Lehrer on Defensive Over Biased Questioning

News Max.com ^ | October 1, 2004 | News Max Staff

[LibWhacker]

Yep, true, that's a doozy and I'm glad we got it! :-)

But all I'm saying is, what do we gain by this? We were already leading. We got another doozy out of Kerry, but we already had a lot of doozies, and all the networks are chortling this morning about how Kerry won (even though that's a lie). They wouldn't have it to chortle about at all if there hadn't been a debate. I just keep coming back to this: It's an unneccesary risk for the home team, I think, that's all. But I'm old school.

[jimthewiz]

Right and Lehrer's next question referred to Kerry's previous answer several time. Of course it was just a coincidence. There was no advance knowledge exchanged.

[dubyain04jebin08and12]

I think Kerry did a better job of knowing how they would be asked. He would have answered "Are people dying for a mistake" better if he knew them in advance.

[biggiant1]

I AGREE 100% SKERRY WAS TOO PREPARED FOR THE QUESTIONS. HE HAD AN IDEA OF THE QUESTIONS BEFORE RESPONDING JUST BY THE LOOK ON HIS FACE AND HIS HEAD BOBING UP AND DOWN. REMEMBER IN THE BEGINNING OF THE DEBATE SKERRY SAID "I KNOW YOU ARE GOING TO DISCUSS THAT LATER" REGARDING A HOMELAND SECURITY. THAT'S A FUNNY THING TO SAY UNLESS IT'S A SLIP! BEING FROM MASS. I KNOW HOW THIS CLOWN WORKS. GWB STILL HAD A BAD NIGHT BUT THERE WILL BE OTHERS.

[Quick1]

Yes, he wrote the questions. But when you're reading them aloud from paper, it's not hard to see how he made a simple mistake. He also noticed his mistake right away, so he didn't "get it wrong". It sounded like a simple misstatement that was corrected immediately after it came out of his mouth, so I don't get what the big deal is.

NewsMax is trying to stretch this and say that he "claimed over 10,000 soldiers died", when he said "10,052 - excuse me, 1,052." I noticed the mistake, but thought nothing of it. It happens.

[LegalEagle61]

I could have sworn at the end of the debate that Lehrer did wink at Kerry, at first I thought I was seeing things but it was caught right on camera.

[MayflowerMadam]

"Come on, he never "claimed" that 10,052 soldiers had died in Iraq. It was a simple misstatement that he corrected IMMEDIATELY. It's easy to see that he thought there was an extra 0 in there when he read the question."

Not buying that. A sixth grader can read a four-digit number easily, and so can Lehrer. Just plant a little seed that some people will glom on to.

[Quick1]

I AGREE 100% SKERRY WAS TOO PREPARED FOR THE QUESTIONS. HE HAD AN IDEA OF THE QUESTIONS BEFORE RESPONDING JUST BY THE LOOK ON HIS FACE AND HIS HEAD BOBING UP AND DOWN.

You've obviously never participated on the debate team. Standard practice. And the fact that he was "prepared" for the questions? I would hope he was prepared for about 1,000 other questions, as well. He SHOULD have an idea of what kinds of questions are going to be asked, otherwise he should be firing his prep staff.

REMEMBER IN THE BEGINNING OF THE DEBATE SKERRY SAID "I KNOW YOU ARE GOING TO DISCUSS THAT LATER" REGARDING A HOMELAND SECURITY. THAT'S A FUNNY THING TO SAY UNLESS IT'S A SLIP!

Uh, the topic was Foreign Policy and Homeland Security. Of course it's going to be talked about later.

By the way, I think your caps lock key is stuck. You don't need to yell.

[Steven W.]

with some debate watchers claiming he gave the top Democrat a knowing wink

I saw that! It happened at the end, he waited until Theresa had come up on stage so he could congratulate them both (Thereas + Lurch) and, then, as he walked off the stage, Kerry told him thanks and Leher winked at him!

[tiki]

When you are as liberal as these guys you don't know what biased is, it skews your brain.

[Quick1]

Oh please. Really grasping at straws here to blame someone for last night. If the Twins lose, I can say they lost without needing to justify it. No need to dwell on it for longer than a few minutes before it's time to start thinking about the next game.

Go read a chapter of your favorite book, and see if you read every word precisely.

[LibWhacker]

Not buying that. A sixth grader can read a four-digit number easily, and so can Lehrer.

Bingo! I'm with you. Lehrer is way too old to have been dumbed down by the social rejects of the NEA.

Funny how these "innocent" mistakes never go the other way.

[lilylangtree]

That last sentence said it all. Get rid of Lehrer.

[Quick1]

Go write down 20 questions. Come back two days later and see if you read them all precisely.

Seriously people, get a grip. This is like football fans crying that the refs jobbed them after a loss. Pathetic, and not up to FR standards. We're better than this.

[freestyle]

I like to stay away from conspiracy theories. If there was a wink, I'm not going to read into it too much.

I thought the questions were bland and not very challenging to either candidate.

Like the author in this article states though, there was nothing on comparing the records or past decisions. Nothing on Israel and Palestine.

I was actually looking forward to this being a broad foreign policy debate. I thought in that format Bush would have "surprised" the average Joe with his handle on all the issues as well as his consistent doctrine and philosophy.

EVERYONE has been saying that when they talk about IRAQ, it is bad for Bush (because of the casualties, be-headings and the MSM general portrayal of chaos). So yes, focusing this whole debate on Iraq only ***could*** have been a conscious decision by the moderator...

...but I doubt it. No harm done though. The worst thing that we'll see is some of the Bush supporters being a little depressed and Kerry voters being woken up a bit. That won't last... voters may vote on style over substance or substance over style, but the MAJORITY of the electorate will not elect a man with ABSOLUTELY ZERO SUBSTANCE. And that is what we have in John Kerry.

[biggiant1]

You make excellent points but You don't find it odd that he didn't even take a breath to gather his thought's.

Cap's stuck "yelling", no wonder my ear's are ringing. It's the Red Sox fans crying due to the fact they came in second again.

[georgia peach]

Yes, and yes! I think the same thing. He was too ready with alot of information at his manicured fingertips.

[LibWhacker]

Don't know about you, but I WOULD N E V E R say "ten thousand fifty two" while looking at '1,052.' You'd have to be an idiot.

[Quick1]

Good for you. But he did. It's done.

NOW STOP CRYING.

I've had about enough of the babies in here crying about something so stupid and inane. I'm done for a while. You're all pissing me off. Let me know when you grow up.

[hgro]

Lehrer's politics couldn't be more obvious if he was wearing a Kerry/Edwards tee shirt. The guy is a lefty as are all of his pals on PBS.