The headline of David Patten’s Aug. 13 Newsmax article reads “Liberal Dream Team to Host Presidential Debates,” but Patten doesn’t prove the claim — even when he’s quoting the Media Research Center’s Brent Bozell.
Patten uncritically quotes Bozell claiming that one debate moderation, PBS’ Jim Lehrer, “tilts strongly to the left,” but no evidence is provided to back it up.Similary, Patten quotes Bozell saying that CNN’s Candy Crowley will be “drinking from the CNN Kool-Aid, and they’re the ones who are going to prepare the questions for her,” but again, no evidence backs up the claim.
Patten himself grouses that CBS’ Bob Schieffer “has a habit of asking questions on Face the Nation that suggest a point of view” — but the evidence he provides is Schieffer asking Rep. Michele Bachmann, “Has the tea party made compromise a dirty word, and is that why Congress can’t seem to get anything done?” Given that polls have suggested that tea party activists do not want congressional Republicans to compromise with Democrats, that’s an entirely reasonable question to ask.
Despite not proving that any “liberal” journalists were named as moderators, Patten groused, “No conservative journalists were named.” He then quoted Bozell complaining that nobody from Fox News was named to take part:
“They’re no longer step-children,” Bozell said of Fox. “They’re major players in this. Why don’t I see Bret Baier, why don’t I see Shephard Smith, and a number of people who are not doctrinaire conservatives by any step of the imagination — why don’t we see them?
“What about Britt Hume?” he added. “…Where’s somebody from the Washington Examiner, the Washington Times, or Newsmax? It’s not like the left has a monopoly of talent.”
We know Shepard Smith is a straight shooter, but is Bozell really suggesting that Baier doesn’t have a right-wing bias? That simply isn’t true.