If i didnt know any better i might come to the conclusion that the media was heavily biased towards liberals.... This is goddamn sickening, i dont know why these guys keep showing up at these debates so that they can give liberals more and more ammo. ?I liked Newt Gingrich's response, even though im pretty liberal socially. I was surprised to see how far left David Gregory went, as he normally appears to be pretty middle of the road, in a far left environment. Gregory is normally very similar to Chris Wallace, where they both are usually very fair even though their networks lean hard to one side or the other. ABC's GOP presidential debate on Saturday overflowed with liberal questions. Of the 48 queries by George Stephanopoulos, Diane Sawyer and others, 20 came from the left, three were from the right and 25 were neutral or horse race questions. A whopping 25 percent (12 questions) revolved around contraception-related subjects or gay rights. Although birth control isn't exactly a pressing 2012 issue (especially in a tough economy), George Stephanopoulos wasted seven questions on contraception. The former Democratic operative began by noting Rick Santorum's belief that there is no constitutional "right to privacy." He added, "And following from that, he believes that states have the right to ban contraception." The co-moderator repeated, "Governor Romney, do you believe that states have the right to ban contraception? Or is that trumped by a constitutional right to privacy?" When the ABC journalists weren't grilling the Republicans on birth control, the subject was gay marriage and homosexual issues in general (five questions). Josh McElveen, of New Hampshire's WMUR spun the candidates as unfeeling for not supporting the rights of gays to adopt. To Santorum, he chided, "Your position on same-sex adoption, obviously, you are in favor of traditional families, but are you going to tell someone they belong in -- as a ward of the state or in foster care, rather than have two parents who want them?" Co-moderator Sawyer read a question e-mailed from "Phil in Virginia." She sympathetically quoted, "We simply want to have the right to...form loving, committed, long-term relationships." Sawyer added, "In human terms, what would you say to them?" Only three questions came from the right. One of those was when McElveen hit Ron Paul for not being in sync with the party's stance of a strong national defense: "You have said that you wouldnât have authorized the raid to get Osama bin Laden. You think that a nuclear Iran is really none of our business. How do you reconcile that, when part of your job as president would be" to defend America? The bias grew so bad that Newt Gingrich, again, spoke out, slamming the moderators. In relation to the focus on gay rights, he ripped: NEWT GINGRICH: I just want to raise a point about the news media bias. You donât hear the opposite question asked. Should the Catholic Church be forced to close its adoption services in Massachusetts because it wonât accept gay couples, which is exactly what the state has done? Should the Catholic Church be driven out of providing charitable services in the District of Columbia because it wonât give in to secular bigotry? Should the Catholic Church find itself discriminated against by the Obama administration on key delivery of services because of the bias and the bigotry of the administration? The bigotry question goes both ways. And thereâs a lot more anti-Christian bigotry today than there is concerning the other side. And none of it gets covered by the news media. Shouldn't the point of a Republican debate be to inform Republican voters who is the authentic conservative? All Stephanopoulos and Sawyer did was badger the candidates with liberal talking points. Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/scott-...ral-25-contraception-gay-rights#ixzz1j6z5vm6f
In NBC GOP Debate, Questions Hit Candidates From Left by 8 to 1 Margin By Kyle Drennen | January 09, 2012 | 11:09 Out the 41 questions directed to the six Republican presidential candidates during Sunday's NBC News/Facebook debate on Meet the Press, 25 of them were from the left, 13 questions were neutral, mainly about the campaign horse race and electability, and only three questions pressed the candidates from the right. Early in the debate, moderator David Gregory demanded to know how much "pain" the candidates would inflict upon Americans by cutting spending. Newt Gingrich called out Gregory for the slanted query: "David, you know, I, I find it fascinating that very, very highly paid Washington commentators and Washington analysts love the idea of pain. What â who's going to be in pain? The duty of the president is to find a way to manage the federal government so the primary pain is on changing the bureaucracy." Minutes later, Gregory selected a left-wing question from a viewer on Facebook: "And this from Martin Montalvo, because we do have a spending crisis but also a lot of people hurting. He writes this: 'With more Americans on government assistance than ever before, is it un-American for Americans to feel relieved when the government helps them?'" Talking to Rick Perry, Gregory asked: "I wonder where you would buck your party. What would you say or do to make Republicans uncomfortable?" After Perry voiced his support for a part-time Congress and a balanced budget amendment, Gregory replied: "Do you think telling conservatives, 'A balanced budget amendment is something I'm going to do, and I'm going to cut spending,' that's going to make them uncomfortable?" In the middle of the debate, Gregory brought in New Hampshire Union Leader senior political reporter John DiStaso and Boston Channel 7 News political editor Andy Hiller to ask some questions. <<Like this post? Help us take on media bias by donating to NewsBusters (there's also a PayPal option on that page). Without the support of our readers, NewsBusters would not be possible.>> DiStaso began by pleading: "Home heating oil is nearly $4 a gallon, yet President Obama and Congress have cut by 25 percent the program that helps, helps low-income people heat their homes. About a million households that were helped last year won't be helped this year. Is this an example of pain that must be suffered? Should this, should this program funding be restored? Should it be cut more?" In his first question to the candidates, Hiller asked Mitt Romney: "How have you stood up for gay rights and when have you used your voice to influence Republicans on this issue?...When's the last time you stood up and spoke out for increasing gay rights?" Hiller then directed the same question to Rick Santorum: "Senator Santorum, would you be a voice for increasing gay rights in the party?...Would you be a voice for speaking out for gay rights in your party, and if not, why not?...What if you had a son who came to you and said he was gay?" DiStaso urged the candidates to defend big labor: "What positive contributions do labor unions provide in this country at this, this point in the 21st century?" Moments later, Gregory jumped in: "Governor Romney, on this economic question, you blame President Obama for the jobs crisis, but when you look at the data and a positive trend line he still only gets the blame and none of the credit. How come?" Hiller rounded out his series of questions by asking Ron Paul: "Many Americans, particularly Democrats, believe that health care is a right. In your opinion, what services are all Americans entitled to expect to get from government?" As Gregory resumed his role as moderator, he suggested the United States should just learn to "live with" a nuclear Iran: "I wonder why it is, if America has lived with a nuclear Soviet Union, we have come to live with a nuclear North Korea, why is it that we cannot live with a nuclear Iran? And if we can't, are you prepared to take the country to war to disarm that country?" Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/kyle-d...-hit-candidates-left-8-1-margin#ixzz1j714L0Bl