is uuuugly man.
…
agreed. grey + sepia =/= whimsical commentary. it’s more the like bataan death march coverage: hour 37.
Yeah. I know ThinkProgress likes black, and they’re trying to brand themselves. But… Not the happiest (or most modern) look.
… And Ed - right on. While I pay no attention to sports, all my friends who do are much better versed in statistics and fact-based commentary than political junkies or those I know who watch the economic news. People watch sports purely because they enjoy it– they like gathering statistics and comparing prognostications, and it is obvious when somebody gets things consistenly wrong. Unlike in politics.
August 11th, 2008 at 8:12 am
OT again but is Mr. Yglesias going to give us some guidelines about what sort of language is unacceptable to the good folks at Thinkprogress?
August 11th, 2008 at 8:26 am
My theory is that sports journalists are hired based (largely) on their knowledge of sports, which can be somewhat intricate. So they have to know something. That ability to absorb and process information translates fairly well into an ability to absorb and process information in other areas, like news and politics.
whereas, these days (unlike the Murrow/Cronkite days of old), “news” people are hired largely because they’re pretty.
August 11th, 2008 at 8:42 am
1) If you include links, citations etc to trade journals and other sources, this blog evidently considers it spam and kicks your post into the “held for moderation” pile. Which is idiotic — as I’ve repeatedly noted, the Mainstream Media exists to con the American people, not inform them. So if you are limited to citing the NY Times, you might as well be gagged.
2) The big news on Russia’s attack is that (a) Dick Cheney has been trying for decades to get access to the oil deposits of the Caspian Sea — as has Chevron, the Big Oil outfit who named one of their oil tankers after Condi Rice when she was on their Board. (b) there is a NARROW corridor between Russia and Iran through which US Oil outfits could ship oil. (c) US has in fact already built one pipeline through that narrow slot (d) name of narrow slot is –ta da — Georgia.
3) Which may explain why Dick Cheney is going apeshit over Russia’s attack this morning. I would give you a link but then thinkprogress.org would have to kill me.
August 11th, 2008 at 8:47 am
PS Try googling “Western Concern Grows Over Oil, Gas Pipes Through Georgia”
August 11th, 2008 at 8:55 am
PPS Does anyone know where our carriers are? Specifically, the USS Ronald Reagan, USS Abraham Lincoln, and USS Theodore Roosevelt?
Naw –the US Navy surface fleet doesn’t go into the Black Sea. (I have wondered about our nuclear ballistic missile subs, however. Heh heh heh. ) But the Russians may be making their move because they think we are about to be engaged with a country just to the south.
August 11th, 2008 at 9:15 am
Heck, if Russia waging a war to extend it’s death grip on energy flowing into Europe isn’t worth going apeshit over, I don’t know what would be. The Evil Empire is starting to reassemble itself before our eyes, and I’m not really keen on the thought of my son growing up during the Cold War, part two.
August 11th, 2008 at 9:26 am
Re Brett Bellmore’s comment “The Evil Empire is starting to reassemble itself before our eyes, ” —
——-
yes, Russia’s invasion of another country — killing its people and overthrowing its government — just to grab control of oil deposits is contrary to everything the US government believes in and stands for. I expect our Ambassador will make a strong moral case at the United Nations.
August 11th, 2008 at 9:41 am
AP is reporting that oil prices, after falling steadily last week, are now rising because of the markets concern that Russia-Georgia fighting could disrupt supplies from the Caspian. A shortfall anywhere is reflected in world prices in a global oil market with tight supply.
The impact on the US economy is left as an exercise for the reader.
Maybe this is all a plot by the Russians to get Obama elected.
August 11th, 2008 at 9:48 am
“Russia waging a war to extend it’s death grip on energy flowing into Europe…”
Is there any room in your Talking Points to handle the fact that Georgia actually started the conflict by shelling their own civilians in South Ossetia? Isn’t that a legitimate casus belli for you when the oil and the civilians belong to an enemy of the United States?
This incident puts the idiocy of the American right wing into stark relief. Saakashvili talks about freedom and democracy and goes begging for US military aid to protect himself from the bad old Russians. Bush goes so far as to sponsor Georgia’s entry into NATO. Then once he’s wormed his way into the hearts of American wingnuts, he goes and picks a fight with Russia by trying to consolidate his power over the disputed territories… expecting us to back him up.
Not to defend the Russians, who have clearly been champing at the bit for a chance to strike against Georgia. But it was unfathomably stupid for Saakashvili to give them a valid pretext for intervention. This mess was entirely preventable.
August 11th, 2008 at 10:03 am
Bob Costas is far too well informed and relevant to ever do political news. It would be seriously disturbing to see him doing politics. Most sports reporters would be terrible, but Costas isn’t actively repressed because the powers that be don’t have any problems with the story lines that reality dictates in sports, so there will always be room for a Costas.
August 11th, 2008 at 10:07 am
I thought the Olympics were not supposed to be politicized? The American coverage is bad enough without having to see smirk show up. Glad he found time for beach volleyball. At least he wasn’t drunk this time.
August 11th, 2008 at 10:36 am
1)Al Micheals is a right wing nut job. He is basically Rush Limbaugh without the self awareness that what he is saying is mostly crap.
2)Most sports reporters are idiots and don’t even understand the sports they cover. firejoemorgan.com can prove that to you within a week. And the more famous they are the more likely they have stopped even trying to learn anything. Rick Reilly is getting paid six figures to write stupid tripe like the semi-annual Olmypic “national anthems are sure funny!” column.
August 11th, 2008 at 10:43 am
Is it me or does anyone find it ironic that Georgie is the one giving advice about invading another country???
August 11th, 2008 at 10:44 am
Costas is a good one! Don’t forget back in 2005 Costas was hier apparent to Larry King but Costas refused to do yet another hour on missing Natalie Holloway in Aruba CNN then said “buh-bye”.
Costas also hosted the Healthcare Olympics with Ahmad Rashad on Michael Moore’s ‘TV Nation’. NBC censored that because Cuba actually won, but NBC altered it to make it look like Canada won.
August 11th, 2008 at 10:51 am
Costas asked better questions then I’ve seen in a long time but he still didn’t ask follow-ups. Something rotten has happened in our discourse when a pointed follow-up to a non-responsive filibuster is seen as rude.
August 11th, 2008 at 11:06 am
Bush gave reasonably impressive answers? Smirking and smiling, he just filled space with inanities. We were all laughing at the embarassing clown.
August 11th, 2008 at 11:13 am
Costas had a late-night interview show for a while. I thought he was consistently excellent, except when he interviewed Richard Lewis and I thought both were having way more fun than I was.
The networks have some excellent sports people, and no good news people, because they know what side of the butter the bread’s on.
August 11th, 2008 at 11:46 am
Um, did everyone forget the Buzz Bissinger-Deadspin hackjob Costas pulled on HBO? Maybe he should go to news, since his sports commentary is wanting.
August 11th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
I could give a crap about sports, but Costas’s late night show in the 80s and early 90s was really great. He was on after Letterman at 1:30 in the morning (this was when Letterman followed Carson), so no one but me and “Ancient” actually ever watched it. What was great about that show was that he asked questions and then kept his mouth shut while he guest answered. If the guest was interesting, the show was interesting. If the guest was dull, the show was dull. It was a lot like Fresh Air on NPR, actually.
I still well remember the interview he did with Burt Reynolds (which spanned two half-hour episodes, I believe). I think Bob asked maybe one question and Burt just went on and on telling stories from his life. It was a really great interview, actually.
Oh, and DreamTraveler, TV Nation was on Fox, not NBC. And steve, you are correct. This site is Ugly indeed.
August 11th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Dang! But it least it only takes half a second to post a comment. I’ll take ugly and quick over pretty and slow and buggy any day.
August 11th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
I wonder if the consistently better sports reporting is related to the norms accepting that there is going to be reporter bias. And similarly, allowing reporters to be vocally impressed by impressive things. News reporters have to pretend they don’t have their own opinions, and of course they fail at this.
August 11th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
Bob Costas interview with George Bush was out of bounds. I watch NBC Olympics to enjoy the “pure sports atmosphere” brought on by world athletes. If Costsas had just asked President Bush Olympic/Sports questions that revealed his views, it would have been enjoyable. BUT - to bring up “politically oriented issues” was out of bounds. Put the political on the evening news. Put them on BBC news that does a really good job of covering China “everyman style” - Costas needs to stick to the sports world. I’ll watch CBC coverage of the Olympics if NBC Olympic producers want to put their “political” foot in the “Olympic Sports door.
August 11th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Matt Taibbi said it: if the best sports reporters, trained in grilling coaches and dealing with an audience that demands specific answers, were to trade places with the best political reporters, the current crop of elected officials, regardless of party, would be forced out within a month.
To be honest, I had Costas and Bush on mute, because I cannot stand Preznit Spoilt Bastard on his Ass-Slapping Olympic Summer Camp Adventure. But Costas has shown himself a worthy interviewer of pols and non-sporting types before.
Cris Collingsworth, on the other hand, is a huge douche. That’s the difference between the jock and the reporter.
August 11th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
Costas is one of my favorites. The guy is a sports genius (or at least a good speaker)! However, he did ask a lot of questions that put Bush on the spot, many were out of bound questions. Bush rightfully condemned China about their relationship with Sundan’s leader. I did not gather any feelings that he was happy that Sudan’s leader committed genocide (like a previous post stated)? That’s just an insult to Bush. I’m sure Costas is liberal like most broadcasters and had an agenda for asking all of those questions anyway. However, Costas is a great speaker and knowledgeable about sports, except he has no clue when it comes to making MLB better. Is he crazy? I’m glad MLB went to three divisions and a wildcard for each league. It is more competitive now. Before the restructuring of baseball (prior to 1995) only a few teams had winning records, now there are twice as many each year. Why is this, because there are more playoff spots to fight for? This is good for the fans. Just think about it the teams like the Red Sox and the Marlins that have won the World Series because of the Wild Card.
August 11th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
Why do peopel always try to find some generic reason for things “Sports guys are smarter” “People want in depth sports news becasue they care more” and so on. The simple truth is that Bob Costas is very smart and very good, Olberman as well, but if you took the majority of sports reporters/commentators they’d be no better than the other hacks doing politics. You can find just as much (or more!) nonesense reporting in sports or business as you do in politics.
I also 2nd the Costas for Meet the Press, if nothing else watching Matthews et al react to getting passed over for a “Sports Guy” would be priceless:-)
August 11th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
I’m sorry, but it sounded to me like Bob Costas was trying to restart the Cold War last night and it really pissed me off.
It was all (and I’m paraphrasing hyperbolically here): “Mr President do you worry that the Olympics will legitimize the Chinese regime, who are evil and need to be condemned for their human rights abuses and hatred of liberty?” and “Mr President, what did you say to Putin when you found out that the freedom loving people of Georgia were being crushed under the heel of the resurgent Evil Empire?”
Dude- STFU. Take that shit back to the John Birch Society circa 1967 newsletter where you found it. You’re worried about the legitimacy of the Chinese government?!?!? Nixon went to China like 35 years ago! Remember? It was kindofa big deal. Say what you want about China, but the legitimacy of their government is not at issue.
A little while later he was flogging the quote from the French swimmer about crushing the US Swim Team (”Don’t you just hate the French?”). And after that I heard him pontificating that he was amazed that the Chinese didn’t boo during the Japanese or American national anthems (”cause the Chinese hate the Japanese and they also hate us, remember? Remember how we all hate each other? I’m surprised Chinese didn’t murder the Japanese team while they slept. That’d be just like those sneaky communists…”)
In a nutshell, Bob Costas spent the bulk of his airtime last night promoting global destabilization and national/racial discord. So fuck him and the tiny horse he rode in on.
August 11th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
MKD,
You told the truth. I really like Bob Costas, but he was ouit of line. Bush isnt perfect, but he should have the right to go to China and watch the Olympics. I hope China does change, I trust them more than the Russians anyday. Why would ask stupid questions like that?
August 11th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Even if I adhered to the strict demarcation between sports reporters and sports columnists (the latter of which should be fired (out of a space cannon) (into the sun) almost to the man), saying categorically that sports journos have some insightful edge over their MSM counterparts is grossly inaccurate. Sports reporters are just as easily seduced by sensationalism and moral grandstanding as anyone doing “real” news and are merely a different species of jock-sniffing hacks.
August 11th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
costas asked pointed questions that, i think, were appropriate considering all of the discussion in the states about whether or not Bush should have even been attending the games. Bush sounded intelligent for about 5 minutes - his answer to the first question hinted at some actual understanding of the complex US-China relationship. But then that stupid smirk of his got the best of him and he, per usual, spiraled down into meaningless dribble.
Costas then switched gears to talk about some pertinent sports issues like steroids and Bush couldn’t really put together a coherent answer. And this guy was a part owner of the rangers…
if costas did do a real interview show I would watch it.
August 11th, 2008 at 8:45 pm
I thought that Costas did a nice job.
Why not offer him the Meet the Press position?
NBC could do worse (like the vast majority of people that are currently on these ‘pundit’ shows)
August 12th, 2008 at 1:47 am
I think that was one of the most enlightened interviews I have seen in a long time. I would agree that the MTP position would suit Costas, but as an earlier commenter described, “Why would you want to leave the world of sports for something so frivolous.” …in an ironic twist, its very true.
August 12th, 2008 at 6:46 am
Matthew,
Do me a favor and go back and see Costas’ position on a multitude of issues….he EXTREMELY right wing. From the Iraq war to Israel’s occupation of Palestinian lands to taxes, he’s the worst thing that could ever happen to Meet The Press. Please do some homework before sounding off on how great someone sounded in ONE interview.
August 13th, 2008 at 10:12 pm
August 13th, 2008 at 10:12 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUcw_foeg3Y