Not even Brent Bozell could give Newsmax any evidence that the moderators named for the presidential debates this fall have a “liberal bias.” So it’s no surprise that Bozell’s group, the Media Research Center, is similarly failing to prove the claim.
Tim Graham gives it a try in an Aug. 14 NewsBusters post going after ABC’s Martha Raddatz. But mostly, he whines that Raddatz reported news that Graham would rather not see reported.
Graham actually complains that Raddatz called the drone killing of “American citizen/radical terrorist” Anwar al-Awlaki “Another huge victory in the War on Terror.” Why? “These are words ABC never used in the Bush era,” Graham asserts. Graham was also annoyed that Raddatz portrayed a historic event — the end of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy — as a historic event.
Graham is even upset that Raddatz reported what other people say, complaining that Raddatz reported the opinion of “one officer’s wife” following Nidal Hasan’s massacre at Fort Hood, “I wish his name was Smith.” Graham suggested without evidence that this was Raddatz’s personal opinion.
Graham sneered in an Aug. 15 NewsBusters post that CNN’s Candy Crowley “fits within the CNN media-elite mold of liberalism ,” whatever that means. Graham certainly doesn’t explain. But even as he’s smearing her as an “affirmative action” pick, Graham has to concede that she’s a balanced questioner:
Affirmative-action lovers were thrilled that CNN’s Candy Crowley would be the first female to moderate a presidential debate since Carole Simpson’s sneering turn in 1992. Crowley deserves the opportunity after being in the field of political news for decades, and is the closest thing the current crop of moderators has to a Tim Russert type in being able to question firmly both sides of the aisle.
Nevertheless, Graham fills out his blog post with cherry-picked quotes purportedly demonstrating Crowley’s “more liberal moments.”