What a difference a week – and a political party make! Last week, you may recall, Fox News Sunday's preview for the Republican convention was a mostly softball interview with Mitt Romney followed by a slobbering infomercial about the Romney family that could have been produced by the campaign, itself. This week, “fair and balanced” Fox previewed the Democratic convention – and the differences were pretty stark. There was a rather critical interview with the Obama campaign's David Axelrod followed by another wade-into-the-policy-weeds critical interview with the convention's chairman, Antonio Villaraigosa.
To be fair (if not balanced), host Chris Wallace did ask a few tough questions of Romney last week, such as:
“Why didn’t you years ago, somewhere over the last eight years (of running for president) go to the people running your blind trust and say to them, ‘Let’s get out of the Swiss bank accounts, let’s get out of the investments in the Cayman Islands, even if it means we have to make, pay more taxes so we can clear the decks politically?’”
But there was nothing like the kind of grilling that Axelroad and Villaraigosa got, especially at about 10:15 in the Axelrod interview, where Wallace tells Axelrod that the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office found “The president's 2013 budget plan never balances the budget... and... he does nothing to deal with the long-term structural problems of entitlements.” Nor did Wallace confront Romney with his flip-flops on abortion (or anything else) when the subject came up.
Wallace also made the misleading attack claim to Axelrod that gas was $1.85 when Obama took offce and is now “almost double” at $3.78 since. In fact, gas was $4.11 in July, 2008, its all-time high, under George W. Bush. It subsequently dropped mostly as the result of the faltering world economy. (H/T reader Roger D.)
For Axelrod were no questions that were thinly disguised opportunities to launch talking points, like “Where do you see a campaign of hate?” which Wallace asked Romney. You might also note that Wallace made no effort to interrupt Romney's attacks on Obama whereas many, if not most of Axelrod's were. Nor were there any of the softballs like, I want to ask you – on a personal basis, not political but personal – how do you feel? What are your thoughts as you take a very, very big step?”
@Didi: so they’ve outed yet another person, this time for a christian (small letter intended) fatwa? That may be their form of “balance” for having outed the former SEAL who spilled the beans on a top secret mission. I’m sure they still think that Rove et al did the right thing to out Ms. Plame. And that lot presumes to speculate on the leaks from the current administration ? The mind boggles.
I’m actually glad they outed the SEAL (hoping, of course, that his life has not been placed in danger). That little prank confirms their inability to put their brains in gear: empty bobbing heads unable to realise when it would be in their own interest to shut up.
I shall now follow the lead given by Rick, truman and d d:
FoxNews is pitiable, pitiful, piteous and pitiless, hence portentiously perilous for life be it past, present or proximate: positively a pain in the posterior.
Now look at who backs Romney: Corporations, war hawks and Right Wing lobbyists.
Gee, I wonder why they dropped all pretense- And has anyone else caught that they’re not saying the tagline as much lately?