This past Sunday, Bob Schieffer, moderator of "Face the Nation", had Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul on as his guests. Both are candidates for the Republican Party Presidential nomination.
Mr. Schieffer was cordial with Mr. Huckabee and asked soft questions concerning his stand on several issues. He explored Mr. Huckabee's rise in the polls and good crowds that he was drawing at various events. However, I did not learn anything new by the questions asked of Mr. Huckabee. The program is only 30 minutes split between the two candidates. You would think Mr. Schieffer could ask at least one question concerning the difficulties faced by the next President and what he would do.
Then came Ron Paul's turn for questions. I thought he was treated unfairly with silly questions about 10 issues that Mr. Paul is against. Mr. Schieffer framed the questions that gave the impression that Mr. Paul was anti everything and anything. Mr. Paul had to point out that there is a pro side to those issues. For instance, Paul's position on government spending is to live within our means instead of running up record federal deficits that are taking place in this administration. That is a "pro" position. Mr. Schieffer went out of his way to describe Mr. Paul as being against everything and tried to cast him in that vein instead of asking Mr. Paul for his "pro" comments on those issues. Then Mr. Schieffer seemed to enjoy suggesting to Mr. Paul that he could not win his party's nomination.
After 40 plus years as a journalist, Mr. Schieffer's show is not about seeking answers from candidates that would inform the American people about a candidate's likely actions if they became president. Clearly, this segment of the show with Mr. Paul was to put him down and treat his positions on the issues with disdain. It is such a shame to see the media become like this.
***NOTE: My (John Lucia) posts will no longer be written in a different font than those of Joseph***
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