Bias? A look at this year’s Presidential and Vice Presidential Debate Moderators

Posted September 20th, 2008 under Headlines Tags: bias, brokaw, debates, ifill, lehrer, liberal, presidential, schieffer

With the first Presidential debate less than 1 week away, a look at the moderators.

First Presidential Debate

September 26 at the University of Mississippi
Moderator:  Jim Lehrer

FLASHBACK: After receiving a slew of complaints from liberal media watchdog groups, ‘The Newshour with Jim Lehrer’ banned conservative radio talk show host and Move America Forward chairman Melanie Morgan for being “rude.”

PBS’ Michael Getler: Since the program is produced live, we can’t do much to eliminate rude guests from your television screen once the segment has begun; what we can do is guarantee you will never see that person on our program again.

This made Morgan the first publicly banned guest in the 33 year history of ‘Newshour’.

Vice Presidential Debate

October 2 at Washington University (St. Louis)
Moderator:  Gwen Ifill

UPDATE: Objective “journalist” Gwen Ifill writes book called “The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama” which you can buy HERE.

FLASHBACK: Objective “journalist” Gwen Ifill fawns over Michelle Obama:

“A lot of people have never seen anything that looks like a Michelle Obama before. She’s educated, she’s beautiful, she’s tall, she tells you what she thinks…”

FLASHBACK: As moderator of Washington Week, a PBS program funded by taxpayers, Ifill says she is “dizzy” from Bush Administration spin

“But if Donald Rumsfeld is having some credibility problems with the senior military, it pales in comparison to the credibility problems President Bush appears to be having with the American people.”

…

“I’m dizzy from that spin, I think.”

Second Presidential Debate

October 7 at Belmont University
Moderator:  Tom Brokaw

FLASHBACK: As moderator of Meet the Press, Brokaw defends Obama and community organizers:

To Giuliani: “Senator Obama, who had an Ivy league education and could’ve gone to Wall Street, went back to Chicago, on the South Side. As you know, his supporters have defended him for working with poor families, many of whom lost their jobs when the Gary steel mills closed. In that mocking fashion, it seemed to a lot of people that you were belittling the role of a community organizer, and it led to this button — it was addressed to Senator Palin, because she also talked about it — “Jesus Christ was a community organizer. Pontius Pilate was a governor.” In retrospect, do you think you had too much sport with his role as community organizer, Mr. Mayor?”

FLASHBACK: Brokaw on Gorbachev (the same Gorbachev who today justifies the Russian aggression in Georgia):

“The former President of the Soviet Union of course was a courageous, far-seeing prophet whose reforms set in motion the collapse of the Soviet dictatorship and the end of the Cold War….We know that you’ve devoted your life to peace and to changing your country and those of us who have gotten to know you count ourselves among the privileged.”

FLASHBACK: In his capacity as news anchor, Brokaw says of Special Counsel Ken Starr:

“Still ahead tonight. Investigating the President. A growing backlash against independent counsel Kenneth Starr. Is he out of bounds or just tone deaf?”

Third Presidential Debate

October 15 at Hofstra University
Moderator:  Bob Schieffer

FLASHBACK: Bob Schieffer on an insider (Scott McClellan) blowing the whistle on the Bush Administration:

“Well, it generally happens in these kinds of things when an insider makes a disclosure, those that are still on the inside start to raise questions about motivations. But I think you have to look at what he said, these are some very serious allegations.“

Bob Schieffer on an insider (Bernard Goldberg) blowing the whistle on liberal bias at CBS News:

“People are just stunned. It’s such a wacky charge, and a weird way to go about it….I don’t know what Bernie was driving at. It just sounds bizarre.”

RELATED: In rules compromise for the VP debate, Palin won’t have to square off against Biden directly.