On Friday, "Good Morning America" previewed five special editions of the ABC program that will air live from a train from September 15 through the 19. As the GMA anchors and reporters travel around America, will their election '08 questions follow the standard liberal perspective?
Robin Roberts previewed the type of queries that she asserted everyday Americans are concerned about. Three out of the four appeared to take the Democratic perspective or assume that the answers would always involve government doing more. In video clips, an unidentified male asked, "What do you plan on doing to make health care more affordable for the average American?" A child followed up by querying, "I'm wondering if you will lower the cost of college?" The next question saw a woman wanting to know, "When are you going to get our soldiers out of Iraq?"
Co-host Robin Roberts announced that the presidential candidates would both appear, starting with Obama on Monday. So, will GMA's "Whistle-Stop Tour '08," as the network is referring to it, resemble its town hall special editions that the program produced in 2007? These shows were billed as in depth interviews with the presidential candidates that each would span an entire episode of "Good Morning America." However, there only ended up being two, one with Democrat Hillary Clinton and the other with Democrat John Edwards. In total, "Good Morning America" devoted a combined 64 minutes to Democratic contenders and zero for Republicans.
Other than not having any of the Republican primary contenders on to do a town hall, GMA also showed its bias by allowing the Democratic guests to talk for large chunks of time. During the March 26, 2007 show with Clinton, Roberts let the New York senator talk uninterrupted for three and a half minutes after posing a single query.
A transcript of the September 12 preview, which aired at 7:16, follows:
ROBIN ROBERTS: We've already shown you the awesome technology that goes into our big train trip. But you are the reason we're doing this. We want to know in this historic election year, what your concerns are. We'll be talking with both presidential candidates, starting with Senator Barack Obama on Monday. Asking them your questions
...
ROBERTS: Some of you have already gotten started. We have shown you the remarkable 874-foot long GMA express that will be taking us through the country. We've given you a glimpse of the technological marvel that will allow us to bring you a ground-breaking, live broadcast from the hills and valleys of this great nation. But at its heart, our journey is about you. Getting to know you. And hearing the real stories, concerns and questions that you have, for the candidates, as we head into this historic election.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you plan on doing to make health care more affordable for the average American?
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: I'm wondering if you will lower the cost of college?
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: When are you going to get our soldiers out of Iraq?
UNIDENTIFIED OLDER WOMAN: I would like to hear something that I can believe.
ROBERTS: All next week, we will be live on America's rails. Exploring the issues facing us in this incredibly important time. So, join us on our whistle-stop tour. Come aboard. We can't wait to share this journey with you.
—Scott Whitlock is a news analyst for the Media Research Center. Click here to follow him on Twitter.
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Everytime Robin Roberts
Fri, 09/12/2008 - 13:33 ET by MillerTimeWarpEverytime Robin Roberts speaks, an angel gets it's wings.
I would rather be a Conservative nut job, than a Liberal with no nuts and no job
The Tipping Point Express
Fri, 09/12/2008 - 14:00 ET by Rackie"... 874-foot long GMA express..."
...and the carbon footprint of this monster is...?
So this is how it's all going to end. Not with wimper, not with a bang but with a toot. How nice.
I heard NBC is doing
Fri, 09/12/2008 - 13:52 ET by Roger the ShrubberI heard NBC is doing something similiar, only with Matt Lauer doing the town hall meetings.... all across Europe.
Answers
Fri, 09/12/2008 - 13:58 ET by owr084UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you plan on doing to make health care more affordable for the average American?
Create more jobs so that you can pay for your own health care.
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: I'm wondering if you will lower the cost of college?
The main reason college costs are out of control is the availability of financial aid. Costs rise to consume all available aid/savings. Solution: drastically cut aid to students and take away the tax rules tht favor huge college endowment funds. Force the colleges to spend the money on students.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: When are you going to get our soldiers out of Iraq?
When the time is right.
UNIDENTIFIED OLDER WOMAN: I would like to hear something that I can believe.
Well, you can start by not listening to the people on the GMA express...
I hear Robin will not be on
Fri, 09/12/2008 - 14:13 ET by MillerTimeWarpI hear Robin will not be on the train for all those areas where the train needs to go through a tunnel. Heard she is uncomfortable with the sybolism of it.
I would rather be a Conservative nut job, than a Liberal with no nuts and no job
"Liberal" Bias
Fri, 09/12/2008 - 14:22 ET by iveseenitallI think media bias and the overall vindictive nastiness of the "liberals" in our society are backfiring bigtime. The AP today reports that the Dems are "fighting back". This means that they getting nasty again. They can't help themselves because it is all they have. But most thinking American adults are sick and tired of it. The Congress went over to the Dems in 2006 and all they've accomplished is one pathetic political stunt after another in an attempt to destroy President Bush, et.al. They've even implied that they, under Obama, will try for "criminal" prosecutions, including President Bush, after the Republicans leave office. Meanwhile the economy is slowing and gas is going through the roof. And if they, including Barry and Joe, had gotten their way on the Surge, we'd be losing instead of winning in Iraq. Few will watch the ABC "train" because most Americans know it'll be nothing but the same "liberal", biased crapolla. Talk about "old"; it's "liberalism" that is really getting "old".
NEVER,NEVER trust a "liberal"
"da train, da train..."
Fri, 09/12/2008 - 14:31 ET by RackieLimoLibs are on the way
The GMA train trip will more
Fri, 09/12/2008 - 15:27 ET by SickofLibsThe GMA train trip will more closely resemble the train set in Mr. Roger's Neighborhood. All the puppets will be there.
Chris Cuomo will play the puppet King Friday. Robama Roberts will be the Queen.
Deep background for real: King Friday had most of the characters of the Neighborhood of Make Believe trained as generals, but forgot to train regular soldiers.