I know something of 60 Minutes. I’ve been through the hours of interviews and have talked to a team of producers, and have watched myself on air after edits and splices and with a voice over. It is an odd experience. In mine, however, it was done well. I had my quibbles but the piece was fair. John and Elizabeth Edwards didn’t have the same experience. Last night, Katie Couric and her producing team assaulted John and Elizabeth Edwards.

That Couric asked the Edwardses question after question about how Elizabeth’s health would impact Sen. Edwards’ candidacy isn’t surprising. In a 60 Minutes interview that lasts at least two hours (for about 11 minutes of video) similar questions get asked because the producing team wants to make sure a point is hit. What was amazing about last night, however, was that Couric put all of those questions on camera. This wasn’t a thoughtful interview, this was a vain assault on John and Elizabeth Edwards by a woman either trying to become a hatchet journalist or living out the pain of her own husband’s death from cancer some years ago. Either way, it was bad journalism.