Liberal journalists (wait a minute; I thought that there was no liberal bias in the press?) are upset with the moderators of the recent Democrat Debate because of the questions that the candidates were asked during the first hour. So upset, they’ve decided to write a letter:

We, the undersigned, deplore the conduct of ABC’s George Stephanopoulos and Charles Gibson at the Democratic Presidential debate on April 16. The debate was a revolting descent into tabloid journalism and a gross disservice to Americans concerned about the great issues facing the nation and the world. This is not the first Democratic or Republican presidential debate to emphasize gotcha questions over real discussion. However, it is, so far, the worst.

For 53 minutes, we heard no question about public policy from either moderator. ABC seemed less interested in provoking serious discussion than in trying to generate cheap shot sound-bites for later rebroadcast. The questions asked by Mr. Stephanopoulos and Mr. Gibson were a disgrace, and the subsequent attempts to justify them by claiming that they reflect citizens’ interest are an insult to the intelligence of those citizens and ABC’s viewers. Many thousands of those viewers have already written to ABC to express their outrage.

So, basically, these guys are upset that journalists, who have been feeding the public story after story about the battle between Obama and Clinton, asked questions about that battle. They would rather of had questions asked about their proposed policies, regardless of the fact that the two candidates’ proposals are almost identical. I can see it now:

Mr. Gibson: Senator Obama, how do you propose that the healthcare system in America be reformed?

Senator Obama: Well Charlie, I believe that healthcare is a right, not a privilege, and that right ought to be paid for by the wealthy. So, I plan on enacting tax legislation which will just totally soak anyone who makes more than I think they should, and then take that money and give it to the government so that it can be wasted by the new National Health Service I’m going to start. Then everyone can hope that a doctor will see them prior to their untimely demise.

Mr. Gibson: Thank you, Senator. Senator Clinton, what will you propose?

Senator Clinton: Well Charlie, I also believe that healthcare is a right, not a privilege, and that that right ought to be paid for by the wealthy. So, I plan on enacting tax legislation which will just totally soak anyone who makes more than I think they should, and then take that money and give it to the government so that it can be wasted by the new National Health Service I’m going to start. Also, I’m going to take money out of everyone’s paycheck to help pay for this. Remember, everyone must pay into this whether or not they want it, or they’re going to jail. And I’ll be ready on day one to start confiscating everyone’s money for this.

Mr. Gibson: Thank you Senator.

You get the idea; Snorefest 2008.

I don’t think that there is any question about the political leanings of the moderators which ABC chose for this debate. Certainly Stephanopoulos is a staunch Democrat. Yet, according to these guys, their performance was an absolute disgrace. Maybe they feel like they have been betrayed by fellow liberals?

I’m in the process of reading a book by Ari Fleischer called Taking Heat: The President, The Press, and My Years in the White House, and he makes a real good point about journalists. Basically, while journalists tend to be tilted to the left, what they really want is conflict; conflict between the Congress and the President, conflict between two members of Congress, conflict between the President and a member of his staff. They don’t really care which party is taking the heat, they just want a good, long, knock-down, drag-out fight. If they happen to catch someone in a lie (or as recently termed, “misstatement”), it’s the motherlode, and the cable news channels (including Fox News, they’re no different) go wall-to-wall with the same 10 seconds of video, the same 30 second sound byte, and the same information for the next 24 to 48 hours. Have you ever heard the song by Don Henley called Dirty Laundry?

Dirty little secrets
Dirty little lies
We got our dirty little fingers in everybodys pie
We love to cut you down to size
We love dirty laundry

We can do the innuendo
We can dance and sing
When its said and done we havent told you a thing
We all know that crap is king
Give us dirty laundry!

That’s right; all the media wants is dirty laundry, and it looks like Obama and Clinton got taken to the cleaners. The part of this which makes your head explode is that the people complaining are the same people who have been doing this for several decades. Can you say, “Hypocrite”? I knew that you could.

None of what I said here is a secret. If you want to know who to blame for the poor performances of the two candidates, you need look no further than their campaign staffers who failed to prepare them properly. If they thought that all they were going to be asked were basic policy questions after the events of the past two months, then both of these two people are too STUPID to be elected President.

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This entry was posted on Friday, April 18th, 2008 at 4:32 pm by Nick, and is filed under 2008 Election, Journalism, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.