Live Blogging the Petraeus/Crocker Hearings

Well, I didn’t do it, that’s for sure. Even if I wasn’t working, I’m not sure how much more of the neocon-job I can take anymore.

Both Tom Ricks from the Washington Post and Spencer Ackerman at the Washington Independent did live-blog today’s hearings (Ricks will be doing so tomorrow too). Ricks was in the hearing rooms (taking comments too!) and Ackerman saw it all on CSPAN. I just read through both of them and they are certainly more information rich than the evening (NPR) news (the Ackerman is out-right funny in places). Neither is a real replacement for reporting, I think, but as a replacement for watching several hours of this stuff and knowing what generally happened certainly helps to see how the traditional media creates its narrative.

The Presidential candidates seem to be acquitting themselves well (although McCain — predictably now — loses the details when talking of the affiliation of AQ in Iraq) and their input (as well as the media focus) is a welcome change from the usual campaign trail horserace. Joe Biden as Chairman of Foreign Services Committee evidently did really well — getting Crocker to admit that Afghanistan is probably the better focus area AND reminding Petraeus and Crocker that they cannot bind the next President’s hands in this thing without coming to Congress first.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YqrAfSpn28[/youtube]

Here is Tom Ricks’ liveblogging. (Note: you need to scroll almost to the end of the page to get the first post. Each post has navigation at the end that will get you to the next one.) He was pretty effective at it too — he had an interesting summary of the questions, the mood, and the responses of all of the parties at the Senate Hearings. Ricks is the author of a tough-minded book that recounts the history of the Iraq war from early planning to the insurgency. He admits that he is abit out of his depth in a Congressional hearing room, but he does a fine job.

Highlights:
Petraeus still punts on the question “Are we safer?”
Lieberman still off his meds.
This is simply an excellent post title
Hillary wants more detail on why no withdrawals
Obama asks what a successful end would look like

Spencer Ackerman is a younger reporter largely focusing on the national security beat and used to the at TNR. Now he is reporting for the Washington Independent and he liveblogged the hearings too. Unfortunately, the posts here are abit hard to navigate. Ackerman provided some interesting detail (including providing some comment on each of the Senators who spoke) that Ricks did not and the tone is definitely more irreverent (titles here mostly not mine):

McCain still can’t keep the details straight
Webb Ice-Grills Petraeus
Biden Punks Crocker
Lugar: You Can’t Tread Water
George Voinovich is Also Insane

Are any of you watching this? What are these guys not asking that you want to know?