Political Republican Opinion:
As promised, The Political Republican Opinion blog is posting a side-by-side comparison of Charlie Gibson’s first interview with Sarah Palin and his first interview with Barack Obama. Obama’s initial interview was on November 1, 2007. Part one of Palin’s interview was on September 11, 2008. I originally intended to post parts one through four of the Gibson-Palin interview and compare them with the Gibson-Obama interview but I only needed part one to make my point. Below, you will see the questions Charlie Gibson asked Sarah Palin in red and the questions Gibson asked Barack Obama in blue. The questions appear in the order in which they were asked:
- “Governor, let me start by asking you a question that I asked John McCain about you, and it is really the central question. Can you look the country in the eye and say “I have the experience and I have the ability to be not just vice president, but perhaps president of the United States of America?”
- “Today, in our ‘Who Is?’ series, a Democrat relatively new to national politics; Senator Barack Obama. Your mom comes from the Pacific Northwest, migrates to Hawaii, goes to college there, right away, meets a dashing young Kenyan, gets pregnant and the result [is] you.” (Voiceover) His father got a fellowship to study on the mainland and never came back. “Obama’s mother would remarry and take her son to Indonesia for five years. Only once again did he ever see his father, that, when Obama was 10, he didn’t care enough to stay. How did you internalize that?”
- “And you didn’t say to yourself, “Am I experienced enough? Am I ready? Do I know enough about international affairs? Do I — will I feel comfortable enough on the national stage to do this?” … Didn’t that take some hubris?”
- “For five years out of college, he worked to pay off student loans and was a community organizer in Chicago, which led him back to school, Harvard Law School, and on a summer job, met this young woman. Did you know right away?”
- “But this is not just reforming a government. This is also running a government on the huge international stage in a very dangerous world. When I asked John McCain about your national security credentials, he cited the fact that you have commanded the Alaskan National Guard and that Alaska is close to Russia. Are those sufficient credentials?”
- “They have two daughters, Malia and Sasha. At first, Obama was intimidated by the Harvard law students, but he found he could more than hold his own, finishing first in his class and being editor of the ‘Harvard Law Review.’ He’s candid: it was at Harvard he first thought of running for President. So did you think to yourself, ‘Barack, what kind of hubris is this that I am thinking about being President?’”
- “Did you ever travel outside the country prior to your trip to Kuwait and Germany last year?”
- “You have written, ‘I learned to slip back and forth between my black and my white worlds.’ The simple question I guess is in which world do you really belong?”
[Note from The Political Republican Opinion blog: This is where Gibson ended his initial interview with Barack Obama. Sarah Palin, meanwhile, continues to get hammered …]
- “Have you ever met a foreign head of state?”
- “The administration has said we’ve got to maintain the territorial integrity of Georgia. Do you believe the United States should try to restore Georgian sovereignty over South Ossetia and Abkhazia?”
- “What insight into Russian actions, particularly in the last couple of weeks, does the proximity of the state give you?”
- “Would you favor putting Georgia and Ukraine in NATO?”
- “And under the NATO treaty, wouldn’t we then have to go to war if Russia went into Georgia?”
- “And you think it would be worth it to the United States, Georgia is worth it to the United States to go to war if Russia were to invade?”
- “Let me turn to Iran. Do you consider a nuclear Iran to be an existential threat to Israel?”
- “So what should we do about a nuclear Iran?”
- “What if Israel decided it felt threatened and needed to take out the Iranian nuclear facilities?”
- “So, if it felt necessary, if it felt the need to defend itself by taking out Iranian nuclear facilities, that would be all right?”
- “We talk on the anniversary of 9/11. Why do you think those hijackers attacked? Why did they want to hurt us?”
- “The Bush doctrine, as I understand it, is that we have the right of anticipatory self-defense, that we have the right to a preemptive strike against any other country that we think is going to attack us. Do you agree with that?”
- “Do we have the right to be making cross-border attacks into Pakistan from Afghanistan, with or without the approval of the Pakistani government?”
- “You said recently, in your old church, “Our national leaders are sending U.S. soldiers on a task that is from God.” Are we fighting a holy war?”
- “Then are you sending your son on a task form God?”
UPDATE: Many Leftists have argued that this is not a fair comparison, since Barack Obama had not won the Democratic nomination yet. Fair enough! To appease those that are still unconvinced of the Liberal media bias, I have included, below, the questions that Gibson asked Obama after winning the Democratic Primary. They are truly compelling (insert eye roll here):
- How does it feel to break a glass ceiling?
- How does it feel to “win”?
- How does your family feel about your “winning” breaking a glass ceiling?
- Who will be your VP?
- Should you choose Hillary Clinton as VP?
- Will you accept public finance?
- What issues is your campaign about?
- Will you visit Iraq?
- Will you debate McCain at a town hall?
- What did you think of your competitor’s [Clinton] speech?
Keep in mind, the questions that Charlie Gibson asked Sarah Palin are just part one of a four part interview. Dozens of similarly pointed questions were asked in the subsequent parts. Anybody who doesn’t see the difference is in complete denial. Gibson threw fastballs at Sarah Palin’s head. To Obama, he tossed underhanded softballs.
If there was ever a clearer example of bias in the media, I don’t know when it occurred - perhaps in some Communist country. Charlie Gibson should be ashamed of the way he conducted himself. He can no longer hold his head up and say that he is a journalist. He has slipped to the ranks of a commentator.
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