Remarkable media bias at last night’s debate
By Tom Quiner
George Stephanopoulos
Just when you think the media can’t crane to the left any further, they surprise you.
Take ABC’s George Stephanopoulos with this question in last night’s Republican debate:
[Do you believe] “that states have the right to ban contraception, or is that trumped by a constitutional right to privacy?”
Think about this question.
As Mitt Romney, the target of the question, pointed out, no state is interested in banning contraception.
No candidate is calling for a ban on contraception.
Not even the Catholic Church is calling for legislation to ban all contraception. (The Church believes that “contraception offends against the openness to procreation required of marriage and also the inner truth of conjugal love.” They only call for the ban of contraception approaches that are known abortifacients.)
Mr. Stephanopoulos’ goal was to simply stir the pot and try to get Republicans in trouble with a ridiculously obtuse hypothetical question.
Stephanopoulos was joined by another ABC liberal, Diane Sawyer, in setting up questions to pit candidates against each other and portray them in as unfavorable light as possible. One line of questioning involved the sensitive subject of gay marriage.
Newt Gingrich turned the tables with a sharp retort:
“I just want to raise a point about the news media bias. You don’t hear the opposite question asked. Should the Catholic Church be forced to close its adoption services in Massachusetts because it won’t accept gay couples, which is exactly what the state has done? Should the Catholic Church be driven out of providing charitable services in the District of Columbia because it won’t give in to secular bigotry? Should the Catholic Church find itself discriminated against by the Obama administration on key delivery of services because of the bias and the bigotry of the administration?”
Quiner’s Diner has written on all of these subjects. [See “The relentless assault on our religious liberties.] The MSM is pointedly disinterested in the same subjects. I wonder why?
Kudos for Mr. Gingrich for re-framing the question properly. I’d like to see all the candidates employ this technique more frequently.
I thought Santorum, Gingrich, and Huntsman came across very strong last night. However, so did Romney. Ron Paul came across in his usual uninspiring squeaky whine. Rick Perry did pretty well for Rick Perry.
The two top conservatives, Santorum and Gingrich, need to focus their sites on Romney. Gingrich, in particular, needs to expose Romney’s economic plan for what it is: Keynesian economics, or in other words, Obama Lite. Gingrich alone presents a robust Supply Side economic approach that creates jobs by the bucket full.
Santorum, like Obama, wants to choose winners and losers with targeted tax rates for manufacturers. Let’s not discriminate. Gingrich’s approach benefits all and will put the economy in overdrive quicker than you can say, “Barack Obama, former president of the United States.”