Absurd questions anger Biden in Orlando

I've heard and written about probably hundreds of interviews of all of the presidential candidates since the primaries began nearly two years ago, but the one in the video above has got to be one of the more outrageous ones I've heard during this election cycle. During an interview with WFTV Channel 9's Barbara West in Orlando, Florida, Biden did a pretty good job of keeping his cool - better than I could have.

Biden fielded a litany of absurd questions ranging from the Obama campaign's alleged influence over ACORN (including an inquiry asking if Biden was "embarrassed" by his campaign's alleged association with the group); whether Obama is a "socialist"; and then West wondered about Sen. Barack Obama's comment, to Joe the Plumber, about spreading the wealth. She quoted Karl Marx and asked how Obama isn't being a Marxist with his "spreading the wealth" comment. Following those queries, a clearly frustrated Biden asked, "I don't know who's writing your questions."

To be clear, I have absolutely no problem with tough questions being asked of any of the four candidates - too often, they all attempt to set up interviews with fluff, feel-good questions that inform voters of nothing. Some terrific examples of just this are Sarah Palin's interviews with Katie Couric & Charlie Gibson, which she bombed anyway. Biden answered more tough questions during the five-minute interview in the video above than Palin has since she joined the ticket.

Following the interview, the Obama campaign canceled a Jill Biden interview for the following day. Of course, the right-wingnuts decried this "censorship" of the media, but doesn't even hold up for a nanosecond.

A few weeks ago, McCain kicked New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd off his campaign plane for questions he didn't like, and there are numerous other occasions of media censorship during the Bush years justified by media treatment it wasn't thrilled with. Anyone remember Bush saying to Dick Cheney during the '00 campaign, "There's Adam Clymer, major league asshole from the New York Times"? Or how about Jeff Gannon, the conservative plant from Talon News, who Bush called on in 2005 during a press conference when the questions got tough? (He wasn't even smart enough to be low key, asking Bush a question that included a comment that the Democrats are "divorced from reality") Or how about the Bush administration signing conservative pundits to lucrative contracts using TAXPAYER MONEY to push its agenda in 2005? (Are you listening, Armstrong Williams?)

Getting back to the interview with Biden, for those of you who think that Channel 9's Barbara West is some impartial, tough journalist, watch how she handled an interview with John McCain on Oct. 14. I heard more softballs tossed at McCain during that tongue bath than I've heard tossed at Obama in the last six months.

Pretty hilarious that the very same media that McCain more than once has called "his base" is now the mortal enemy, totally in the tank for Obama.

Riiight.

Fox smear 101: a montage of Obama love

I posted this some time ago, but it's worth posting again for a number of reasons:

1. Fox, specifically people like Sean Insanity, will do just about anything to try and make Barack Obama look bad. Wait, excuse me, it's Barack HUSSEIN Obama. Can these people possibly be any more childish? This is behavior fit for a playground.

2. This video is a reminder of what political activism can do. I'm not saying that Fox Attacks or any other one organization or event single-handedly caused the Democrats to pull out of the Nevada Democratic Primary Debate that was scheduled for this August, but Democrats signing petitions, sending e-mails, and voicing their extreme displeasure at the whole idea in the first place most certainly played a major role in the party's decision to cancel the event. The only question I have now is, what were the Democrats thinking in the first place?

In recent days, I've heard some argue that cancelling the even on Fox News deprives the Democratic candidates of a chance to reach out to a new audience of voters. There is some validity to that, I suppose, but I feel the overriding concern here is the network's continuing, systematic effort to paint Democrats in an overwhelmingly negative light. And I you think I'm serving up steaming b.s., watch the video clip above, again.

3. Since the bogus "Madrassa" story about Obama, the presidential candidate has shunned Fox News, and that's led some conservatives to decry the "censorship." That's pure, unadulterated bullshit.

Does anyone remember Dick Cheney kicking the New York Times off of his plane for a time when he didn't like the coverage he was getting? Most who criticize Obama's decision conveniently forget Cheney's activities.

Another example - anyone remember Cheney and President Bush caught on camera calling a reporter from the New York Times "a major league asshole"? I do.

Way back in 2000, during a September campaign appearance in Chicago (from Salon.com):

Then Bush spotted New York Times reporter Adam Clymer, who has been with the paper since 1977, serving as national political correspondent during the 1980 presidential race, as polling editor from 1983 to 1990 and as political editor during the successful presidential campaign of Bush's father in 1988.

"There's Adam Clymer -- major league asshole -- from the New York Times," Bush said.

"Yeah, big time," returned Cheney.

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Yea, Democrats are the only ones who take steps against media coverage they don't like.

Right!