The first time I got a look at the four moderators assigned to the upcoming presidential debates, I had one simple reaction: You’re kidding, right?
OK, I lied. I actually had a second reaction: Oh, silly me, I forgot this is how they always do it…
With the expected announcement of four presidential and vice-presidential debates in October comes the equally expected news that all four of the debates will be moderated by journalists from the liberal mainstream media: Jim Lehrer (PBS), Martha Raddatz (ABC), Candy Crowley (CNN) and Bob Schieffer (CBS). What, no MSNBC? That’s an outrage.
So, let’s see. In a nation where self-identified conservatives outnumber liberals by around 2-1, and Fox News blows away CNN (and MSNBC) by huge percentages, CNN gets to send one of its journalists to moderate a presidential debate.
This is the same CNN that brings up the rear in cable news ratings and whose numbers are so low, it has become the butt of late night comedians. (Jimmy Fallon, after CNN blew the lead on the Obamacare decision: “The producers there said, whew, thank God no one watches us”)
The fact that the mainstream media is dominated by liberals does not translate to having 100% of the debates moderated by liberals in a center-right country.
I know, I know. Just because a journalist is liberal – over 90% of Washington-based national political reporters voted Democratic in 2008 – doesn’t mean he/she will allow such a bias to affect their humbling role of moderating a debate that could influence the future of the free world.
Sure.
The question has never been whether there is a conspiracy among liberal media elites. That is entirely unnecessary when their worldviews are the same. As Bernard Goldberg has pointed out, most New York- and DC-based media elites have, for example, rarely if ever even met a pro-life voter. Of course thinking people are pro-choice, because I know a lot of really smart people, and they’re all pro-choice.
We’re not greedy, We’re not saying Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity should moderate. Or that all the debates should be hosted by conservatives outside the MSM. But how about just one out of four?
How about Brit Hume? He, the 23 year veteran and former White House correspondent for ABC News, now the elder statesmen at Fox News. Even the left does not question his journalistic credentials and integrity.
This whole business of debates puts the lie to leftist complaints about the insidious influence of Fox News (as if it was anything resembling a legitimate debate to begin with). We have Fox and talk radio, and they’ll have to be content with NBC, CBS, ABC, NY Times, WaPo….of, never mind.
