A while back there was this blog on Electrolite discussing the difference between American and British journalists (though the blog's author denied it was really about this at all...um). Anyway, the interview in question was between Donald Rumsfeld and a British journalist named David Dimbleby.

Here's a link to that interview.

On Electrolite, I disagreed with the gross generalization that American journalists are "cowed" or are somehow all basically puppets for the current administration (this is patent nonsense to anyone who reads/views even a modest sampling of American news media). And I mentioned Tim Russert as a decent example of a journalist who asked reasonably tough, reasonably fair questions to high-ranking government officials.

Anyway, Donald Rumsfeld was on NBC's Meet the Press last Sunday, and here's a link to that interview. Russert wasn't as bombastic as Dimbleby, but I didn't think he tossed a basketful of softballs Rumsfeld's way, either.

But I leave it to you, if you're interested, to read some or all of both interviews and tell me if our journalists need to emulate the Brits, and just how Russert in particular and/or American journalism in general is overly incompetent or boot-licking.