Weekend Watchdog Wrap-Up

The Sunday shows go 0-for-3 for the Watchdog, as the obsession with the Democratic Rules and Bylaws Committee largely pushed out coverage of issues.

No Clinton or Obama surrogate was asked about the upcoming vote on the Lieberman-Warner global warming bill, major legislation on a critical issue that will likely play a role in the general election campaign.

Accountability for pundits continues to be nonexistent. New York Times columnist David Brooks was not asked on ABC's This Week to back up his charge that an Obama administration would be "surrounded" by "interest groups [who] just want to take the money and patronage that has been going to Republican special interests and give it to Democratic special interests."

Finally, Scott McClellan spent much of his Meet The Press interview facing questions about his personal character, instead of questions that would help viewers take away lessons from his time in the White House, such as questions exploring his confirmations that the Iraq war was sold to the public with "propaganda."

Of course, it is appropriate to ask McClellan about the sincerity of his motivations, following his shift from Bush administration advocate to critic. But the interview was far more about the Sunday shows' interest in personal "gotcha" politics than in exploration of issues.

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