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.
But all I'm saying is, what do we gain by this? We were already leading. We got another doozy out of Kerry, but we already had a lot of doozies, and all the networks are chortling this morning about how Kerry won (even though that's a lie). They wouldn't have it to chortle about at all if there hadn't been a debate. I just keep coming back to this: It's an unneccesary risk for the home team, I think, that's all. But I'm old school.
Right and Lehrer's next question referred to Kerry's previous answer several time. Of course it was just a coincidence. There was no advance knowledge exchanged.
I think Kerry did a better job of knowing how they would be asked. He would have answered "Are people dying for a mistake" better if he knew them in advance.
I AGREE 100% SKERRY WAS TOO PREPARED FOR THE QUESTIONS. HE HAD AN IDEA OF THE QUESTIONS BEFORE RESPONDING JUST BY THE LOOK ON HIS FACE AND HIS HEAD BOBING UP AND DOWN. REMEMBER IN THE BEGINNING OF THE DEBATE SKERRY SAID "I KNOW YOU ARE GOING TO DISCUSS THAT LATER" REGARDING A HOMELAND SECURITY. THAT'S A FUNNY THING TO SAY UNLESS IT'S A SLIP! BEING FROM MASS. I KNOW HOW THIS CLOWN WORKS. GWB STILL HAD A BAD NIGHT BUT THERE WILL BE OTHERS.
Yes, he wrote the questions. But when you're reading them aloud from paper, it's not hard to see how he made a simple mistake. He also noticed his mistake right away, so he didn't "get it wrong". It sounded like a simple misstatement that was corrected immediately after it came out of his mouth, so I don't get what the big deal is.
NewsMax is trying to stretch this and say that he "claimed over 10,000 soldiers died", when he said "10,052 - excuse me, 1,052." I noticed the mistake, but thought nothing of it. It happens.
I could have sworn at the end of the debate that Lehrer did wink at Kerry, at first I thought I was seeing things but it was caught right on camera.
"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."
Not buying that. A sixth grader can read a four-digit number easily, and so can Lehrer. Just plant a little seed that some people will glom on to.
I saw that! It happened at the end, he waited until Theresa had come up on stage so he could congratulate them both (Thereas + Lurch) and, then, as he walked off the stage, Kerry told him thanks and Leher winked at him!
When you are as liberal as these guys you don't know what biased is, it skews your brain.
Oh please. Really grasping at straws here to blame someone for last night. If the Twins lose, I can say they lost without needing to justify it. No need to dwell on it for longer than a few minutes before it's time to start thinking about the next game.
Go read a chapter of your favorite book, and see if you read every word precisely.
Bingo! I'm with you. Lehrer is way too old to have been dumbed down by the social rejects of the NEA.
Funny how these "innocent" mistakes never go the other way.
That last sentence said it all. Get rid of Lehrer.
Go write down 20 questions. Come back two days later and see if you read them all precisely.
Seriously people, get a grip. This is like football fans crying that the refs jobbed them after a loss. Pathetic, and not up to FR standards. We're better than this.
Yes, and yes! I think the same thing. He was too ready with alot of information at his manicured fingertips.
Lehrer's politics couldn't be more obvious if he was wearing a Kerry/Edwards tee shirt. The guy is a lefty as are all of his pals on PBS.
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