Charlie’s Blog

I imagine McCain’s numbers will be about the same as Palin’s and Obama’s, at least at the beginning of his speech. Even if we have made up our minds about who we’re going to vote for, it’s good to listen to opposing views. I did listen to Palin last night, but didn’t have the favorable impression touted by many. I thought she misrepresented herself and Obama. Lies, even when told masterfully, are still lies.

Did you ask McCain re Palin’s $27 Million in federal pork? Or that her town was cited by McCain for its porky ways?
Or that as recently as August 4, she praised Obama’s energy policy? Or ask if the press release that was on the governor’s official web site was removed as a favor to the McCain camp by someone on taxpayer time?
OR PALIN’S (not her husband) PARTICIPATION IN THE seccessionist Alaskan Independence Party?
Charley, just what is your job description? Whatever it is, you can see the press release praising Obama if you google ‘Palin praised Obama energy’.

She did a nice job with the delivery. Smugs the word. The thing I fear about this lady is not her lack of experience. My fear is about her experience. Her experience preaching as she governs, her experience destroying wildlife and tundra. Her experience preaching abstinence and the resulting outcome. Her experience asking for the firing of an ex-family trooper…on and on. Her experience is enough to tell me that she should not be a heart beat away from the presidency.
This is vincible for the Obama campaign, but they must take the gloves off.
Thanks for your long post today- great update.

Charlie we watch your evening regularly and think you are generally unbiased in your reporting. However, on GMA this morning,your defense of your questions of Gov. Palin’s experience being appropriate were a bit weak. I agree that the questions are legitimate, but I have not heard those same questions posed to Sen Obama. He is the candidate for President, not VP, and he doesn’t have nearly as much experience as Gov. Palin. I would like to see the three major network Anchors apply the same standard regardless of whether they are discussing Democrats or Republicans. It appears to me that there is bias in the mainstream media in favor of the Democrats and that Sen. Obama is not being asked the tough questions that should be asked.

Charlie, you continue to be a biased “news” analyst. How you justify someone without experience to be potentially the next VP is frightening. She didn’t even write her own speech, but you’ll overlook it because you feel you can!

The criticism of the media concerning Palin is a result of putting her family, specifically her daughter, under the microscope, not Palin herself. Since when has being a Governor not good experience for higher political office? As I recall, Carter was a Governor, and oh, Bill Clinton. But since people need to be put under the pressure of the scope, why not do that with Obama? It’s funny how the media skims over Obama’s shady past and associates. Everyone who has read Obama’s books on his life, needs to give a fair read and consideration to Corsi’s book, “The Obama Nation”. I hear Obama say questionable things all the time and things that are not true, or “flip flopping”. Let’s get past color, gender, and age and focus on proven record. Obama doesn’t have one. According to his state and national record in elected office, he’s abstained from voting more than voting. What’s that about? Is he afraid or just indecisive? I don’t trust someone like that! To be a leader, one needs to be able to Lead! Jesus said (who Obama says he believes in), “Let your YES be YES and your NO be NO, for whoever is more than these is from the evil one.” Say what you believe PLEASE. Frankly, I’m surprised and very disappointed in you Charlie and the whole ABC team. Yesterday, while watching you, I missed Peter Jennings and his fair and respectful manner of reporting, irregardless of his beliefs.

If Hillary Clinton had compared herself to a pitbull when she was campaigning, the Republicans would have shredded her.

I’m finding these blogs to be so interesting…have even forwarded them on to family and friends. Thanks for a very balanced presentation of the news. Your McCain interview was a fine example in professionalism…you were respectful while asking the questions that needed to be asked. Keep it coming!!!

At last – they’re gone and we can get on with the campaign.
I said I would try to listen to the RNC but after hearing Palin’s smugness and her parroting the barbs thrown at Obama, I just could not stand any more. Giuliani’s speech was deplorable and Palin’s was not much better. (BTW Whoopee referred to Giuliani as “9/11″). Well now I refer to McCain as “POW”. I respect him — and always will, no matter what — but he needs to get off that kick.
Where were the issues? I guess if you don’t have anything to say, the next thing is to sling mud.
Palin came off as smug and elitist. Her past “experience” sounds like a huge case of abuse of power.
Speaking of her “experience” let’s compare it to the current White House resident. Quite interesting. The current occupant has alot more experience as governor. He had been to alot more foreign countries that Palin (but couldn’t recall the names of leaders during his campaign). There are alot of similarities and we all know what the majority of Americans AND foreign powers think of him!!!
And McCain is now McBush!
Thanks for listening. Have a good night.

Charlie;
Thanks for all you DO find time to write and for asking some tough questions. Keep it up!
I did not find McCain’s answer believable, however, when you asked him if he really thought Gov. Palin to be the best vice-presidential candidate that he could have picked. In fact I found it truly condescending. Alaska’s proximity to Russia infers that she has foreign relations experience?? Does he think we are all idiots? Because I live next to a bank, does that make me brilliant in handling money?
Then there’s the line about being a maverick. During Sarah Palin’s years as mayor of Wasilla the first thing she did was hire a lobbyist to go to Washington and score $27 MILLION dollars in earmarks for a town of 7,000 people. And with all that largess, she still left the town $20 MILLION in debt. Sounds to me like she learned how to be an insider politician pretty damn quick–even without going to Washington. Where is the substance? She’s running for Vice President, not for comedy show host.

Has anyone heard McCain say WHOSE taxes he will cut? I don’t think he wants us to know that he will cut taxes for the rich and big business, but not for us – the working class.

Charlie, for years I have loved watching you on TV and now I look forward to following you on your blog as well. As someone who also just started a blog, I understand the questions you raise of whether blogs are worth the time, and I also feel how you feel when I get behind. I think once we get in the blogging groove it will get easier.
I was actually just writing a post about how much I’ve enjoyed some of your side notes in your convention coverage: first at the DNC on the Hillary night when you joked, “We’ll have continuing coverage tomorrow on Good Morning America, which is in about 15 minutes,” and second, how fascinated you were with the balloons at the RNC. The shot of you, Diane, and George all with your backs to the camera admiring the balloons was just so classic. It made me happy that the three of you appreciated the balloons just as much as I did. In fact, it was in searching for a photo of it that led to me discover your blog (and soon you’ll have a prominent link on my page).
In reading your posts, I love hearing about all the planning that goes into the show. You and your crew face so many obstacles but seem to overcome them all to create a flawless show every time. It really makes me want to work with you!
Finally, I noticed in the photo of you on your second post that you use a PC. Have you ever tried using a Mac? I find them to be way more useful and fun and I’m sure you would too. I think you should have ABC get you a new MacBook Pro.

Charlie,
It IS very IMPORTANT to know “why” her husband belonged to an organization, for 7 LONG YEARS, that hates America so much they want Alaska to secede from the United States.
When you interview Palin, are you going to ask her why her husband belonged to a hate-America group for 7 years?
Are you going to ask her why she gave the Opening Address to the 2008 AIP Convention?
It isn’t every day a govenor of a state gives the opening address for a group that wants to secede from the United States.
Gov. Palin GAVE the 2008 opening address to just that group. Her Opening Address is on You Tube video titled:
“McCain’s ‘Alaska First’ problem”
At the Convention the AIP leader said, “we don’t say we’re Americans we say we’re Alaskans – when we talk about America kids in classrooms put their thumbs DOWN when we talk about Alaska our kids put their thumbs UP”
Charlie, Palin’s affiliations and her HUSBANDS affilitiation are absolutely relevent and should be investigated as thoroughly as Obama’s affiliations have been.

dear charlie,
as a working woman who has not decided how to cast my vote, I would like answers to some of these questions. seems to me the internet is offering a wealth of info that suggests Palin is not a reformer but a fraud.

Now that you’ve scored the coveted interview with Palin, please keep your duties as a member of the press in mind. We don’t need soft-focus walks showcasing the beauty of Alaska, we don’t need any background on her family unless you are also going to ask about her and her husband’s involvement in the AIP, we don’t need background on Bristol’s pregnancy unless you are going to ask about how this relates to her opposition to choice and advocacy of abstinence only education.
What we do need is specific answers to legitimate questions concerning her background as mayor and governor and how her speeches have been at odds with the facts back home – earmarks, Wasilla debt, repeated lies about the bridge to nowhere, etc.
And please anticipate the initial dodge that she (and many politicians) provide to the first question asked on a subject and be prepared with a follow-up. In a nutshell, please be prepared to do your job and get answer to questions that voters need – let People magazine have the puff pieces, you get the answer to issues.

I would hope that your questions of Sarah Palin will be just as in-depth as the questions that you and your colleague George Stephanopolis asked of Barack Obama at the debate ABC hosted.

“It took some time in thinking about it, but I finally decided not to even bring up the issues with her family, for they are issues of family and should remain so.”
Baloney
Once Palin paraded those children in front of the klieg lights, subjected them to google frenzy and shopped them to the tabloids, it ceased to become a “family issue.”
“Once you know about…her husband’s political interest in the Alaskan Independence Party…I think that’s enough.”
More baloney.
Does media hypocrisy know no limits? Digging into the “first dude’s” fantasies of seceding from the United States of America is something that every single American deserves to know. Charlie, if your country comes first you owe it to all of us to ask such pertinent questions. In fact, all Americans, left and right, should be up in arms right now, demanding that you do it.
There is pandering. And there is shameful pandering.

By the way–it sounds like the “maverick” and the “barracuda” are chicken. I’d say that the emperor has no clothes but in this case it’s both the emperor and (his) court who are chicken…

Top 10 Questions For Sarah Palin
1. What was your actual role in the Bridge to Nowhere?
2. Why did you say at you r acceptance speech that the Alaska’s jet was put on Ebay, inferring that it was sold there, when it was not?
3. You say that you are opposed to earmarks, but yet under your leadership, Alaska has accepted hundreds of millions in earmark funds. Can you explain this dichotomy?
4. What foreign policy decisions, if any, have you made?
5. Why is it that you have never traveled outside of the country until last year?
6. What role will God play in your political decision making? Do you, as reported, pray to God against the Democrats?
7. Why is the McCain campaign interfering with the current “TrooperGate” investigation? Do you think that you broke the law by your actions in the original incident? Is the campaign worried that this problem will blow up in its face?
8. Like your church advocates, do you believe that Gays can pray and become straight?
9. John McCain says that the economy is not a strong suit for him. What economic experience do you bring to the table? What kind of economic shape did you leave the city of Wasilla in when you left as mayor?
10 Why should the American public trust that McCain and Palin will be genuine forces for change, when John McCain has approved 90 percent of Geore Bush’s policies? And, how would you accomplish change, given the Congress will likely be Democratic controlled.

I hope you won’t wait 52 minutes before getting into policy issues with Gov. Palin, Mr. Gibson, and you did at the April Democratic debate.

The most frightening thing in Palin’s acceptance speech was when she made fun of giving rights to people who are detained. We have spent nearly eight years watching our Constitution and founding values erode. And we have watched people around the world lose faith in democracy (and developing countries turn to Asia for economic partnership rather than associate with us). People died horrible deaths in the American Revolution to win those rights.
I don’t think people who are in Guantanomo’s prison camps or the citizens who were whisked away to foreign countries for brutal interrogations found Palin’s comments amusing.
Any abuse can be rationalized. But all of the important issues mean little if there is no country left to debate them in.

The whole Republican convention, including McCain’s speech, was bizarre.
They are all running against Washington, as if the Republicans weren’t responsible for the mess we are in — including many policies and disasters that McCain supported and enabled.
From the economy to education to the erosion of the Constitution and human rights, they are all based on Republican action or inaction in the last eight years.
With the county and world worse in nearly every way because of their actions it is remarkable that the polls are so close. How is that possible? Are people really willing to let the whole world end as long as the candidate is against gay marriage?

How do you begin to ask questions to determine whether a person would be able to step into a situation she knows nothing about? I feel for you, Charlie?
The subtleties of the issues in so many parts of the world benefit from someone who has thought about them and investigated them. And the approach to solving those problems are just as important. Does she focus on the underlying bond we share as human beings? Or does she focus on the narrow identities of race, gender, religion, and nationality. Our domestic and foreign policy problems would be much easier to handle and much reduced if our president focused on the bond we share and made everyone a partner rather than an adversary. Don’t you think?

Charlie,now that you have been granted the first interview of our potential next VP…are you going to ask her about why she lied about the ‘Bridge to Nowhere’, not once but several times?

My questions for Sarah Palin:
1. Do you agree with the argument that Alaska’s proximity to Russia has given you foreign policy experience?
2. Is it fair to portray yourself as a crusader against earmarks given that you hired a federal lobbyist for your town of 9,000? And that you changed positions on the Bridge to Nowhere and declined to return the money?
3. Why did you investigate the possibility of banning books in the Wasilla public libraries?
4. What is your position on teaching evolution? Comprehensive sex education?
5. In your convention speech you disparaged community organizers. Do you really believe that community organizers do not have “actual responsibilities?”
6. Your supporters have cited your leadership of the Alaska National Guard as evidence of your readiness to be commander in chief. Yet you have not issued a single command to the Alaska National Guard. What experience have you gained from your leadership of the Alaska National Guard?
7. How do you believe the country should respond to the challenge of global climate change?
8. What connections do you have to political parties that favor Alaska’s secession from the US?

Charlie stated in this blog: “Once you know about her daughter’s pregnancy, once you know about her husband’s political interest in the Alaska Independent Party, once you know about the special nature of their latest child, I think that’s enough.”
Are you saying that her husband’s interest in the AIP is a family matter and not a legitimate inquiry of journalists. Would you say the same if Obama’s wife was a member of this party and Obama was ostensibly a member who promoted the AIS via satellite in 2008 and purportedly attended their conferences in 2002 and 2006? The question goes to the heart of the campaign: Put America First.
ABC News spokesman Jeffrey Schneider said he did not believe Gibson’s stated stance about family questions was key to securing the interview. Is this the truth???
McCain campaign manager Rick Davis said the offer was made the day after the Republican convention and that there were no ground rules on what could be asked. Is this the truth??
If the answer to these two questions is yes, and if Charlie asks Palin the tough questions with appropriate follow-up, the interviews need to be re-broadcasted at least 3x before the election. It likely will be the only interview before the election. Charlie: I sure hope you proof me wrong. The world will be watching.
Dr. Monk

Charlie,
I am worried you will go soft on Sarah Palin when you get to interview her. You and George were so hard on Obama last spring. I feel that you will do the opposite and have a soft fuzzy interview with this person who has suddenly be pushed into a leading role.
I am worried that you, like Fox News, think you are fair and balanced but to me as a long time viewer of your World News program I sincerely feel you favor the Republicans and that bothers me. You may be the only public person who gets to interview Sarah Palin. I hope you get it right and asked what the American people deserve to know about her thoughts.
After all if McCain wins the election there is a huge chance that Sarah Palin would become the President.
I truly would like to know how far to the right she would lead the country. Is she ready to go to the middle east and negotiate with the Arabs and the Israeli? Does she know enough to understand the problems America and the world face?
Eight years of Bush not understanding world problems is something that we and the world cannot afford to have happen all over again.
Please, Charlie Gibson, ask the tough questions. We deserve to understand what she is made of, what she is prethinking about how she would act in Washington, and how much she would guide the country toward her version of God’s plan.

Dear Charlie:
Palin is a lot of Fluff!
As a women, I would love to see a women president or VP. However, I refuse to choose a women just because she is a women! I’m insulted that McCain chose someone you lacks the proper credentials and experience; when in fact there are so many other women more qualified. In my opinion, McCain’s decision to recruit Palin for VP was a reckless, cynical and desperate. By choosing Palin, he debunked his own claim of “country first”. Had he put his country first, he would have chosen someone better qualified to take over in the unfortunate event his Advanced age and/or health would get the better of him. Those who Proudly Voted for Hillary, voted based on her experience and her ideologies. Palin is a huge disappointment.

Charlie;
I concur–ask Palin what needs to be asked!! She has popped onto the scene 60 days before the election. She should expect to go through INTENSE scrutiny during that time since that’s all the time we have to get to know who she is and if she could manage the job. Everyone else has been going through it for months. If she thinks she’s tough “like a pitbull” then why is she dodging questions from the press? And if McCain is protecting her and easing things for her, he can’t have much faith that she will come through it still looking good–what does that say about him?!

I am resigned to the fact that this interview by Charley Gibson with Sarah Palin is going to be a lot of fluff and talking points, and very few areas of substance will be covered (e.g. what does Gov Palin mean that she will be an advocate for the disabled? Why did she cut funds to help teen moms? Why did she keep the earmarks for the “Bridge to Nowhere”, even though she is supposedly against pork? etc, etc, etc.) I am sure these questions will not be posed. Rather there will be many warm-and-fuzzy questions about hockey, baking cookies, and her husband’s snowmobile competitions.
It is really sad that the American voter now votes without ever knowing the facts.

Charlie, you have an incredible opportunity here. In fewer than 60 days we will make a decision that is perhaps more important than in most election years: 1)this VP may have a higher chance than usual to ascend to the presidency, and 2)the last 8 years have left us polarized, divided, and not much respected by the rest of the world’s countries.
We, the public, are not able to ask Sarah Palin the tough questions ourselves — for that we now depend on you. We need this info, Charlie.
Do not softball this interview. Please.
I’m sure yours must be a tough position to be in, but we need you to stand up and ask hard questions — and follow up — don’t let their prepared talking points walk on unchallenged.
This is your time, your opportunity, and the American people need you to come through for us. Go, Charlie, she says she’s a pitbull, she says she’s ready to lead … let’s see.

“The journalist’s job is to make politicians uncomfortable, to explore evasions, contradictions and vulnerabilities.”
That’s David Brooks after yours and Stephanopoulous’s hatchet job on Obama during the primaries. Any chance you live up to that, Charlie, or is there too much money at stake the millionaire money boys upstairs that are calling the tunes? We’ll see.

Population of Wasilla < some high schools
Did you know that the population of Wasilla when Palin was Mayor 96-2000 is about the same as the largest US high schools today ?
Maybe Gary Yoshinobu the principal of Belmont High CA in LA should be the vice presidential pick?

Charlie sold out- to agree to the terms of the Palin interview is just one more reason to do something constructive with my time that night(s).
Amazing to me what people will do to win, even in the ratings game.

Pete:
Thank you for your comment and insight. You clarified my anxiety regarding this two part interview.
Therefore, my advice to Charlie:
Ask the toughest and most relevant questions and appropriate followup questions in the first part of the interview. This will preserve the opportunity for journalistic integrity.
Second, if Palin and the McCain campaign can handle the heat and there is a second interview, ask more questions to clarify what wasn’t fully answered in the first interview. Spend little time dealing with ‘fluff’. If people want to know the propaganda side of Palin, they can watch her b.s. video presented at the Republican Convention.
The latest poll (USA/Gallup)show the McCain/Palin ticket is ahead by 10 points regarding likely voters. The Republicans used the media and election fraud to win the last two elections. So the big question for this election: Will you honor your profession by being a journalist in the best sense of the word or will you help cement a fascist state that has little compassion for its people and no or little allegiance to its civil liberties? The last liberty to fall will be our freedom of speech. The stakes are great. This is not hyperbole; it is the stark reality of our times.
Charlie, please ask the tough questions and appropriate followup questions in your first interview. As I stated in a recent post, Chris Wallace did an excellent job of interviewing both strategists for McCain and Obama. I am not a fan of Chris Wallace or fox, but the honorable path was taken by Chris. His job and your job was eloquently stated in a quote noted in a post by David:
“The journalist’s job is to make politicians uncomfortable, to explore evasions, contradictions and vulnerabilities.”
I would add: If they do not, our civil liberties, opportunities to provide a government that respects, provides for, and protects its citizenry, is at great peril.
Notice how many times people in your blog use the word please to impress upon you the importance of what you are tasked to do. They are the real Patriots of this county; they realize what is at stake and they truly give a damn about the founding principles of our government. Please do not let the American people down. Our founding fathers (and mothers)fought too hard for us to continue witnessing the slow and immoral erosion of our precious civil liberties. These liberties provided the world a hope for a better and safer tomorrow. Without them we have no light.
I appeal to you as a father and perhaps a grandfather. Do not let position, greed, or any other factor derail you from journalistic integrity; the stakes are just too high.
Peace

I expected more from Palin than the sarcasm she delivered at the convention. I expected a hint of substance, and a compelling demonstration of why she was chosen. I didn’t see it.
I know the Republicans will scream “sexism” if Charlie (or anyone else) asks her a tough question, but Clinton has proven that a woman can handle those and handle them well. And since Palin has chosen to put her family in the spotlight even while denouncing the attention given to her pregnant daughter and Down Syndrome son, questions about that judgement are fair game. (Personally, I’d be interested in how her “not in favor of choice” stance led her to her decision to continue her pregnancy after learning of a problem, and to her daughter’s decision to have a baby at 17 – don’t those decisions mean that they had choices?).

Mr Gibson,
I truly hope you address Sara Palin’s involvement with the 13,300 member strong Alaska Independence Party and their involvement in the 2nd Seccesionist Conference. Dexter Clark names her as a previous member who only joined the Republican Party to further AIP’s agenda.
At about 6 minutes into the video he says this. Search for Alaska Independence Party Part 1
Do we really want a Seccesionist sympathiser in the White House? Is this “Country first” or “Alaska First”

Charlie,
I think you are right not to ask Palin any questions about her personal life during the first really important interview she will give this week. Time is too short for voters to worry about this. It is far more important for people to know how she conducted the business of govt. in Alaska at the town and state level, but even more important is whether or not she has a grasp of the issues that will affect our lives at the national and international level. Does she understand the economy and the root of the current crisis in the housing market and with what happened to Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac ? What is her understanding of the war on terrorism and what is her position on torture ? How does she think the US needs to go about regaining the confidence of the other countries ? etc. Does she think creationism show be taught in public schools ? Does she really think that US troops are doing the work of God in Iraq ? These are issues that matter, not whether her daughter is pregnant her husband had a dui against him 20 years ago.

And Charlie, if you get booted out of any future interviews with her for taking too tough a stance, for being too harsh on her and asking her questions she’s just not prepared to answer, YOU WILL BE A HERO to journalists everywhere, and you will be helping our country to know the truth: she is not prepared, she is being coddled and kept from serious questioning by the media, and she is not ready for prime time. PLEASE BE TOUGH!

Charlie, Please ask questions about the issues when you interview Palin. I will be very disappointed if it is an easy interview. Ask her tough questions on what matters to us and challenge her if she doesn’t answer them honestly.

If only you do interview Governor Palin as you might have Governor Kaine. Since you accepted the interview schedule on the McCain campaign’s terms, and given the unbalanced range of questions from ABC’s last Democratic debate, which you moderated, I have grave doubts. And yes, leave Palin’s kids alone; her daughter’s pregnancy speaks volumes on its own as to her awful abstinence only position. Her husband however is another matter. He is an adult for one thing and there are some credible accusations he has much more access to things than an unelected individual has a right to.

Charlie,
Please ask Ms. Palin to discuss her attempts to ban books at the public library in Alaska. She will deny it of course, but it’s an important issue that needs to be discussed on the national stage, as our nation slowly and steadily sweeps the pesky first amendment under the rug.
Also, I’m sick of politicians telling half-truths and not getting called on it by the media. If (okay, when) she says that Obama called Iran a “small problem” as per the republican talking points, I will expect you to correct and say that what Obama said was the Iran is a small problem compared to Russia and Reagan was able to solve that without resorting to violence.
What I’m asking is that you conduct yourself like a journalist.

Questions to Ask:
1/Does she agree with taxing healthcare benefits?
2/What is a middle class income? What tax cut (in actual dollar amounts) will be given in McCain’s plan versus Obama’s plan to a middle income family.
3/How many barrels of oil would be obtained an ANWR? What would the cost be per barrel? When would it first be available and based on current daily U.S. Consumption how long would it last?

Dear Charlie,
Personally, I like you. You were a welcome presence in the mornings and I’m glad you’re now the evening anchor.
That said, after reading your blog, I’m concerned that your focus lies far more on the journalistic concerns of “a great story” which, sadly nowadays, describes the context of why the story is so fascinating. In the matter of electing candidates to office, and now particularly such a one as this, we have heard and seen all the attention-grabbing fluff. So yeah, we KNOW the dramatics already. PLEASE do yourself right–honor your profession, and respect the audience who would like to have some facts–specific, detailed, pertinent facts that can help us be informed. Doing a soft-shoe interview with more of the same side-stepping answers, obligatory and parroted rhetoric, and incomplete answers is not why we need your interview. If the truth doesn’t make headlines, may the universe take pity on us–Getting some real facts may also get you “a great story”. In fact, it may get you even more.

After your less than stellar mediation of the democratic debates, and a softballing of McCain in your last interview…ABC News and ABC is walking a thin line with me.
Softball Sarah Palin and your network is done in my home and anyone I can convince to do the same.
America needs journalists to TEAR APART the propaganda of BOTH sides. Not to just lob equal softballs to both camp and pack up afterwards when they don’t even answer the easy questions.
You must answer to America First. Credible journalism second and your shareholders a DISTANT third.

When did the press become buddy buddy with these politicians. I expect them to help be the watchdog for the public. Now we can’t trust the politicians AND the media.
I expect you to to be hard on BOTH parties candidates. You might as well not have the interview. We are already are going to know the answers before even asked.

Charlie, you say that Palin’s experience and policy positions are the relevant territory for questioning. Yet in the Democratic debate you hosted, you put an avowed Clinton supporter on a screen and had her ask Obama why he didn’t wear a flag pin, and if that meant he didn’t love America. Tell me what that had to do with policy positions or experience.
After that farce and your recent statement that you think the press did a fine job of questioning the administration in its runup to the Iraq war, I have to assume you’re a Republican and not very adept at hiding it.

I really don’t expect much out of the interview with Governor Palin. Mr. Gibson was selected because he is carrying the water for the Republican party. If his interview with John McCain is any indication, you shouldn’t expect any probing or insightful questions. The only thing he didn’t ask the Senator was his favorite color. That would have been a cliff-hanger! Go Charlie!

The strength of our democracy depends upon a well informed electorate. Only with a free and objective Press relentlessly and objectively pursuing truth can citizens form educated decisions. When timid journalists neglect that duty and allow political distortions to go unchallenged, they give tacit approval and aid in the dissemination of lies.
Senator McCain and Governor Palin have attacked the media and declared war on truth. Nothing less than the future of journalism and the integrity of our electoral process are at risk.

Hi Charlie, This is off topic but I feel that I need to give you something to think about before you interview Gov. Palin.
PLEASE do not focus the entire interview on what mistakes the press may have made when she was first thrust upon the seen.
All you guys in the media fell victim to the sneaky leaks of lies by the Bush administration and other Republicans which ended up getting us into Iraq. PLEASE don’t fall for it again!!!
PLEASE question her on the lies she has been telling on the campaign trail, like, being against earmarks when she hired lobbyists to game the system while she was mayor; selling the jet on eBay, which did not sell after listing it 3 times.
Please ask her about the bridge to nowhere that despite stopping it after she was FOR it, she actually kept the money and used it for other projects rather than returning it to Washington.
Most Americans don’t have the time or inclination to research these things as I have, They count on YOU and others in the media to inform them of the truth.
PLEASE don’t let us down!!!!!
Thanks,

Your Sept. 4 blog mentions “relevant questions about Governor Palin.” How restrictive is that? Obama, the Clintons, and others have been subject to aggressive questioning. You spent 45 minutes grilling Obama about statements his pastor made. When did you grill conservatives about statements made by pastors they endorse? Alaska independence is not irrelevant to a sworn-in US official. Abstinence-only is not irrelevant since conservatives have made a big issue out of it.
Throughout history, politicians have tried to avoid responsibility by attacking and blaming others. Many of the attacks on the media are attempts to intimidate the media so that the journalists will not do their job. MSM is not responsible for aggressive partisans on cable and blogs.

Questions I’d like to hear:
“The Bridge to Nowhwere… she was for it before she was against it.”
I don’t want to hear that tired phrase. I want to hear what HAPPENED. Please do the legwork so that you can ask questions and be armed with the correct answers.
“Outrageous earmarks for a small town.”
Really? Is that true (it’s what I hear)? How to compare? Please come prepared with some facts.
Palin allegedly asked if she could ban books in Wasilla. Is that true? What books would she be interested in banning from libraries? TITLES and REASONS, please!
What about the town being left in debt after a land-development debacle that she oversaw?
What about abortion or the morning-after pill in the face of rape or incest? Is she for or against?
Would she be in favor of making the morning-after ill illegal?
What about her Pentacostal church, and members speaking in tongues and prophesizing the end of days? Does that drive her world view?
What about teaching “intelligent design” in our schools, when there is no scientific basis for it?
DOES an abstinence-only policy work? Can ABC provide statistics on this? Can they provide stats on whether teen pregancy is down or up, and what it might be due to?
How do “small town values” differ from the values of those who live in larger towns and cities?
How much has she traveled outside the U.S.?
ABOUT BEING AN AGENT OF CHANGE:
What are Palin’s views exactly on the causes of global warming and how to help offset it? What would she CHANGE?
What are her views on our education system, especially in inner city or rural areas where there is never enough money to invest in maintenance and top-notch hiring? Is it fair that our richer communities can pour money into programs, while the poorer communities can not?
Why do so many in the educational system complain about No Child Left Behind? Can ABC provide some critiquing of it and ask Palin what she thinks? What would she do differently? (What would she CHANGE?)
Does Palin agree with Bush’s support of the “global gag rule,” a funding condition that requires international programs that receive money from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) not to provide abortion-related services,including birth control and contraception? There is evidence this is contributing to the erosion of family planning and appropriate medical care in many countries.
Because of a loss of funds due to the gag rule, 647,000 Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana clients will lose access to family planning services and counseling…
Is there anything in regards to this policy that she thinks could be CHANGED?
What are Palin’s views on the Russia vs. Georgia situation? How would she deal with North Korea? How would she deal with the Israel vs. Palestinian issue? What were her thoughts when she first heard of Bush’s plan to go into Iraq? Did the plan make sense to her?
Since oil is a finite commodity, is ‘drilling’ really the way to go? Bush has talked a big game about alternative energy, but has done nothing. Would she change his policy on raising CAFE standards? Would she punish wasteful industries and reward greener ones? What would she CHANGE? What about putting money into alternative fuel sources, and investing in huge projects such as T. Boone Pickins is proposing? We can’t do it ALL, so what should the priority be??
Why do we give oil companies subsidies when they make record profits? Would she CHANGE that?
The U.S. has done little to nothing in the Darfur crisis. What would she DO DIFFERENTLY?
Please ask her to speak about the current mortgage crisis: what caused it, how to fix it. What about Uncle Sam buying out Freddie Mac and Fannie May? What does she think of that? Should there be repercussions for CEO’s of companies who encouraged their brokers to push bad loans?
What about the widening gap between the average working person and corporate CEO’s, who are often rewarded with millions of dollars in parting gifts when they fail at the job. Does she think corporations are out of control and the little guy is not getting their fair share? What would she do about that?
PLEASE don’t softball this interview. Thanks.

So you are going to interview Sarah Palin Thursday.
Here’s a list of questions I DARE Charles Gibson to ask.
You recently told everyone that you put the governor’s private jet on sale on e-Bay. How did that sale actually work out. According to a recent article from the Washington Post, you billed the state $ 43,490 for travel to and from Wasilla.. Why haven’t you made all these details public?
Your husband is a member of United Steel Workers. According to the magazine USW@Work, in 2006, 5,840 workers, like your husand, died from fatal workplace injuries and accidents. According to the USW@Work, this casualty rate is caused by a gutting of OSHA by the Bush administration, and overwork and over time which causes worker fatigue. In addition, according to USW@Work, 50,000 to 60,000 workers died of occpational related diseases. Do these statistics concern you?
Both you and McCain oppose the Employee Free Choice act, which Barack Obama supports. In face of the fatality rate among workers, like your husband Todd, why should you deny worker, like your husband Todd, the right to union representation
You are fond of calling Barack Obama an elitist, yet he has won the endorsement of USW, and of workers, like your husband. Would you explain why?
You favor a trade agreement with Colombia, where, late year alone, right wing death squads, aided and abetted buy the current Colombian governmentm have muirdered 39 trade unionists, like your husband Todd, and where 244 trade unionists, like your husband Todd, have received death threats. Since 1986, 2,550 Columbian union members, like your husband Todd, have been murdered. Are you concerned his trade pact will encourage many corporations off-shore of union-paying jobs to Colombia where workers, like your husband Todd, have no rights?
According to a recent recent report by the Mercer consulting firm, the average health care costs will go up by 5.7 % next year. They went up 5.7 % in 2008, and 2008, and 6.1 % in 2007
Since 2005, health care costs have gone up by 23%. Between 2003 and 2007 average deductive for individual grew from $ 250 to $ 400. For a family, it rose from $ 1,000 to $1,500. Insurance companies operate on a profit and feel free to drop people from their rolls whenever their illnesses become too expensive to treat. In what way will McCain’s health insurance plan protect working class people and their families from getting ripped off by insurance companies, especially in view of the future make up of the Supreme Court, which will always side with insurance companies against their clients?
Barack Obama supports equal pay for women, you oppose such measures. Why?
You oppose all abortions, even in case of rape and incest. Will you pressure McCain to appoint judges which will overturn Roe vs. Wade?
You oppose all forms of stem cell research. Will you support judges who will ban stem cell research, even though children with special needs might benefit from such research?
You once said that the war Iraq was God’s task, even though Jesus said “Blessed are the Peace keepers for they shall see God. What other wars would you consider God’s task?
You claim to have fought oil companies, please give us three specific examples of ways you have done this?
In 2012 the Polar Ice cap on the North Pole will completely disappear. What effect will this event have on Alaska and global warming?
You favor off-shore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, what are the risks of such drilling both environment and economic?
Since you are an expert on Russia what will be the effects on the life of the average soccer mom when the permafrost of Siberia melts and releases which millions of tons of green house gases?
In recent articles and hearings, top environmental scientist James Hansen tells us that we have about one year to do something about global warming, yet your energy proposals are based on “drill, baby drill.” and will result in more carbon emissions rather than less. What is your response to Hansen’s findings?
When he worked for the government, Hansen’s findings were constantly censored by political appointees, like George Deutsch, whose only purpose for censoring Hansen was “to make the president look good.” What is your opinion of political appointees censoring or meddling with the work of scientists employed by the government?
Alaska’s economy is heavily dependent on oil. To what extent is your hatred of Obama, especially his energy plans, tied in with the economic interests of Alaska? Aren’t you putting the interests of Alaska first, instead of the good of the country?
Before you took office as mayor of Wasilla, the city government had a balanced budget. When you let office, the city government was $ 22 million in debt. How does this qualify you to run as vice president?
Your husband Todd arranges his work schedule so he can go fishing in Bristol Bay, yet you opposed the Alaska Clean Water initiative designed to protect the Britol Bay fishery from the toxic wastes of the Pebble open pit mine. Scientists tell us that these toxic wastes will destroy the Bristol Bay fishery. Is this important to you?
Jesus was a community organizer, Pontius Pilate was a governor. Could you explain how that quote applies to you?
I’m throwing down the gauntlet. Come on, let’s ask some really hard ball questions.

Dear Mr. Gibson,
I would like to know Sarah Palin’s platform on the following issues: Civil Rights, Corporations, Crime, Drugs, Education, Environment, Families/Children, Foreign Policy, Free Trade, Gun Control, Campaign Finance Reform, Healthcare, Homeland Security, Defense Spending, Torture, Immigration, Jobs, Social Security, Tax Reform, Technology, War & Peace, Iran, Iraq
Welfare & Poverty.
If you could also ask her about her bold faced lies in her RNC speech and why she continues to rattle them off on the campaign trail – lies like:
- The infamous bridge to nowhere and being the champion of reform (she is on the record to Fairbanks Daily news explaining that she is following direction FROM Congress and the Bush Administration who informed her that federal spending would be cut).
- The fact that in the last 2 yrs she has requested over $750 million in earmarks for Alaska (if she tries to compare to Obama – please remind her the population difference of Illinois to Alaska is that Illinois is 18.8 times the size of Alaska).
- Ask her what she thinks about the21st century GI bill and then ask her if she wants to retract her statement about Harry Reid (whom she mocked as “the majority Leader of the current “Do nothing senate”) – the senate that passed the GI bill.
- Ask her about the fake soldiers used in the RNC video and the wrong Walter Reed.
- Ask her for a public apology to community organizers whom she mocked as lacking responsibility. Is she crazy?
- Ask her about the legislation that Obama wrote: During Obama’s first (8) years of elected service (in Illinois) he sponsored over 820 bills. his 1st year in the US Senate, he authored 152 bills/ co-sponsored another 427. Some dealing with Vet Affairs, which maybe the reason why vets support Barack over McCain despite McCain/Palin exploiting them.
Tell her to tell Nancy Wallace -America Cares, that’s who!

Country first – Ask the questions that need to be answered and show your imparticality. You will continue to lose people’s respect unless you do.

Mr. Gibson, I have one request for a simple set of questions to include in your interview with Sarah Palin. It is widely known that Sarah Palin doesn’t believe that Climate Change is affected by human behavior. Please ask Sarah Palin: Has she studied the issue of Global Warming and Climate Change? Has she consulted the climatologists in her own state about it? Has she read the literature? One what basis is she making the claim that human beings don’t have anything to do with Climate Change?

Mr. Gibson, it was really nice of you to let the MacCain campain’s people know the questions you were going to ask her in the interview. Wow!

I am very sad that Charlie lost his stamina when he interviewed Ms.Palin. She IN NO WAY speaks for me as a “white woman” in America as your media would suggest. Charlie should have pursued so many questions that would have exposed the absurdity of her candidacy but chose to be the sweet, nice guy. How pathetic for my once favorite news anchor. He needs to get it right on the second interview. I am so disappointed that Charlie had the opportunity to ask tough questions and challenge her wishy washy answers, but he chose the easy way out. Maybe he sucummbed to “station” politics. Ms.Palin, no more stands for anything that I believe in than the man in the moon. He is of course real, right,the man in the moon? I mean,if Ms.Palin can be real as a vice presidential candidate, then, the man in the moon must also be real, right??

Exact words?! Really, Mr. Gibson? Those were her exact words?
You told an aggresive and overt lie in that question, which should get a front page correction.
We will not be holding our breath.

Mr. Gibson,
Governor Palin challenged your characterizaton of her prayer, and even that you had an exact quote about what she said. Will you, in response to her challenge, check your facts and sources, and re-assess your characterization? Personally, I believe the “exact quote” (your words) was incomplete, and as such, the intent and meaning you gave it was skewed.

Well, exactly as I predicted, you did not have the journalistic integrity to ask Palin about all her lies: her supposed opposition to the Bridge to Nowhere, her supposed opposition to earmarks, etc., etc.
Where, where can we find a journalist with some integrity?

I was going to ask Mr. Gibson if he intended to ask Mr. Obama, who has as much foreign policy experience as Gov. Palin, the same questions he asked her. I would think that someone who is actually running for president, rather than the position that’s “a heartbeat away”, would need to define his experience in this area. However, I’ve been amazed at the level of vitriol I’ve seen directed toward McCain-Palin. It seems we’ve lost the ability even among ourselves to discuss differences rationally and maturely.

Charlie always looks nice, but he ties his tie in a single winsor. Come on charlie tie it in a double winsor which would look great

Tough interview of Sarah Palin, except next time you need to get your facts straight about subjects like the Bush Doctrine, which you well knew has changed over time, and not edit out your gaffes. Your interview failed to include your assertion that your question contained her “exact words” and her statement correcting you. She was right and you were wrong. Although you were all to anxious to embarrass Gov. Palen, you edited the tape to avoid embarrassing yourself. Your lack of preparation and the selective editing was disappointing and an embarrassment to you and ABC. Now, if you are truly an objective newsman you will ask Obama the tough questions that no one in the mainstream media is willing to ask. The bias really is unbelievable.

Charles,
In comparing your interview with Obama to that of Palin, I immediately picked up on the evident bias in your questioning. Why didn’t you ask the same tough questions of Obama that you did of Palin? Your form of “picking away” at Palin was quite obvious and I resent your national news network showing its bias so blatantly.
Janice M
TX

ABC Misrepresents Palin Quote in ‘Holy War’ Question. Millions of TV viewers who watched ABC News’ interview with Sarah Palin Thursday night never saw her take issue with a key question in which she was asked if she believes that the U.S. military effort in Iraq is “a task that is from God.” The exchange between Palin and ABC’s Charlie Gibson, in which she questioned the accuracy of the quote attributed to her, was edited out of the television broadcast but included in official, unedited transcripts posted on ABC’s Web site, as well as in video posted on the Internet. But in the version shown on television, a video clip of her original statement was inserted in place of her objection, giving a different impression of how Palin views the Iraq war. In the interview, Gibson asked Palin: “You said recently in your old church, ‘Our national leaders are sending U.S. soldiers on a task that is from God.’ Are we fighting a Holy War?” Palin’s response, which appears in the transcript but was edited out of the televised version, was: “You know, I don’t know if that was my exact quote.” “It’s exact words,” Gibson lied. But Gibson’s quote left out what Palin said before that: “Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right. Also for this country, that our leaders, our national leaders are sending them out on a task that is from God. That’s what we have to make sure that we’re praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God’s plan.” The edited televised version included a partial clip of that quote, but not the whole thing. Gibson’s false characterization of Palin’s words prompted a sharp rebuke from the McCain campaign on Thursday. “Governor Palin’s full statement was VERY different” from the way Gibson characterized it,” read a statement circulated by McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds. “Gibson cut the quote — where she was clearly asking for the church TO PRAY THAT IT IS a task from God, not asserting that it is a task from God. “Palin’s statement is an incredibly humble statement, a statement that this campaign stands by 100 percent, and a sentiment that any religious American will share,” Bounds wrote. In the rest of the segment that aired, Palin told Gibson that she was referencing Abraham’s Lincoln’s words on how one should never presume to know God’s will. She said she does not presume to know God’s will and that she was only asking the audience to “pray that we are on God’s side.” A promo posted on Yahoo! News Friday continued to misrepresent the exchange. It displays Palin’s image next to the words, “Iraq war a ‘holy war?’” implying that Palin — not Gibson — had called the War on Terror a holy war.

Charlie! You did a great job interviewing Sarah Palin. I was a bit fearful that you might be too easy on her but I felt that you struck the right balance of pushing for real answers and not be antagonistic. Nicely done.
Please, PLEASE continue to call the Repubs on all of these half truths, inaccuracies and flat out lies. It’s just gotten so outrageous.
And finally, can you please sign off on World News as “Charlie” instead of “Charles”? You are just too darn cute to be called Charles.

Sooo! Palin is running against Obama?
Put your Biden where your mouth is!

I would say it is time for you to step down as I believe you are not fit to be a journalist. You are not objective, hence you disqualify yourself. No one is fooled.

Charlie, for years you’ve been one of my favorite news anchors.Morning or evening, I’ve watched you and trusted you. BUT, your interview of Gov. Palin, your demeanor/body language, the tone of your voice … so disrespectful. I’ve watched it 3 times now and it truly seemed you were angry with her, disgusted with McCain’s picking her as VP candidate. This was certainly a side of Charlie Gibson I hadn’t seen in 20 years of watching you. I guess “disappointed” best describes my over-all impression of the interview. I’ve read all this blogs and their advice to ask the hard questions, get to the bottom of her background/experience, etc., and I agree … but that can be done with dignity by other interviewers, why not you???? If you’re going to finish up your career as some hard-hitting, tough reporter, at least show some respect for the one you’re interviewing, whomever that might be! Frankly, you treated Gov. Palin with more hostility than Charlie Rose ever evidenced in the famous Mason/San Quentin interview!!! You came out the “bad guy” on this one!

It is just amazing how ABC, NBC, CNN, MSNBC, and CBS have gotten so on board with promoting and trying to get “their candidate” Obama elected that they go to extreme measure to make sure American’s have ONLY ONE SIDED views/news and that is the far left views which is very damaging to this great country. Check this out..
McCain-Palin
Obama-Biden= Osama-Bin Laden (coincidence??? or not???) You decide people!!
Lastly, ABC and the above mentioned, are so critcal and mean when interviewing Republicans..it is SO OBVIOUS, by the way….Just check out today’s interview with your reporter Chris and how he handled the 2 women senators one Dem and the other Rep… the Rep senator was not treated equally as the Dem and both are trying to work together yet the MEDIA only wants it there way and that is the DEM way.
Disqusted with national media coverage of the election…I feel my rights and freedoms are not being properly presented by this media group.
The treated and coverage of Sarah Palin has been totally disrepectful and unpleasing to most American’s and the bias you extend to Obama is VERY CLEAR…it is as if American’s have only one choice when it comes to this elections. I ask where is the fairness in the media coverage?? It does not exist anymore!

Charlie I am beginning to wonder about you.as I look at world news and I see the expression on you face when you talk about Mcain and Obama it is completely different.I think you have expressed in your tone and expression in your face you are for Mcain.I also think that the bus tour were a host.I think you were scouting for Mcain.Why would you waste time and energy busing touring around the world when we are in crisis.That tells me something.How can the American people think that Sarah Palin would be a good Vice President or God forbid she be the next president.I it is a discrace the way the United States is mocked when it comes time to voting.Why do we have to go through all this turmoil and attacks just for a vote.It is very discraceful.I don’t want to be an American anymore,it is a shame to say I am an American.America has not yet got over race.How can we live together in this country when everyone thinks they are better than the other.I still see equal but separated.When will we all learn.

Charlie:
I have watched you for over 30 years and you have always been one of my favorites. Recently, my disappointment in you over the past year has grown. Your interview with Sarah Palin was not one of your great moments, particularly when you asked her to interpret the Bush Doctrine any way she liked, even though you knew she did not know what you were talking about. You were playing Gotcha and it was not fair. Charlie, you are better than that. Secondly, after President Obama embarrassed our country by lacking any sense of protocolwith our best friend, Great Britain, you did not even mention it in your newscast last night. Charlie, what gives? I cannot watch your show with certainty that you are telling us the truth. Why? Charlie, you are hurting America every time you do not tell the truth. You are better than that. I will tell you a little secret, very important people in very high places think that President Obama is not qualified to be President of the United States. Are you waiting for them to say it first? What is the role of the media? Lapdoggism?

My big question, since between them they represent 2% of the power in the senate