Those headlines would do if senators McCain, Clinton, and Obama had led the questioning. The coverage offered no evidence that they did. The Tribune article (top story in the Wednesday paper) offered details on a “complex, often indirect discussion” between Petraeus and the three senators who seek the White House. Note the verbs employed: “. . . said McCain. . . . McCain’s assertion. . . . she said. . . . Clinton said. . . . Obama acknowledged. . . . Obama told Crocker. . . . McCain said. . . . Clinton argued. . . . Obama contended. . . . Obama also suggested. . . . McCain said…”
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Eventually I found something wonderful on the Times Web site — video links to and full transcripts of the interrogations of all three senators. Give them credit. McCain gave a nine-minute statement in which he praised Patraeus and Crocker to the heavens, but then he settled into seven minutes and 40 seconds of innocuous questioning. Clinton spoke of her reservations about the war for four minutes and 38 seconds and then asked questions for another eight and a half minutes. As for Obama, he plunged right into his Q & A. After five minutes he called it off, asked the chair’s indulgence, and for the next eight minutes and 16 seconds made a “couple of key points” about Iraq that demonstrated how troubled he is. At one point he even posed a question to Crocker, though he allowed that “maybe it’s a rhetorical question” and told the ambassador “you don’t necessarily have to answer it.”
