In describing the second presidential debate in St. Louis, the Baltimore Sun was among the great many of the Big Media in noting:
Tonight’s town hall format, in which voters will ask the questions … the famously folksy Bush can appear especially at ease when interacting with ordinary Americans.
What the Sun and most others who reported the “town hall” format failed to report was the Washington Post’s disclosure:
Before debate questioners submit their questions to the moderator (Charles Gibson of ABC News) who selects the questions to be posed by the audience to the candidates. If the person deviates from the pre-approved question, he will be cut off.
In American history, how many real town-hall meetings have ever allowed such censorship by the media?
On the morning after this ABC News-censored “Town Hall format,” the Drudge Report obtained a copy of an internal memo written by ABC News Political Director Mark Halperin, which stated:
We have a responsibility to hold both sides accountable to the public interest, but that doesn’t mean we reflexively and artificially hold both sides “equally” accountable when the facts don’t warrant that.
I’m sure many of you have this week felt the stepped up Bush efforts to complain about our coverage. This is all part of their efforts to get away with as much as possible with the stepped up, renewed efforts to win the election by destroying Senator Kerry at least partly through distortions.
Does this internal memo suggest that any of the TV stars from ABC-TV are sufficiently neutral and objective to choose which of the Town Hall-ers questions can be asked and televised – and which were not?
Should all questions at future presidential debates be asked by the Washington bureau chief of CBS – which used forged documents in an effort to demean and misrepresent the president?
In future presidential debates, why shouldn’t the Gallup Poll be commissioned to collect 5,000 questions all over the nation in proportion to each state’s electoral vote?
This would surely be fairer to the American people than leaving all questions to the selection of such left-wing-dominated networks as PBS, ABC and CBS.
