Sarah Palin Can’t Answer Questions She Should Be Able To … Fox Nation Blames Questioners

Gov. Sarah Palin struggles to answer questions that a vice presidential candidate should be able to answer (or at least look decent dancing around it) and who gets the blame: interviewers like Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric. It’s not Sarah’s fault, she didn’t know what the “Bush Doctrine” was, couldn’t name U.S. Supreme Court cases other than Roe v. Wade and couldn’t (or wouldn’t) name newspapers she reads … it’s that darned mainstream media according to the good Americans at Fox Nation. Gibson is being nominated for am Emmy for his interview with Palin and Fox does not like that.

Emmy Nominations for Palin Hatchet Jobs

Nominations for the 30th Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards were announced today. PBS picked up the most nominations with 41. CBS News followed with 23; ABC News has 13; NBC 10; CNN 8; BBC America with 3; and MSNBC has 2.

Here is part of the story Fox Nation links to:

Nominations for the 30th Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards were announced today. PBS picked up the most nominations with 41. CBS News followed with 23; ABC News has 13; NBC 10; CNN 8; BBC America with 3; and MSNBC has 2.”60 Minutes” leads all shows with 15 nominations. “World News with Charles Gibson” has the most nominations for the evening newscasts with 7; “Nightly News with Brian Williams” picks up 5, including for Breaking News coverage of the death of Tim Russert; and the CBS “Evening News with Katie Couric” has 3 nominations, including for Couric’s “Campaign Questions” series during the 2008 election.

• CNN has two Breaking News-Long Form nominations — for coverage of the Democratic National Convention and for Election Night.

• NBC News is the only broadcast network nominated for its Election Night Coverage.

• Charlie Gibson is nominated for his interview with Sarah Palin.

Media Bistro:
http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/awards_accolades/news_documentary_emmy_nominations_announced_121533.asp

Republicans Are Attacking ABC Over Something That Hasn’t Even Happened

President Obama will be on ABC news during a prime-time special that is being called “Questions for the President: Prescription for America.” Right wingers are already whining about it and some have referred to it as an infomercial for the president and asserted that he will not be challenged. This is the kind of prejudice that makes no sense. The Republicans need to stop whining and work a little bit harder to get their alternative plan (if they have one) for health care reform. Taking shots at the President’s plan while not offering an alternative one seems to serve no useful purpose. Republicans can take a platform of their own and get their own message out and their own plan out. But, that is kind of difficult to do when you’re whining about the media.

Here is part of the Fox News report:

Opponents of President Obama’s proposed health care reform are blasting ABC News for refusing to air opposing ads during a prime time special next Wednesday, just as a new study finds ABC News coverage of the president’s health care plan is favorable by a ratio of 3 to 1.

The prime time special — called “Questions for the President: Prescription for America” — will be a nationally televised event during which Obama will answer questions presented by audience members selected by ABC News. The network has refused to accept advocacy ads during the hourlong show.

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele accused ABC News and anchor Charles Gibson of making Obama’s case for “nationalized” health care “without any opportunity for opposing views to be aired.

That is quite a statement for something we’ve not yet seen.

More from the Fox story:

In a fundraising e-mail aimed at raising nearly $100,000 to buy air time for a counterprogram, Steele said the RNC’s request to add its views to the debate during the special was “flatly rejected” by ABC News.

“What are the Democrats and their media allies afraid of? The truth?” he asked in a fundraising letter to supporters. “That is outrageous! And we will not take it!”

But ABC News spokesman Jeffrey Schneider told FOXNews.com that it has been a “longstanding” policy not to accept “advocacy” ads.

Schneider explained that the policy was established decades ago and only local ABC affiliates air issue ads.

If ABC is truly being consistent (with its ad policy), then Republicans should quit whining. It sounds as if they can go to local affiliates and do what needs to be done. That should be their approach if they are truly interested in something other than creating a controversy out of nothing … or, a nontroversy. In this country, to the victor goes the spoils. The Democrats won big in November and they have the bigger megaphone (just as Republicans did when George W. Bush was in office the previous eight years).

Fox News:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/06/18/critics-attack-abc-news-refusing-air-opposing-ads-obamas-health-care-special/