The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Ask Michele Bachmann About CBS News Political Director John Dickerson

Posted on | January 22, 2013 | 10 Comments

There was a great uproar over John Dickerson’s column advising Barack Obama to “go for the throat” and “declare war” on Republicans, but it wasn’t as if there were no prior evidence of Dickerson’s biases. Remember the November 2011 debate in Spartanburg, S.C.?

In an e-mail exchange, a network staffer informed CBS political analyst John Dickerson that Bachmann was interested in appearing on Dickerson’s post-debate webcast. The staffer CC’ed the message to Bachmann’s communications director Alice Stewart and when Dickerson answered, he evidently clicked “reply to all” without realizing that what he wrote would go directly to the Republican aide. Dickerson wrote:“Okay let’s keep it loose though since she’s not going to get many questions and she’s nearly off the charts in the hopes that we can get someone else.”
What Dickerson appeared to be mean by his “keep it loose”remark was that he wanted to avoid a firm commitment to have Bachmann on the webcast, as he was hoping to “get someone else” as a guest. But the part of the 29-word Dickerson e-mail that infuriated Bachmann’s team most was what looked very much like proof of a preordained decision by CBS that the candidate would not“get many questions” during the debate because she was “off the charts” — out of contention for the GOP nomination, based on her declining poll numbers. Posting the e-mail to Bachmann’s Facebook page, campaign director Keith Nahigan fumed that Dickerson’s comments were “concrete evidence confirming what every conservative already knows — the liberal mainstream media elites are manipulating the Republican debates by purposely suppressing our conservative message and limiting Michele’s questions.”

This is who John Dickerson is, and this is what John Dickerson does. And there isn’t anyone with any influence at CBS News who doesn’t share Dickerson’s biases. CBS News is a partisan political organization completely devoted to the success of the Democratic Party.

Strange as if may seem, however, CBS — traditionally the most liberal of the Big Three networks — is now rather moderate compared to the strident leftism that prevails at NBC News under the influence of NBC’s fanatically partisan political director Chuck Todd.

The Federal Election Commission should count the “news” budgets of the major networks as contributions to the Democratic Party.

 

Category: CBS, Michele Bachmann

Comments

  • jsn2

    I sure as hell hope someone is thinking about putting together a Tea Party Debate Commission that will host debates for the upcoming republican primaries in 2014 and 2016. It’s idiotic to allow CNN, MSNBC or other Liberal Media to screw with our candidates. Also, if repubs/conservatives/tea party do not force the liberal “Commission on Presidential Debates” to allow them to select half the moderators and questioners from conservative media for the 2016 Presidential Debates then they should refuse to participate and instead host their own Presidential Debates.

    To continue to allow the corrupt liberal media to assist liberal candidates with answers and ambush the repub candidates is just plain stupid.

    John Dickerson and his fellow travelers can eat skunk ass.

  • http://evilbloggerlady.blogspot.com/ Evi L. Bloggerlady

    Tim Russert was a Democrat and political, but at least he tried to be occasionally fair.

  • http://evilbloggerlady.blogspot.com/ Evi L. Bloggerlady

    They can eat skunk ass sashimi style, and sans soy sauce or wasabi.

  • http://boogieforward.us/ K-Bob

    Sadly, thirty years of telling the Republicans this (by which I mean “millions of us screaming it at them, every chance we get”) has resulted in more of the same.

    So it’s really time to tell Republicans to drop dead.

  • TR

    Nice that condi is joning CBS. Money talks and nobody walks… (WMCA Dennison Clothing from the 60’s.
    Hint, for Republicans like Condi, Its all about money.)

  • ReaganiteRepublican
  • gjoubert

    The problem is NOT the MSM. Oh yeah, I know, they’re partisan as hell and as corrupt as hell too, but even still they are not the main problem.

    The problem is the Rs continue unrelentingly apace to be the party of stupid. They know going in the media is in the tank for the Dems. They know going in that they’ll NEVER get a fair shake from the media. They know going in that the MSM’s mission is to destroy them. But, nevertheless, the Rs continue to play footsy with the MSM, they continue to answer their loaded questions as if they are asked in good faith, even though it’s patently obvious that their questions are designed to put them in a no-win trick bag. Sarah Palin’s interviews with Katie Couric and Charlie Gibson.are illustrative of the point.

    The Rs need to stop answering these questions, and to point-blank call the media on it and flat-out bust the questioner when these questions are asked. They need to stop going on the MSM Sunday shows until and unless the MSM evidences objectivity. The Rs need to develop a get-tough strategy to handle the media. They need to realize media needs the Rs much more than the Rs need the media. In short, the Rs need to grow a brain.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_MJGP4QXZ5PRW2MFA5E25CV2WNU rosalie

    I saw Sununu in some interviews, and he could put them in their smug little place. It was very gratifying to watch.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003232872834 Becca Lower

    Very true, EBL. When he died, the standard of any semblance of fairness on the Sunday shows died with him. RIP.

  • http://wizbangblog.com/ Adjoran

    As I said repeatedly throughout the primaries and election, anyone who wants to be President should have a working command of the issues on their own. There is no need at all for a bunch of leftist journolist/celebrity wannabes on panels to ask questions and no need for even a moderator except as timekeeper.

    We should invite the networks to cover debates in turn, they can put on whatever pre- and post-debate shows they want, but they have no panelists or moderators to push their agenda.

    I don’t think Bachmann belonged on the stage at that point in the race, her campaign had already fizzled, but that should have been a decision for the Party, not the networks.