John Gibson takes the Wood to Michael Meehan over Bolton nomination
Reported by Chrish - April 20, 2005
On The Big Story 4/19 a bi-partisan discussion of John Bolton's nomination proceedings quickly turned into a Hannity-like free-for-all, where Michael Meehan did an admirable job of speaking his piece despite the din. By the end of the "conversation" John Gibson had lost control and Genevieve Wood was rapid-firing the same irrelevant question at Meehan a la Hannity.
Republican strategist Genevieve Wood interrupted and heckled Michael Meehan at least ten times, twice calling his remarks ridiculous and five times, five times demanding of Meehan "what has he (Bolton) not done?" while Meehan was attempting to answer the question posed by the "moderator" John Gibson. Gibson himself completely interrupted Meehan twice, with "wait, wait, wait" and "Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael..."cutting him off mid-answer. The net effect was a choppy and largely unintelligible explanantion of the Democrat side of the argument against Bolton.
Wood also accused the Democrats of trying to "obstruct justice" as they make their opposition to some of Bush's nominations known. Meehan did manage to say that the Democrats on the committee were ready to vote today and it was the Republicans who postponed it because several Republican Senators need more time to research Bolton's qualifications and allegations about his past behavior.
Comment: With both Gibson and Wood challenging and interrogating and interrupting, it's amazing Meehan made any points at all. Gibson made no pretense of considering the Democrat viewpoint.
