NewsBusters senior editor/MRC director of research Rich Noyes appeared on "Your World with Neil Cavuto" a few moments ago discussing the agenda of silly, liberally-biased questions in last night's GOP debate on MSNBC.
Video: Real (4 MB) or Windows (3.2 MB), plus MP3 (1.6 MB)
Discussing the agenda of questions posed by Chris Matthews and the reporters from Politico.com, Noyes observed: "It's the kind of stuff you find liberal bloggers complaining about, questions like, 'Is Karl Rove your friend,' 'Do you believe in evolution,' [questions] designed to trip up Republicans and make them look like they were against science. The question from Jim VandeHei, 'What's the deal with the corruption in your party?' This was all a series of very left-leaning questions to G.O.P. candidates. And there's no problem asking Republicans tough questions, but if you look at the tone of the Democratic debate, it was all softballs compared to what Republicans got last night. There's really two different standards for the two parties."
After running down some of the more obnoxious questions thrown at the candidates at last night's debate, Cavuto pointed out how "none of those Republicans was afraid to be at a venue where they knew they would probably get snide questions like this on a network or with a host who has a certain leaning. Yet none of their counterparts in the Democratic Party would dare appear here."
Noyes agreed: "Well, that's true. It's amazing that Democrats are trying to avoid having a debate on the Fox News Channel. Fox News had debates in the last cycle. A lot of the questioners brought in — they were not Fox employees — they were some liberal reporters like Gwen Ifill and Juan Williams, along with some of Fox's own people like Carl Cameron. Nobody had any complaints about that [debate]. Now, because they want to please the left-wing blogosphere, they're acting like if appearing on Fox is somehow a dangerous and terrible thing to do. Here you have Republicans going on MSNBC, which is a really, become a very far-left wing network in the last few months, few years, and they all seemed to have a pretty good time and got their message out."
—Ken Shepherd is Managing Editor of NewsBusters
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Thanks....Looking forward to
May 4, 2007 - 15:51 ET by bigtimerThanks....
Looking forward to it.
Great presence Rich.
May 4, 2007 - 16:02 ET by Gary HallGreat presence Rich. MSNBC should be ashamed of themselves. What a disgrace.
Yes, this is the point. Whe
May 4, 2007 - 21:33 ET by dahliatraversYes, this is the point. Whether it was "fair" to the candidates in a way is secondary; it was a chance for us to see them under fire. (And they all acquitted themselves well.)
MSNBC has a role in selecting and vetting the next President of the United States. They fell down on the job by selecting an unprofessional, immature moderator and it reflects very poorly on them.
They can, by the way, make up for it by having Ann Coulter moderate the next Dem candidate debate. It's not that she is unprofessional like Matthews but she would be as grating to them as Matthews is to the world. And she could ask them things like, "Should Ronald Reagan be back in the White House?", "What do you love about America?", "Should Imus have been fired?" and "Should Al Sharpton be fired?"
Excellent job. A true pro:
May 4, 2007 - 16:11 ET by FairlightExcellent job. A true pro: calm, cool & collected. Do more of these appearances please.
That was perfectly done. I ca
May 4, 2007 - 16:12 ET by Gat New YorkThat was perfectly done. I can only hope this remains a relevant campaign issue for whomever is the eventual Republican Presidential nominee to use against their Democrat rival. How can Americans expect Democrats to confront serious foreign policy challenges when they cannot even face up to a much more civil challenge of being in a FoxNews sponsored debate?
What a perfect depiction of t
May 4, 2007 - 16:56 ET by winston smithWhat a perfect depiction of the state of politics today! Democrats running scared from a FOX News debate while the GOP stands up fearlessly to endure the never-ending muck and defamation spewed forth regularly by the Democrat co-conspirators at MSNBC. We all know who the real men are and who we want defending the nation in a time of terror. It'll never happen but I'd love to see a moderator ask Hillary or the Breck girl for an off-the-cuff definition of the 12th Imam. Love to see those unrehearsed, "spot-on" answers!
Man, you said it. The sni
May 4, 2007 - 20:12 ET by Republic1Man, you said it. The sniveling cowards running for the Democratic nomination are a disgrace to their country. In an MSM almost completly dominated by biased, left-wing journalists, those gutless wonders couldn't handle a single debate where they might not be asked softball questions. Just when I think the Dem leaders can't be more craven or pathetic, they prove me wrong.
"Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him." -Muhammad
Rich Noyes. Thank you a thous
May 4, 2007 - 16:28 ET by bigtimerRich Noyes.
Thank you a thousand times over, you said it all for me, you vented most of my frustrations with such class...with one exception, that being the asinine job John Harris did rushing up on stage with his questions...what an embarrassing fool he made of himself, along with all the rest of the crew...guess that goes with out saying anyway...lol.
Neil Cavuto...so did you.
Loved the part about snide remarks... also that Matthews had to inject the word seriously when asking about the Clinton in the WH..... plus most of the the hypocrisy with the left and Fox.
Ken S. thanks for this update and info.
Much appreciated and greatly enjoyed.
Rich Noyes and MRC, thank God
May 4, 2007 - 17:11 ET by newstalkmachineNewstalk,Nice.....Senator Bid
May 4, 2007 - 17:35 ET by BlondeNewstalk,
Nice.....
Senator Biden, what do you think should be the penalty for plagarism on college campuses?
Pefect question, Blonde. Gu
May 4, 2007 - 21:43 ET by Scout FinchPefect question, Blonde. Guess we'll wait quite a while before anyone in the MSM asks that one. But please...don't hold your breathe. People could die.
Quite right, Scout.No wonder
May 4, 2007 - 22:09 ET by BlondeQuite right, Scout.
No wonder the d***less dems failed to show up at the Fox debate.
Can you imagine them having to answer the same level of questions that the troll Matthews pitched?
LMAO.
Silky Pony "Um, I support the hairsparay lobby".
Or some such.
Let's not forget:"Senato
May 5, 2007 - 07:35 ET by Seabeach4348Let's not forget:
"Senator Clinton, your husband greatly advanced communist China's ability to stike us with nuclear weapons by selling weapons technology to them just before his second term. Looking back at that now, do you think this was a mistake?"
"Senator Clinton, if the Clinton Administration had taken advantage of the three opportunities offered by the Sudanese government to capture Osama bin Laden instead of ignoring them, do you think that perhaps 9/11/2001 would have been just another normal day in America?"
"Senator Clinton, give us a short explanation as to why the Clinton Administration thought that the North Koreans were trustworthy enough to be rewarded with a nuclear reactor? And, given recent events, do you think that your husband ultimately made another mistake by trusting communists who have a bad track record of breaking promises?"
Excellent! Especially consi
May 5, 2007 - 09:48 ET by dahliatraversExcellent! Especially considering that, according to Chris Matthews, the candidate is Bill, not Hillary.
Why does it take Rich Noyes t
May 4, 2007 - 17:23 ET by PantherWhy does it take Rich Noyes to point out the obvious? Where the hell is Howard Kurtz? Isn't he supposed to be covering the media?
What an excellent analysis of
May 4, 2007 - 17:30 ET by mytwocentsWhat an excellent analysis of the debate! The sad reality is that the people that needed to hear and see his comments won't watch Fox News. They'd rather hear the tripe spewed by Ollberman, Matthews,etc.
Pharisee: "Is it lawful
May 4, 2007 - 23:21 ET by mattmPharisee: "Is it lawful to pay tribute to Caesar or not?"
Jesus: "Whose image and inscription is on the coin?"
Pharisee: "Caesar's"
Jesus: "Render, therefore, to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."
For some reason, I always t
May 5, 2007 - 04:13 ET by sarcasmoFor some reason, I always think of this when I examine my lovely -- but all too tiny -- nugget-collection... And any decent sized gold nugget, when held in your hand, makes it obvious what the cave-man's first money was, and why.
JMR
sarc I am sorry to hear--
May 5, 2007 - 17:46 ET by misterbillsarc I am sorry to hear--that your nuggets are too tiny, but happiness is not to be measured only by size!
For a while the questions mad
May 5, 2007 - 02:08 ET by zfFor a while the questions made me think I was watching a SNL sketch.
Rich, Great job. I hope Fo
May 5, 2007 - 05:13 ET by RDWRich, Great job. I hope Fox News will slot a regular feature of this type of analysis on one of their News shows. For my part I will keep sending e-mails.
newstalkmachine, Seabeach43
May 5, 2007 - 17:37 ET by BondPlainBondnewstalkmachine, Seabeach4348, and Blonde
Great questions!
Taking that kind of an approach on debate questions posed to Democrats would be wonderfully entertaining to watch. And very informative about a person's mettle in how they phrase the reply.