With the Vice Presidential debate hours away, new developments concerning its moderator, Martha Raddatz have been disturbing. As Joel B. Pollak at Breitbart reported today, during the 1990 Massachusetts gubernatorial race, Raddatz, who was then known as Martha Bradlee (she was married to Ben Bradlee Jr.), moderated the debate where, like a good race-baiting liberal, she asked Democratic candidate John Silber “why he had not campaigned more frequently in poor minority communities, prompting him to respond: "There is no point in my making a speech on crime control to a group of drug addicts."
This proved to be a disastrous answer a la Dukakis since “ Silber, amidst accusations of racism, fought to clarify his remarks in the days that followed, and visited the predominantly black community of Roxbury in Boston--though he refused to apologize. He went on to win the Democratic primary by 10 points, though he lost to Republican William Weld in the general election.”
This story was drudged up from old Boston Globe articles at the time and it should prompt a retraction from ABC News since they released this statement about her when ‘wedding-gate’ broke.
Martha Raddatz is known for her tough, fair reporting,which is why it was no surprise to her colleagues inside and outside ABC News that she was chosen by the Commission on Presidential Debates for this assignment. Barack Obama was a law school classmate of Raddatz's ex-husband Julius Genachowski at Harvard. At the time Barack Obama was a student and president of the Law Review. He attended their wedding over two decades ago along with nearly the entire Law Review, many of whom went on to successful careers including some in the Bush administration. Raddatz and Mr. Genachowski divorced in 1997 and both are now remarried.
Planting questions that implode candidacies isn’t “tough” or “fair reporting.” It’s political hackery of the worst form. Will Raddatz put a hit on Rep. Paul Ryan tonight? We shall find out and see, but it wouldn’t be surprising in the slightest.
