When I arrived at the "Face The Nation" website I saw a picture of Obama all over the front page so I started to be a bit skeptical, but this was understandable since there was a recent Obama interview conducted on September 28, 2008. I watched the interview and was amazed at how pleasant and friendly the conversation was. Obama was asked some questions and given plenty of time to talk. Perhaps Schieffer likes to pitch softballs and likes to give his guests plenty of time to get their talking points out. No political bias so far.
I was intrigued enough to hunt around for the most recent McCain interview, and I found one conducted September 7, 2008. Similar to Obama's interview, the McCain Interview was very pleasant and cordial. However, I could sense something fishy going on so I decided to get to the bottom of it.
The transcripts of the two Interviews are very telling (Obama Interview .pdf Transcript - McCain Interview .pdf Transcript). They provide an excellent side by side comparison of the two interviews. Some people may find it difficult to pick out the political bias but once you see how the spot biased questions they hit you like a Mac truck. It is no accident either as the people writing these interviews are some of the best in the business. In the two interviews analyzed, I found the questions asked of Obama set Obama up with a perfect opportunity to frame the issues and to attack or reduce his opponents. It was pure softballs. On the other hand, with McCain the interview questions put McCain in a compromising political situation.
First I highlight the crux of the questions Schieffer asked Obama. As you will see, the questions either let Obama frame the issues for the benefit or Obama's campaign or they give Obama an opportunity to attack his opponents.
SCHEIFFER TO OBAMA:
…
(referring to the bailout) Senator, it's still very complicated. We should stress this, it still hasn't even been put down on paper, all of it. But I know you were talking with the negotiators through the night last night. What can you tell us about it, and can you support it?
…
How crucial is it that this pass? How bad is this situation right now?
…
should Senator McCain be getting the credit here for forcing these people back to the negotiating table?
…
This is your first time to talk about the debate since then. How do you think it went?
…
Some Democrats said that they thought he (McCain) was being condescending to you. Did you take it in that way?
…
Would you, and under what conditions would you talk to, say, somebody like President Ahmadinejad of Iran?
…
While we're still on foreign policy, Senator McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin, claimed in an interview that Alaska's proximity to Russia somehow enhances her foreign policy experience and credentials. Do you agree with that?
…
Well, do you believe she's qualified?
…
But don't you think what she says is important?
…
I mean, she could be a heartbeat away from the presidency.
…
McCain said one thing he would do would freeze spending… Freeze all government programs with the exception of entitlements, national defense and veterans' care. Do you think that's feasible?
As you just saw, the questions asked gave Obama flexibility to frame the issues and allowed Obama to attack his opponents. If "Face The Nation" is unbiased, then we should expect the same kind of the treatment in an interview with McCain that took place a few weeks earlier. Let's see…
SCHEIFFER TO MCCAIN:
…
(Schieffer brought up issues mentioned at the Republican convention)You're saying it was your party that was part of the problem and that you can be the agent of change. How do you convince people of that?
…
Are you going to try to form some sort of unity government? Are you going to try to have Democrats within your administration as well as Republicans?
…
So you're going to have Democrats in the White House?
…
Will you have Democrats in your Cabinet?
…
(Schieffer brought up Palin) But there's also a number of people, some of your supporters who are a little bit worried about it … Charles Krauthammer, the very conservative columnist....said the other day that the only constitutional job of the vice president is to be ready to become president at a moment's notice, and he said flatly, "She is not ready." How do you answer him?
…
He says, "Barack Obama is the least qualified presidential candidate in living memory." But he says when you picked Palin...the case against Obama, that case evaporates.
…
When will you let her out to campaign on her own? When will she start having news conferences? When will she start doing interviews?
…
(schiefer brought up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) There's no way you can say this is not going to cost the taxpayers billions of dollars. Do you think this is a good idea, Senator McCain?
…
You're talking about--they're going to have some more regulation. Is that what you're saying? More control?
…
Senator McCain, I want to ask you about the use of the term "community organizer." We heard Rudy Giuliani talk about Barack Obama being a community organizer, and he sort of did it in a sort of denigrating way. And the audience sort of giggled when he said that. And then we heard Governor Palin talk about being a mayor, and she said, "That's being a community organizer with responsibilities." You know, I know a lot of people who think being a community organizer's a pretty good thing to do. I know in your speech, at the end, one of the parts that I liked most was when you called on Americans, "If you want to make things better, enlist in the military, teach, help somebody that's hungry." Why would they use that term in that way?
…
So you do not think that it's a negative that Barack Obama was a community organizer?
…
Is that why you said that you're the one who can change, and that he's just sort of not up to it?
…
I want to ask you about the composition of the--of the convention. There were 36 African-American delegates out of 2300-plus delegates there. How can you survive as a party if you become just the party of white people?
…
So what are you going to do about that?
…
Let me ask you about this. You and I both know that the all-volunteer army is about the best army in the world. I don't think there's any question about that. But we have one half of one percent of the American people who are making all of the sacrifice in this war. If the rest of us didn't watch televising or looked at the newspaper, we might not know there's a war going on. Our taxes didn't go up, there's no rationing. If you didn't look for it, you wouldn't know the war was going on. Shouldn't there be some way, in a democracy, that we share this burden?
…
You and Barack Obama will appear together at ground zero...on 9/11…Tell me about that.
Wow, what a difference between the two interviews. Granted, there is not one smoking gun question that screams out biased interview, but the side by side comparison of the two "Face The Nation" interviews shows them to be incredibly biased. Obama was given a chance to frame the issues as Obama wanted, and gave Obama lots of oppertunities to attack his opponents. It was very different for McCain. McCain was put in a position to attack his own party. McCain was put in a position to talk about how the opposing party should be in his cabinet and administration. McCain was put in a position to defend Palin from attacks by his own party. McCain was put in a position to defend something that was prefaced as "going to cost the taxpayers billions of dollars". McCain was put in a position to have to defend his oponent's role as a community organizer. McCain was put in a position to talk about how more black people should be part of politics. McCain was asked to discuss a controversial aspect of America's volunteer army. Lastly, McCain was asked to talk about spending a non-partisan day with his fellow American, Barack Obama on September 11th, just to make sure McCain wouldn't take the closing moments of the Interview to go after any of Obama's policies or statements.
I conclude that "Face The Nation" does indeed have huge political bias, at least with regard to this election and the two candidates running for president.
