Today, Crooks and Liars posted a video of Bob Schieffer making the following incredible argument. As Crooks and Liars put it...
And when Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz throws down the gauntlet on all the GOP distractions and says that the truth matters and Gov. Swift opts to spin this into an inane deflection of whether Palin was actually in Iraq, wasting close to four minutes of airtime. Wasserman Schultz holds her ground, pointing out that these embellishments to her record just show what a lightweight Palin truly is, but it’s host Bob Schieffer that has to side with the Republicans by pointing out that Palin’s actions ‘have been alleged’ to be less than her claim, but it’s up to the voters to decide "the truth."
REMEMBER, SCHIEFFER PRESIDES OVER THE LAST DEBATE!!!
Bob Schieffer chats on WaPo.com tomorrow. The link is here. I recommend that we join the conversation!!!
What type of Orwellian world have we entered? At what point does it become ok for a journalist to put their cocktail circuit ticket at risk and point out the obvious truth?
The Obama campaign should not let this mentality continue. They have found good footing this weekend. The main part of the transcript is as follows;
SWIFT: Yeah, I think it is overblown. The truth is she went to Kuwait to visit the troops who were going to be fighting in Iraq. She was accompanied by a general who will say they traveled into Iraq and if it has been misreported, but to say that she is lying, in all due respect to Congresswoman Schultz, is not appropriate. She is not lying.
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: They said she went to Iraq and she didn’t go to Iraq...
SWIFT: She was in Iraq; the general will tell you...
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: ...I mean, it’s pretty black and white.
SWIFT: ...that they traveled into Iraq.
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: No, what the general said is that she never ventured beyond the border crossing. That’s what they said. And that’s the bottom line...the truth matters
SCHIEFFER: All right, I’m just going to call time here and let people make up their own minds on this.
As stated above, this is critical because Schieffer is hosting the last debate. He will convey the conventional wisdom for the country and the final questions before this critical and historic election. So my question is, does Schieffer intend to follow this tact during the debates? Will this be his working assumption?
Does this mean he is just going to throw out scurrilous attacks, have Obama refute them, and let voter decide? Is he going to use the Charles Gibson excuse that "people are talking about it"? Will he allow McCain to make false charges and let the voter decide without any follow-up?
Keep in mind that Schieffer single-handedly inoculated McCain from any discussion of his service as related to his qualifications after shouting down Wesley Clark.
I think it is of the utmost importance that the blogosphere use this opportunity to find out what he really means by his statement today and then, and preempt him from creating another ABC debate. There will be no turning back.
This is serious people. I urgently ask you to use this one opportunity to have your voice heard. Again, the link to the discussion on WashingtonPost.com is here. It begins at 2PM EST. I kindly suggest this community take the opportunity to request that he further clarify this statement.
Of course, PLEASE BE RESPECTFUL!
The goal is to ensure he is put on record regarding his approach to the debates, and to ensure that he does not attempt to create a false sense of balance because he thinks the people have to do the media's job to ferret out the "truth".
Your support in this effort is greatly appreciated.