Posted on 10/01/2004 12:31:54 PM PDT by yoe
PBS host Jim Lehrer was challenged Friday morning on claims that he went easy on Sen. John Kerry during Thursday night's presidential debate, while tossing verbal hand grenades in President Bush's direction designed to keep him on the defensive.
PBS host Jim Lehrer was challenged Friday morning on claims that he went easy on Sen. John Kerry during Thursday night's presidential debate, while tossing verbal hand grenades in President Bush's direction designed to keep him on the defensive.
"I don't know what in the world you're talking about," Lehrer told radio host Don Imus, in his only post-debate interview.
"I would argue that my questions were right down the middle. There were some hardball questions for each candidate. There were some softball questions for each candidate. But for the most part they were just terrific."
The bias complaint, said Lehrer, was more of a commentary on his critics than a valid criticism of his own debate performance.
Still, some observers noted that Lehrer's questions largely focused on negative aspects of Bush's decision to go to war in Iraq - while avoiding Sen. Kerry's waffling on the issue, not to mention the top Democrat's long record of opposing measures to strengthen U.S. intelligence and national security.
At one point Lehrer claimed that over ten thousand U.S. soldiers had been killed in Iraq, before quickly revising that number to 1,052.
At the end of the debate, the PBS anchorman shook Sen. Kerry's hand - with some debate watchers claiming he gave the top Democrat a knowing wink.
In 1999, the president of Lehrer's network had to resign after admitting that 53 PBS affiliates had been sharing their donor lists with the Democratic National Committee for years.
In 1997, then-White House aide George Stephanopoulos revealed that President Clinton's reelection team thought it was a major coup when Lehrer was chosen to host one of the presidential debates, boasting that "our moderator" had been picked.
If elected, Kerry probably wouldn,t take his eye off the ball. Then as now he would be too busy keeping his playboy eye on the foot ball, the base ball, the tennis ball, the paddle ball, the hand ball, the bowling ball, the golf ball, the eight ball, the soccer ball, the Belles of the ball, rather than wastinh his time doing his job.
I wonder if Kerry will ever be asked this question: "Sen. Kerry.. what is your explanation for not sponsoring one piece of legislation during 20 years as a Senator?"
Ooops, sorry about the double posting.
Come on, he never "claimed" that 10,052 soldiers had died in Iraq. It was a simple misstatement that he corrected IMMEDIATELY. It's easy to see that he thought there was an extra 0 in there when he read the question.
Talk about your overreactions. Why are we blaming the moderator for what happened last night?
Sounded like an intentional slip to me too.
I will go a step further, I think Kerry had the questions before hand.
10 posted on 10/01/2004 12:41:17 PM PDT by stockpirate
Judging from the way he responded, I will gurantee you that he did.
Basicially all that was was a 90 minute camaign speech by John Kerry.
well, um, well, that would make flipper look real bad and heaven forbid we'd want flipper to look worse than he already does, besides, Lehrer was probably terrified that the drugged out T-Tazor would stand up and start screaming "shove it shove it shove it"!
And Lehrer knew his what his responses were going to be.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1232761/posts
LEHRER: New question, two minutes, Senator Kerry.{Referring back to Kerry's comments}
"Colossal misjudgments." What colossal misjudgments, in your opinion, has President Bush made in these areas?
Complaining the Lehrer asked biased anti-Bush questions is like grumping at a dog for peeing on a fire hydrant. Surely, you are not surprised by the actions of either!
I agree 100 percent with your comments, how come the media hasn't been yakking about that? never mind, I already know the answer! BUSH STILL ROCKS!
Reference your post # 17.
Good assessment.
Well, considering he WROTE the questions, that seems a stretch. Besides, the way the magic number 1000 has been bandied about by his peers, it also seems a stretch that he would have gotten it wrong.
The most striking aspect of this elitist bubble of anti-American central command culture is how those inside the bubble not only don't know, they don't know that they don't know. They will be the last to know.
Didn't he sponsor the "Jane Fonda Patriotism Through Protest" bill? Or was that just one of my bad dreams? Hmm.. my mind might be getting a little too nuanced for its own good. :)
this article is full of crap (as with most newsmax articles). I was listening to Imus this morning when Leher was on, no way was he defensive.
"I don't know what in the world you're talking about," Dan Rather told television viewers, "I would argue that those documents were entirely credible. There are some problems with them. There are some issues about forgery. But for the most part they were just plain-old accurate."
Kerry's answer's seemed to fit seamlessly into what Lehrer's next question was going to be.
Perhaps. But I like viewing the world through Carl-colored glasses. ;^)
That ad is truly sensational!!! I highly recommend it to everyone!
I wouldn't worry if I were Lehrer. This debate will be a two day story...nothing memorable.
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