Final debate moderator Bob Schieffer is a longtime John McCain fan, as this video from the Jed Report shows:
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"WORN OUT, OLD WHITE GUY LOVES OLD WORN OUT WHITE GUY"
Amazing that Gwen Ifell gets raked over the coals for her book ( the Obama chapter still not writen) but Schieffer is not looked at or questioned for his obvious leanings. Amazing... just another example of how mixed up we are. Or an example of the Democrats once again taking the higher road.
The only road I'm concerned about is the one leading to the voting booth so we can end this circus once and for all.
There were really only a couple of things that Schieffer did to benefit McCain
1) Let Mccain have the final word on 7 out of 8 of the topics
2) Gave the question which might as well have been "McCain, talk about Ayers"
These two things didn't have an effect at the end, because John fumbled both chances.
Bob DID do better than most, but he let McCain continually interject, interrupt and McCain got to have the last word 85% of the time regardless of who the question was posed to originally. Bob did not show obvious bias, despite his obvious admiration for McCain and his being tight with the Bush family at large, but his not forcing McCain to stick to the agreed rules shows a degree of bias nonetheless.
Final Debate Moderator Schieffer Loves McCain As A Father Figure,
Mr Schieffer may be a Texas republican hack but he showed no bias in last nights debate.
Obama/Biden
I can sense bias just about anywhere in the spoken word, and try as I might, I could not find it
in Bob Schieffer last night. The last debate, while not perfect, was the most colorful, probing, and
interesting of the three, largely due to Mr. Schieffer.
Agreed-
Last night Bob Schieffer was a Pro!
I only wish he was the Moderator for the first 2 debates, instead of the Shuffle Board Tournament we watched.
He is a Professional Journalist and Reporter through and through.
I am sure if someone put together clips of OBAMA sitting down with him, he would be the same way.
*would love to hear his comments about last nights debate.
The only thing he did wrong was letting McCain get the vast majority of closing statements on each of the topics (7 out of 8!). Other than that blunder that should be significant, but wasn't due to McCain's inability to capitalize, I belive Shieffer did fine. He stopped both of them when he felt they were going off topic, but otherwise stayed out of it and let the candidates run the show.
Listen people, McBush AKA Mc L i a r and his trusty side kick and VP choice Sarah McBlunder and his gang of thugs are gonna hit us with everything they have this month! We need to flood Obama's campaign through the home stretch with as much money as we can give through October. We all started very strong and now we all have to pick up even more steam and finish what we started, our families and our soldiers are counting on us to fight the good fight to the end! Let's continue making this about the Economy, Health Care, Equal Pay, Education, Etc and we will win this Election! My family and I are struggling like many other American Families, we have donated a $150 dollars every month even though we really cant afford it but if we lose this election to McCain, the loss will be much bigger. Even my thirteen year old daughter and my seven year old daughter are engaged in this Election and have took money out of their piggy banks to help invest into a better future for not just them but for everyone that believes in Fairness, Justice, Equality and Hope in America. I've always told my children, that the rule is in everything they do in life, you always start strong and you always end strong. Obama/Biden/08
VOLUNTEER AND GET OUT THE VOTE!
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If Bob Schieffer is partial to McCain, which is his right as a citizen, I saw no evidence of it last night. He is a consumate professional and his performance last night showed that. I was very glad that he brought up the issues of negative campaigning, VP qualifications and abortion. It forced the issues out into the open and, frankly, set the stage for Obama to shatter most of McCain/Palin's negative campaign calmly and methodically. I also was amused by McCain claiming that Obama's ads "attacking" his health care proposals was an example of negative campaigning. Here's a news flash John. There is a vast difference between campaining against your opponent's policies and attacking him personally. One other thing John. Maybe after living through eight years of an incoherent rube in the White House, the country is willing to acknowledge that a president who is smart, well informed and eloquent is actually a good thing.
He did seem to keep an even keel.
On thing that struck me, but I could be wrong, was the McCain seemed to get the last word more often, than Obama. But I would have to watch again.
It's OK if he had the last word. He had nothing to say.
agreed, I was worried about that , thinking of the ABC primaries debate, as I knew Shieffer is pro-McCain and I thought he was completely pro
I also agree w/you about the "negative" health care ad, that was laughable!!!
minimer is A VIRUS TROL) - DO NOT CLICK!!!
I watched the video on this page and then looked at some of the video from last night's debate. McCain is like two different people. He looked awful and it was uncomfortable for me to watch him last night. It was a very bad time for McCain. The debate only served to expose his anger and inability to lead at this time. I did actually feel pity for him. He's not a bad person like Nixon or Cheney. But I see him as a weaker person than Obama despite his POW experience.
McCain may not be a bad person, but he makes bad decisions that affect everyone else. The true test of leadership is to be able to rise above one's personal limitations to serve the greater good.
I cannot pity a man who hired people he knew from experience would use the most divisive and personal attacks to help him win this election and in the process further divide our nation when we need unity more than ever.
He rode the center line about as well as can be done.
Yeah, he did a great job. During his Sunday show he can go a bit over the line in favor of McCain, like in his interview of Wesley Clark months ago. But last night he did an excellant job. Right down the middle, fair questions, and actually managed to make himself NOT part of the debate. Thinking back to the 90 minutes... I can barely remember much of him. Which says good things about how he was able to control the debate, ask the questions, but not be part of it. He let the candidates be in the spotlight.
The only problem he had was whether intentionally or not he gave McBush the final word on 7 out of 8 topics.
SAY IT AIN'T SO BOB !!!!
MY GOD YOU WERE MY HERO , I SAID WERE BOB !!!!!
Yeah well, he's from John's three hundred year old generation, go figure!
He tried despite any feeling he might have for McCain. I did not detect any prejudice in his moderation. Maybe he was a "sleeping lion" wanting to try and fluster Obama.
I did find it very odd when he posed the question about negative ads, etc. I think he rescued his buddy , John McCain, from a very embarrassing moment. McCain was not going in that direction, he is a total chicken. Schieffer rescued him with the question. McCain probably paid him to bring it up, money talks. I thought he should have never asked that and left that out of the picture. We have too many other issues to learn about the candidate.
I was not impressed with Schieffer, but I think he tried.
Gee. I didn't know.
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The Huffington Post | Rachel Weiner
First Posted: 10-15-08 08:42 PM | Updated: 11-15-08 05:12 AM