How far left do you have to be to make the networks' progressive candidates dream team? CBS News Senior Political Correspondent Jeff Greenfield twice referred to Sens. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) as "relatively liberal senators" during a live interview on Washington, D.C.'s WTOP News this morning during drive time.
Discussing the Indiana and North Carolina Democratic primaries, Greenfield first described Obama and Clinton as "both relatively liberal senators," and then later as "relatively liberal senators from blue states."
Given that both have widely-recognized liberal voting records, with the National Journal naming Obama as "the most liberal" member of the U.S. Senate -- even to the left of Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) and socialist Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) -- one wonders what an actual "liberal" would look like to Mr. Greenfield. Would it be Raul Castro? Ted Turner? Who?
To be fair, Greenfield is less inclined than many of his colleagues to use one-sided labels, but nonetheless has had no problem at times describing certain Republicans as "conservatives." On February 5, 2008, according to MRC's CyberAlert:
The CBS News team managed to apply the "conservative" label at least 44 times -- in several instances beyond anything about the conservative split with McCain -- yet never once uttered the term "liberal" during a night when two liberals faced off on the Democratic side. Jeff Greenfield and Bob Schieffer each tagged the same Senator, 25 minutes apart, with Greenfield calling Oklahoma Republican Tom Coburn the "most conservative Senator" and Schieffer referring to him as "very conservative."
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JEFF GREENFIELD, on McCain: He's got a whole lot of conservatives on his side, ranging from Jack Kemp, the Godfather of supply-side economics, to Tom Coburn, the Oklahoma Senator, maybe the most conservative Senator on a lot of grounds....
















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Typical is it not...and
May 7, 2008 - 14:58 ET by bigtimerTypical is it not...and they always try to proclaim they are not biased...
Greenfield goes from CNN to CBS....not much difference there either.
"Never murder your opponent when he is committing suicide." ~ W. Churchill
So, Jeffy, let me get this
May 7, 2008 - 15:55 ET by mattmSo, Jeffy, let me get this straight: Both the H-Bomb and the O-bomb are "relatively" Liberal, while McAmnesty is the most conservative senator?
Is this guy an idiot, or is he just playing his part in the DNC propaganda campaign?
Greenfield
May 7, 2008 - 16:23 ET by Robert KnightIn terms of the "most conservative" he was talking about Coburn.
Maybe Hugo Chavez...nah
May 7, 2008 - 18:08 ET by taterMaybe Hugo Chavez...nah probably Karl Marx himself.
"They need to have a course in college called common sense and everyone should take it. Problem is there isn't too many people that could pass or teach it." -my grandfather
Levels of liberalism
May 7, 2008 - 22:24 ET by Jerry MackI did not know that there was a rating system for levels of liberalism. Perhaps at a later date Mr Greenfield could publish his different levels and the criteria needed to advance to the top spot. I do believe that Ca. dim senator Babs Boxer is about 2 degrees smarter than a rock. Maybe this is one of the test one must pass to reach the top. But I will have to wait on Mr Greenfield.
→ Not quite liberal
May 8, 2008 - 06:21 ET by Cool ArrowWell, it makes sense to me.
As long as Bill Gates and Warren Buffet aren't forced into Nationalized Healthcare, you really can't call it socialism, can you?
See, they're nowhere near "liberal"
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