Posted on 10/14/2004 8:25:33 AM PDT by xsysmgr
Bob Schieffer was easily the worst moderator of the four selected by the Commission on Presidential Debates, the one who most clearly favored John Kerry. This might not be surprising — after all, CBS has emerged this year as the network favoring John Kerry to the point of spreading forged documents across the country to paint Bush as a man who defied orders.
The spin was apparent from the first question, when Schieffer asked, "Will our children and grandchildren ever live in a world as safe and secure as the world in which we grew up?" This echoes the Kerry back-to-normalcy theme, that we should have less terror over terror. A week ago, Gwen Ifill jumped on the latest war news, Paul Bremer's saying that more troops were needed in Iraq. Schieffer failed to press Kerry on the most recent controversy over his statement that terrorism should be a "nuisance," like prostitution and gambling. He also failed to ask about John Edwards's suggesting people in wheelchairs would walk if Kerry and Edwards were elected.
With Bush, Schieffer seemed eager to push him into extreme-right territory, demanding he answer whether he wants to overturn Roe vs. Wade, and then asking why he "did nothing" as the assault-weapons ban expired. He asked Bush what he would say to an American whose job was just outsourced to another country. Schieffer's questions were laced with liberal terminology, from "a woman's right to choose" to "affirmative action."
Two questions stood out as the most biased to Kerry last night. The first was on the draft issue, a strange choice for a domestic-policy debate. Schieffer asked: "Senator, the last debate, President Bush said he did not favor a draft. You agreed with him. But our National Guard and Reserve forces are being severely strained because many of them are being held beyond their enlistments. Some of them say that it's a back-door draft. Is there any relief that could be offered to these brave Americans and their families?"
"Some of them" say it's a backdoor draft? John Kerry has been saying it's a backdoor draft all year. Schieffer wasn't so much asking Kerry a question as reading his campaign brochure to him.
The other read-the-brochure question came just minutes before: "The gap between rich and poor is growing wider. More people are dropping into poverty. Yet the minimum wage has been stuck at, what, $5.15 an hour now for about seven years. Is it time to raise it?" Schieffer only failed in utterly servile liberal bias by not asking "isn't it time" to raise the minimum wage?
Schieffer did ask two tougher questions about what President Kerry would do: How would he pay for his "massive" health-care plan, and would he just leave Social Security alone and kick the can of reform down the path? But the real bias in Schieffer's questions came in how they emphasized every bad-news assumption, suggesting that the country is going in the wrong direction under President Bush. Reread the previous paragraph to see how rich and poor are dividing and more people are dropping into poverty.
Take this fairly tough question to Kerry, suffused with assumptions about "skyrocketing" inflation: "You pledged during the last debate that you would not raise taxes on those making less than $200,000 a year. But the price of everything is going up, and we all know it. Health care costs, as you all talking about, is skyrocketing, the cost of the war. My question is, how can you or any president, whoever is elected next time, keep that pledge without running this country deeper into debt and passing on more of the bills that we're running up to our children?"
One question to Bush did the same: "Health-insurance costs have risen over 36 percent over the last four years according to the Washington Post. We're paying more. We're getting less." His next question to Bush was, "We all know that Social Security is running out of money, and it has to be fixed." Even the flu-shot question underlined the bad news. Schieffer couldn't imagine asking a question about anything positive happening during the Dubya Era that John Kerry might reverse if elected.
Even when pressing Kerry on the question of Catholic bishops, Schieffer went soft: "Some Catholic archbishops are telling their church members that it would be a sin to vote for a candidate like you because you support a woman's right to choose an abortion and unlimited stem-cell research. What is your reaction to that?" Whereas Schieffer challenged that Bush had "done nothing" on furthering gun control, Schieffer didn't ask why Senator Kerry has "done nothing" to defend the culture of life his church seeks to create and uphold. It would have been better to ask Kerry whether he had considered leaving the Catholic Church for a more hospitable environment for his permissive, abortion-on-demand worldview.
If John Kerry wins this election, the media elite will declare that the debates were the turning point. Then, it will be up to Republicans to explain to their supporters why they took the debate-moderator question so unseriously, and why they allowed themselves to be placed at a competitive disadvantage by letting liberal moderators set the agenda. Bob Schieffer surely underlined the need for more Republican spine on this negotiating point. Dan Rather must have watched his friend spin the debate toward Kerry and smiled.
— Tim Graham is director of media analysis at the Media Research Center and an NRO contributor.
Those who completely reject NRO's charge of bias are just wrong. At the same time, Schieffer comes off to me as a likable sincere guy with an impeccable, if misguided, sense of fairness. For all their intelligence, the carriers of liberal bias in the media just don't quite get it.
>>> Some won't be happy until the likes of Hannity or Rush are moderating.
I would be delighted. That would equal out the Lehrer factor. But I do agree that Schieffer was the best of a sorry lot.
Ah yes, the "Doomsday Clock", always at 5-minutes before mid-night up until the wall came down.....
Actually lothor... Schieffer blushed like a schoolgirl losing her bloomers while awaiting Kerry's response. He acted like a giddy old queer.
I thought all the debates, including the VP debate, were "fair" enough except for the first one. Lehrer's bias and dislike of Bush was obvious in that one.
I thought last night was another win for Bush. He is in line with the majority of Americans on the issues of taxes, abortion, and gay marriage. In the war on terror, he has strengthend defenses at home, and he is on the offensive abroad. He has made major changes to improve education by holding schools accountable so that people are not handed a diploma they can barely read. Seniors will pay less for prescription drugs. 1000 border patrol personel have been added. He has been tougher on criminals.
These are just some of the things President Bush has done in his first 4 years in the Whitehouse. I think some Amerians were shocked to find we had elected a President who actually says what he means, and does something about it.
Compare this to sKerry's pitiful 20 year record in the Senate. John Kerry has been on the wrong side of America all his life.
The choice is clear. George W. Bush should be reelected.
Some people wouldnt be happy with Scheiffer unless he had asked Kerry if thought his betrayal of the US during his anti-war days was a hindrance to his election or some other such question which was never going to be asked. I thought Bob was quite even handed. He certainly didnt hand Bush any questions that he couldnt handle. Face it when you are an incumbant, you have a record to defend.
Talk about being out of touch. More people are going to die from the flu this year than died in combat or from terrorism since the end of the Vietnam war. Deaths from the flu generally run about 25,000 a year in the US. If those who are most at risk of complications from the flu, the elderly, those with chronic conditions, and those health care workers who work with them are not vacinated, then even more are likely to die. The women in the audience who bear primary responsibility for the taking care of their parents Im sure didnt think it was lame.
The back-door draft is not that crazy an idea. Its certainly debatable whether its occuring and how to avoid it. People who signed up for the Reserves didnt sign up for full time duty on a never ending basis. Its not quite a draft now but sometime next year it might be if we cant cut our troop levels.
I am well over 40 and I have never known nor heard about anybody I ever met in my life dying from the flu. Have you?
Very important for the presidential domestic debate. Yet not one question about energy, not one. My gosh why are these Dem schills deciding the questions? Activism needed before 2008 by Repubs to demand better for the people.
YES! I saw that...he giggled like a little school girl.
No media bias though...nope..not a bit.
Out of touch?
hardly but could we have a little perspective, please...
According to the US Office of Smoking and Health report of April 12, 2002, on average, over the last six years, 440,000 Americans have died per year from Tobacco.
The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Database 2/12/01, 111,000 of us die from booze each and every year.
17,000 are killed each year and another 17,000 die from drugs (legal and illegal) Then there is the Department of Labor report that states we lose 6,000 in accidents at the workplace.
But the flu???
Sure it's a concern but I would rather Scheiffer had asked Kerry when he was going to sign his "180" release of his military/medical records.
BTW`two sure ways to insure you don't get the flu is to constantly wash your hands and don't get a flu shot! LOL
Something that got my attention from the debate was Kerry stating how during 9/11 the politicians were AMERICANS and not DEM or REPUB. Everyone was united.
Then he states that now President Bush is presiding over the most partisan government every imagined in the entire universe.
Well, I have a story that explains this well.
It is the story about the about the old married couple, riding along in the car on a Sunday after church.
The wife, sitting there looking out her window, turns to her husband of many years, and says,"You know, I remember when we used to take drives like this, and you and I sat right next to each other. It was so romantic, and I miss that. Now we sit far apart"
Her husband turns and looks at his wife, and says, "I'm not the one who moved."
President Bush stated his goals, his objectives, his methods, right after 9/11 and he has not swayed ONE SINGLE BIT from what he promised he would do.
SO WHO MOVED????? sinator Kerry,,,, who moved.
I remember those days! We had drills for "Duck and Cover!". Good 'ol Days ,yeah! Grade schoolers diving under their desks in case of nuclear attack. In the mean time the flower children were playing jump from the tallest biulding high on LSD, they thought they could fly. Now they want to run the country. I think they had too many bad trips. Somebody ought to pose that question to Kerry.
Senator, do you still have flashbacks from your LSD days? It sure looks like it to us! How else can you explain you and your VP candidates rediculous claims?
Sounds like an exceptional idea to me! It's about time the shoe was placed on the other foot. These guys have been given a pass for the most part. I'd love to see 'em squirm when confronted by Rush or Hannity. I'd pay real money for that! Now that's entertainment!
No but then I know very few people who have died of any cause. Are you suggesting that the CDC is inventing 25,000 deaths a year just to scare us? Every bad flu season you see tons of old folks getting wheeled around on gurneys in hospitals and emergency rooms packed. Are these all just stunts on the part of the MSM to inflate their ratings? Whats your point?
According to your standards a nuclear bomb set off in a small city would be no big deal. After all you have to have a "little perspective"...after all everyone is going to die someday of something. 1100 American deaths in Iraq. No big deal they signed up for it.
It may not be possible to get someone completely neutral. The only person who I have never detected a right or left slant is Brian Lamb. I've watched him a lot over the years and the debates commission seems to have blackballed him.
That said, even if Lehrer, Gibson and Schieffer are going to pull the Kerry lever, I think they are like umpires at a World Series game. Their main concern has to be not screwing things up and trying to be fair for historical purposes. Besides, any perceived bias in the wording of a question can easily be overcome by either candidate. They pretty much can answer the question they would like to have been asked.
In the future I hope the Debates Commission continues with the "one" moderator format. It's the only way to make the debates about the candidates and not the questioner. Oh, and they better pick Brian Lamb next time.
"...Bob Schieffer did an outstanding job. Bob reperesents the only shred of credibility CBS has left, and if I was him I would go get a raise, a BIG raise, right now."
Sorry, I haven't read the original post. But I have to chime in here and say Bob did a very good job. He treated both sides pretty fairly.
-- Joe
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