"Softball Questions and No Follow-up" -- how did the interviewer act (60_MINUTES August 12, 2012)

from POLITICO dot-com (Dylan Byers) media analysis of Veteran Washington Bureau Chief (CBS NEWS):

Mitt Romney rarely ventures into the network television interview. When he does, he chooses the safest option on the table: Bob Schieffer.

For the second time this cycle, Romney has given an exclusive, in-person interview to the CBS anchor and Face The Nation host, and once again Schieffer has rewarded Romney -- and in this case, his running mate Paul Ryan -- with softball questions and no follow-ups.

Sunday's 60 Minutes interview (first segment only: August 12) was Romney and Ryan's very first joint television interview -- a landmark moment for any television personality. And yet Schieffer went easy. For one, he never asked either Romney or Ryan how the Ryan budget would impact American citizens.

Though he asked Ryan how many years of Federal Tax Returns he had given to the Romney campaign staff during the vetting process, he didn't press Ryan on the obvious discrepancy of providing "several" years of tax returns to Romney and only "two" to the American people. At one point, Schieffer told Ryan he was "going to put you on the spot" (an unnecessary warning), then simply asked, "Did you think he's been too defensive about Bain Capital?"

Such omissions epitomized an interview in which the guests were allowed to answer simple questions without fear of the interjection. . .

. . . the Romney campaign cancelled this weekend's interview with PBS Newshour's Gwen Ifill, and did Schieffer (60 Minutes contributor) instead.