So, forgive me if I spend a second missing the bygone days of 60 Minutes - Rather, Reasoner, Bob Simon - guys like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah - they still had agendas, but plenty of the show was worth watching, the production values were top-notch, and, honestly, some episodes were downright poetic.
Some were hilarious.
It was a good mix.
It's pretty much "never watch TV" now, particularly with the tongue baths they dole out for Democratic candidates while doing their best to bury Republican ones, whom they make no bones about openly despising. "Correspondents" like Leslie Stahl can't even be bothered to hide their disgust in the presence of Donald Trump and others, jumping in at the first opportunity they sense a weakness or opening to "fact check," chide or deride the assertions of the person they're ostensively interviewing.
What the heck - why even bother?
This is how Kamala Harris comes to be on the show tonight, and Donald Trump is not. The caché of the formerly august program of the past still in their heads, CBS had issued invitations (what in years past would have been considered basically royal summonses) to both presidential candidates, and Harris said okey-doke.
(Seriously, she kind of had to after doing the sit-down with the naughty girls John wrote about earlier.)
Trump, on the other hand, told them they could blow their little tête-à-tête out their asterisks unless he got a correction and apology for Stahl's sandbagging him on Hunter Biden's personal laptop four years ago.
BREAKING: Trump just conducted a vicious TAKEDOWN of 60 Minutes, saying he'll only do their interview if they APOLOGIZE for lying about Hunter Biden's laptop
— George (@BehizyTweets) October 1, 2024
"They said the laptop from hell was from Russia. And I said it wasn't from Russia, it was from Hunter. And I never got an… pic.twitter.com/f1pD9bcXr5
..."They said the laptop from hell was from Russia. And I said it wasn't from Russia, it was from Hunter. And I never got an apology. So I'm sort of waiting."
Stahl was persnickety and rude, Trump was entirely right, and there's never been an acknowledgment or "sorry about that" from the network or the over-confident, snarling blonde interrogator.
60 Minutes will be busy doing a little clean-up work about this whole "No Trump" snafu in the broadcast. I am curious to see what comes from that.
Kamala Harris is set to make an appearance on "60 Minutes" Monday night with about a month to go until Election Day.
Paramount said in a news release on Friday that correspondent Bill Whitaker was joining the Democratic nominees on the campaign trail for "in-depth interviews" with Vice President Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to "gain insight into their platform's priorities and values," and what they believe the voters should know.
Meanwhile, "60 Minutes" journalist Scott Pelley will address why the Republican ticket of former President Donald Trump and Sen. JD Vance will not be participating in a "60 Minutes" interview for this election special, the network announced.
According to CBS, Trump had previously agreed to be on the show but reversed course and decided not to participate. Pelley will instead travel to Maricopa County, Arizona to speak with the county's election leadership and hear from their critics as the election approaches.
But it doesn't bode well, as Pelley is off to Arizona to chitchat with election officials in Maricopa County, who have traditionally had a multitude of well-documented problems counting votes - hell, even letting voters vote to begin with - so I do see a possible Trump hit piece coming there. But I'll not cast aspersions just yet.
In the meantime, Bill Whitaker is the lucky guy who got to sit down with our word salad expert, and this is where the random act of journalism came in. More astonishing, CBS is using it in the promo for the election special!
It makes me wonder if this thing is a complete trainwreck, or this is just an awful tease - like something that gives you hope in a Star Wars trailer - when, in reality, they've chopped the interview to edited bits to make her rational.
Watch. And wince.
CBS calls Kamala out on her fantasy economic plan to raise taxes in order to pay for her woke agenda.
— Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) October 7, 2024
CBS say, “We’re dealing with the real world here.”
Kamala gets visibly flustered and becomes unhinged.pic.twitter.com/guQrwMKlNJ
Whitaker's "Whuh whuh whuh...?" and facial expressions are hilarious.
CBS had already let this one slip out this weekend, and it's a scream.
60 minutes: The Middle East is a mess and no one is listening to your administration
— Ari Hoffman (@thehoffather) October 6, 2024
Kamala: We have done the work pic.twitter.com/SIDbBHlC32
The longer segment here, where Whitaker asks her, "Why does it seem like Netanyahu is blowing you off?" is equally damning.
MONDAY: On a @60Minutes election special, Bill Whitaker asks Vice President Kamala Harris if the U.S. lacks influence over American ally Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) October 6, 2024
Watch a preview: pic.twitter.com/ZllFRDOu56
And through the whole of all of the clips, ignoring her blithering answers, she looks absolutely terrified, doesn't she?
She is tense as a bowstring, and her facial expressions are painful.
I half expected to see smoke wafting out her ears from the gears grinding, and these are just a few-second clips.
GOOD LORD
Ed had a great post on Friday about a disastrous interview Harris did with a bubbly, kindly older local Phlly (I think) newsman, and she blew it so badly. I guess the damage from that could be contained to the local market and X, plus sites like ours.
But, yo - this is 60 Minutes in prime time, who look to be reaching up to get a little of their old mojo back.
Definitely, no "Dana Bash slobbering over Harris while her security Shrek nods like a bobblehead beside her" vibes at all.
This could be bad...in a good way.
BEEGE UPDATE: Oh, HOLY SMOKES.
When Kamala's bad, she's very, VERY B-A-D.
Kamala is asked why she has completely flipped her position on many important issues: the border, fracking, Medicare for all. She responds with a total word salad. This 60 Minutes interview is a disaster: pic.twitter.com/q2QjlbLxhJ
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) October 8, 2024
This is the killer.
🚨Wow. 60 Minutes mildly pressed Kamala Harris on why she opened the southern border and then waited 3.5 years to reverse course, and she completely melted down in response. Kamala is not ready for primetime:
— Steve Cortes (@CortesSteve) October 8, 2024
60 Minutes: "You recently visited the southern border and-- embraced… pic.twitter.com/gubfXDraMD
WOOF.
The interview was SO bad that Fox had Watters do a breaking news segment on it.
BREAKING: @KamalaHarris completely bombed her @60Minutes interview. pic.twitter.com/bobYxIEH1G
— Jesse Watters (@JesseBWatters) October 8, 2024
Kudos to Whitaker for not letting her slide on any of these questions.
I guessed he grilled Walz, too, but after this?
Who cares? Everyone knows Tampon Tim's a lying doofus.
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