Sunday, October 26, 2008
Confrontation: Joe Biden VS. Barbara West
We first saw video of this interview wrapped in a fairly typical Wonkette post.
Later, Drudgy McSleazestein pointed us to some post-game revelations available in Hal Boedeker's "The TV Guy" blog at the Orlando Sentinel:
Biden so disliked [WFTV-Channel 9's Barbara] West's line of questioning that the Obama campaign canceled a WFTV interview with Jill Biden, the candidate's wife.
"This cancellation is non-negotiable, and further opportunities for your station to interview with this campaign are unlikely, at best for the duration of the remaining days until the election," wrote Laura K. McGinnis, Central Florida communications director for the Obama campaign.
McGinnis said the Biden cancellation was "a result of her husband's experience yesterday during the satellite interview with Barbara West.
Boedeker's written account of the interview attempts to link to the actual video, but it appears to be unavailable at WFTV-Channel 9 at this time. (UPDATE: it's up.)
The unanswered question: Really? Was she joking? Because Stephen Colbert could use a sidekick.
Now, fairness doctrine in effect: David Frum VS. Rachel Maddow.
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Barbara West displayed something very rare...real journalism. Asking tough questions of a candidate is fair game. Welcome to the Obama view of the White House press corp...ask softball questions or we'll cut you off!
ReplyDeleteObama Campaign can't stand the truth. They are fearful of the questions voters want answers to.
ReplyDeleteBiden was a disgrace in this interview.
But reveals how an Obama administration will attack people who ask questions. They attacked Joe the Plumber and now Barbara West. Welcome to the World according to Barack...
These questions were not fair because they were not based on truth. It's funny to me that so many of you consider these questions legitimate when other non-biased news sources have shoot them down.
ReplyDeleteAnd what would make their cancellation of an interview different from the other numerous networks that are still seeking time with McCain and Palin. What they can pick and choose whom they choose to speak with because of bias and unfair beliefs and others can't for the same reason? Come On!!
The reason the american public is not buying this good for the goose, not good for the gander bit anymore is because it's not fair. Her interview tactics were absolutely and totally different when she interview McCain and none of you can say that it wasn't.
The questions were fair and tough, as far as they went, but they were asked belligerantly and unseriously. I'm glad he did this interview and I'm impressed he did as well with it as he did, but I wouldn't send a spouse in to confront those jackals.
ReplyDeleteI thought Biden handled the interview very well, considering that the questions were truly questions that, just like he said, are coming from the Far Right wing. I keep hearing this nonsense about Obama wanting a socialist country. What is it when the middle class will carry the expense of billions given to the rich but that is called a bailout? But if you give a tax break to the middle class, now that is socialism. Far Right wing ideology that is what that is indeed.
ReplyDeleteBarbacuda West's only media future is Fox News with Sean Hannity. Watch, she will be on his show Monday.
ReplyDeleteShe's a rogue GOP anchor on broadcast media, her tenure in the mainstream media is history... Karl Marx, you freaking Rednecks!
Biden did great there.
ReplyDeleteYou know, there used to be an understanding in politics. It used to be understood that Democrats were for helping the less well off, and Republicans were in favor of strengthening the economy. Now suddenly Democrats are being called communists and socialists. And John McCain is goin to reach accross the aisle if he is elected, to the people he blasted as traitors? Tell me how that works.
ReplyDeleteObama absolutely is a socialist. He wants to create socialized medicine, which will both bankrupt us and create lines for surgery. He wants to increase taxes in a time when that will either create a deeper recession or a depression. You cannot increase taxes on ANYONE in a recessionary environment.
ReplyDeleteHe behaves like a socialist and even like some communist leaders in his approach. Here, they did not like the questions, so they cut the station off and said 'no more interviews for the rest of the election.' The McCain campaign has done that to no one. They do not like criticism and cut off those who criticize. They behave as though they are above the law.
Obama has not had to show his original vault birth certificate, his medical records, his Harvard records, or even his college dissertation. He is harboring many secrets and no one calls him into account. Where are the checks and balances of our judicial system? He will have sweeping power and no one will have the courage or power to counteract it. Together with Pelosi and Reed, he will bankrupt this country by taking from the so-called wealthy to give to others. He should be creating new jobs, but instead, he wants to 'spread the wealth around.' His policies will kill jobs and send them overseas because his taxes will kill small business which provides most of our jobs. The big businesses also will go overseas even more because of his tax increases on them.
His ridiculous economic policies amount to 'trickle up economics' which will never work. You must have entrepeneurs who provide jobs, and he will punish these people so that they cannot provide jobs.
Winston: You talk about Obama's spending like he's just going to flush money down a toilet, or cut all the poor people checks and wash his hands. He has gone over his investment strategy many times.
ReplyDeleteNumber one, he's going to invest in new energy alternatives. I don't know if you realize, but this means jobs -- manufacturing jobs, research jobs, construction jobs, opportunities for entrepreneurs to create a solution. It's a public works project, quite possibly the Pittsburgh economy.
Republican-style economic stimulus (tax cuts to the top bracket of earners) spends the money precisely where it is most likely to be invested overseas or in complex speculative tools.
Two, health care. He's not putting you in lines or making you change health care providers. He wants the federal government to start subsidizing those health care plans which are on the market that are willing to meet certain criteria -- that will not disqualify for preexisting conditions, for example, and that can be relied upon to pay on legitimate claims. Since health calumnies befall even seemingly well-insured families, this also counts as something that keeps the economy together. We don't need to live with working people failing to make their mortgages and cashing out their tuition savings because of an unforseen health crisis; an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Your wiser American businesses already are lobbying for this; lack of a national health care strategy is making American businesses uncompetitive.
"Socialism" is all about eliminating the free market. Your typical liberalism is all about regulating the free market so that it is more likely to provide somewhat better outcomes, provide us with a strategic advantage. It's called running a country.
"You cannot increase taxes on ANYONE in a recessionary environment." Says who. Didn't Reagan do something like this early in his first term? You can easily return the tax burden to something more near where they were before Prince Bush arrived on the scene. And that means a tax cut for most people.
That's not an interview, that's a woman reciting her talking points and demanding Biden agree to her terms. Biden did a great job ending the interview.
ReplyDeleteOh, by the way ... "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs" is a concept that goes back much further than Marx. Though Marx coined that phrase, the earliest followers of Jesus organized themselves on exactly that principle. So the important question here is, why does Barbara West hate real Christians?