Hardball actually does real reporting... confronts neo-con Fouad Ajami with the errors and fallacies of his previous report...

Of course part of the reason this clip from a Hardball episode is so compelling - an American media professional doing what they we would expect a professional to do, confront an expert or commentator about the errors and fallacies of his (or her) previous report - is because it is not hosted by Chris Mathews, who saves his outrage for stories about Bill Clinton's sex- and social life, or about the manly virtues of Republicans banging the drums for war...
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Now that's Hardball.
by Joshua Micah Marshall
7-7-07
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/015041.php

A month ago, Fouad Ajami, a prominent neocon at Johns Hopkins, wrote a bizarre op-ed for the Wall Street Journal in Scooter Libby's defense. "In 'The Soldier's Creed,'" Ajami wrote, "there is a particularly compelling principle: 'I will never leave a fallen comrade.' ... [Libby] can't be left behind as a casualty of a war our country had once proudly claimed as its own."

Yesterday, David Shuster, guest hosting MSNBC's Hardball, took Ajami to task for comparing Libby to American troops.



Ideally, this should be routine. A marginal neocon appeared on MSNBC to talk about a column he wrote a month ago. A professional broadcaster, who knew what he was talking about, pointed out the guest's errors of fact and judgment for the benefit of the television audience. At the risk of sounding ridiculous, this is what TV shows are supposed to do.

But exchanges like the one between Shuster and Ajami are so rare, that some of us see them and can barely contain our excitement. What should be routine has become extraordinary. Digby said the segment made her "almost feel like the world is setting itself back on its axis -- at least for today."

I suspect that conservatives would find all of this rather odd. Far-right TV personalities spout off conservative ideas on the air every day; why would the left get so excited about one on-air smackdown?

It's because we're left with a media environment in which segments like Shuster's are the exception to the rule. The "no liberals on the teevee" directive is usually pretty unshakable.