Biden to Orlando TV Anchor: ‘Are You Joking? Is This a Joke? Or Is That a Real Question?’

Nobody, not even Foot-in-the-mouth Joe Biden, should have to answer questions like these. Gotcha questions like “When did you stop beating your mother” should quite properly be ignored and the questioner dismissed post haste.

That woman sounds like a world-class nutcase. How is she a TV news anchor?

Heaven forbid Obama/Biden have to answer a real question, they have gotten free passes so long, they forgot the hard stuff.

I watched this interview. Biden did well but boy was that woman nasty. The sarcasm was oozing from every pore. I thought for a minute I was watching Faux News. Very disrespectful lady!

I watched the video. The questions were loaded. I thought I was watching Fox news. The question with Karl Marx in it was so far out of line even if the interviewer didn’t write the questions she should have refused to read them.

Guess it doesn’t bother Obama or Biden too much. Obama’s campaign gave 800,000 dollars to the ACORN group to get out the vote; that’s a fact.
ACORN is just another radial group being investigated for fraud, adding yet another to the long list of Obama’s associations.
When will Obama come clean with the American voter? Guess it isn’t going happen with 90% of media protecting Obama and his campaign.
CNN and others would rather shine the spotlight with smears on Palin and McCain.
Newsflash to the media–get the truth out and let the voters decide; instead of this strange protectionism with Obama.
Independents for McCain

West is vying for a job at Faux News.
Seriously, that interview was off the charts. Biden was right on target when he asked if she was joking.

good for biden.. west is a republican mouth piece and as we all know, their days are OVER !!

Biden did a GREAT job

I find it absolutely amazing that seeming educated people can turn a blind eye to all the questions regarding Obama’s past, his ideology, and FAR left views of everything. Why do you think the stock market is reacting like it is; everyone is pulling there money out in fear of Obama becoming president. It is baffling that free American want to give everything over to the government.
I think some quotes from good ole Abe Lincoln are appropriate here:
• You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
• You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
• You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
• You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down.
• You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
• You cannot build character and courage by taking away men’s initiative and independence.
• You cannot help men permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves.

the united states was doing fair til the democrats took over the senate and house then the bottom fell out . just think back !!!

After 36 years in the Senate, Biden should have been able to field these questions. What cry babies these democrat candidates are!!

Each and every time I pay taxes my wealth is being redistributed. Therefore, it is ignorant to say otherwise. The only way wealth is not redistributed is for no one to pay taxes and each person to voluntarily give as they see fit. Now God asks for ten percent from each person. Yet even God has a difficult time getting people to give ten percent. Hence, do you think people will voluntarily provide for the poor, the homeless, the sick, or build the schools, the roads, or provide for the military, or etc etc etc. No. Most of us will hoard the wealth for ourselves. Think. We have just seen a manifestation of greed in our society with Wallstreet. The more people get the more people want. Therefore, please be quiet about not wanting a redistribution of wealth. To whom much is given much is required. The more you give the more your receive. Therefore, what if I have to pay a more taxes? It is only fair that taxes are based on my earnings. Remember when Jesus met the poor woman who put in a penny and he said she had given more than all who had given out of their wealth. Why? Because the value of how much one given it not depended upon the amount but one how much one has before the giving commence. A Christian who supports Obama.

the problem with her questions was that she does not know what the progressive tax rates are. they are meant to be fair. lets not forget people making over 110k do not pay payroll taxes. that means they are not paying fica tax on 100% of there income. i don’t know about you but i pay 100% of fica tax. i think all of you fox and friends should watch mccain on you tube talking in a town hall in michagon back in 2000 when he talked about the rich paying more. this notion of socialism is crazy noone that clinton was a socialist in the 90′s and we were not in 2 wars and on the verge of another great depression. and lets not forget these bush tax cuts have help this country accumulate 5 trillion in debt.

That’s what you get when you give the right wing a platform, biased, loaded questions that they don’t even want answered. She probably trained at Faux News. Maybe she would be better off interviewing the nutcake in Minnesota, Michelle Bachmann who doesn’t even know what McCarthyism is.
Posted by: JR | Oct 25, 2008 3:55:45 P
****************************************
Yeah and MSNBC, CNN and even ABC are so much better. But that will be fixed after Obama brings back the Fairness Doctrine. Tell me why isnt there any rated Liberal talk shows? Because nobody wants to listen to them!

Biden handled himself VERY WELL. No gaffes from Biden during that interview.

Wow, finally a real journalist.

NEWS FLASH:
Sarah Palin is in talks for her own TV SHOW on FOX…
So I GUESS she doesnt think she will be verry bussy the next four years! LOL

Finally Joe is getting some serious questions! He’s usually ignored.

8 years in the White House and 12 out of the last 14 years in control of Congress, but yet the Republicans aren’t responsible for anything!! It’s Barack Obama’s fault the stock market is falling?? When George Bush took office, he inherited a stable economy and a budget surplus. Through the Republicans tax cuts for the rich, non-enforcement of regulation on Wall St., and giveaways to drug companies and oil companies,
1.) We import more oil than ever
2.) Our budget deficit is the largest it’s ever been
3.) The government has had to bail out banks and insurance companies from all their bad decisions
4.) Our military is so strained that we would have trouble responding to any new aggression.
5.) Our stock market and housing market are in free falls
6.) The middle class has experienced ZERO income growth in the last 8 years.
But, in the bizzaro world of right wing nutcases, that’s all the Democrat’s fault. Barack Obama wants tax rates for the richest Americans put back to the rate they were before the Bush tax cuts. I’m one of those lucky Americans who WILL be affected to pay more taxes, and I do it gladly. When our economy is stable, the government is working towards a balanced budget , and the middle class has income growth, we all benefit.
Oh, and ACORN registers voters. Sometimes, people got lazy and filled out fake registrations. There is no evidence AT ALL that anyone ever intended to fraudulently vote. There’s a big difference.

Baraba West must watch too much FOX
ALL HER QUESTIONS WHERE STATEMENTS OF ATTACK
SHE SUCKS HE ANSWERED HER QUESTIONS THOUGH ID HAVE TOLD HER SHE”S A TOOL!

Most ludicrous and stupid interview. I hope the station loses more than half of its viewership. To all the cons here, how would Mccain/Palin respond if someone called them FASCISTS, unpatriotic, etc ??

Good job Joe…she should audition for Fox News…she’s ignorant enough to work there.

Shelley: They ignore Biden because whatever comes out of his mouth is senseless and he always puts his foot in it. But I did like the one comment he made about the crisis. Of course Obama couldn’t handle a crisis. He’s lucky he graduated college. There are comments made that he was at the head of his class, then why did he come out such an ass.

Joe, you were great. She was so obvious. So cutting and rude. I thought that I was watching FOX. Which of course I would never do.
Where do they get these people? Joe, you should have told her to go shine McCains shoes.

Captain America: Obama and Ayers were both on the Acorn board and Obama gave Acorn over $800,000 plus $90 million to another person. And that money was his campaign money. Obama also knew about the fraud they were capable of doing. Good they got caught. Fox tried to interview Ayers yesterday but Ayers got mad. I like to comment made that Ayers called the same police that he bombed. That should make history.

Please see her bio:
“I am married to Wade West, an international media consultant to politicians, professionals and organizations. Together we often serve as auctioneers at various fundraising events throughout the state.”
Wade West of MediaPower the Republican parties media consultants…
Wade West donation to RNC $550
Her Bio also share this info:
“I covered the inauguration of President Bush and the impeachment of President Clinton.”
Hmm well then
ENOUGH OF HER!

“You have to use words that paint pictures” said Wade West, president of Media Power Group
I see so what picture was his wife painting ?

Mariann. The only fraud was in the registering.It’s not voter fraud. accorn has registered over 85 million voters since it’s conception. 5 or 6 thousand fraudulant claims seems minute and not worth all the houpla. And Accorn notified the proper authorities about the suspicion of fraudulant names. They are required by law to turn in all petitions. If a petition had 100 names and just one was a legitimate voter, than that voter has the right to be registered and vote. They have to investigate all registrars. Don’t worry, Kitchen Sponge won’t be voting.

Mark: You said it. She really asked the questions that should have been asked months ago. And she hit the nail on the head. Good for her. Democrats don’t like the truth when their caught in their lies. Obama is another one, he didn’t know Ayers, then he did know him, finally he knew he was the bomber. Obama said he was 8 years old at the time but he certainly wasn’t 8 in 1995 when he met him. Ayers gave Obama donations when he made his first run for the senate only to lose to Bobby Rush the radical during the 60′s who was a friend of Ayers. Rush is now deceased. One thing about Obama, he really loves those terrorists.

Biden lied about Obamas campaign not giving donation to ACORN. Also he didn’t really answer the rest of the questions. They are a good tough questions. Because those questions in the mind of some Americans. I do believe that is a job as journalist to ask those questions.

Now, one thing about this ACORN fraud thing. The fraud was done against ACORN. ACORN was a victim of fraud by some of its workers that filled out voter registration forms with false information. There has been no voter fraud, there was a registration fraud and ACORN was the victim. They were paying their employees per registration and some ppl took adavantage of this. And, regardless of what may have happened to ACORN, the Democratic party campaign has nothing to do with them. The GOPers know that they are losing the election and they’re trying to do whatever they can no matter how low. Just look at what that girl did in the Pittsburgh, PA. And there’s more dirty tricks coming this last 10 days of the campaign, so let’s work harder people, to get the GOP out of the White House and send Barack Obama and Joe Biden to DC to clean up the mess the GOP has created.

First of all the questions in the article were leading. A tactic use to insinuate something negative or prematurely reach a conclusion before the answer is given. It is a sign of bias. This is why people call fox bias towards Republicans because they are always leading favorable to republicans and negatively towards democrats. There is no balance at fox news.

neocons here can’t even tell when a reporter makes a fool of herself. very funny.

“You may recognize this famous quote: ‘from each according to his abilities to each according to his needs.’ That’s from Karl Marx. How is Sen. Obama not being a Marxist if he intends to spread the wealth around?”;
The Politically correct answer is…
“The promise given was a necessity of the past: the word broken is a necessity of the present.” ~ Machiavelli
“What do you say to the people that are concerned that Barack Obama will want to turn America into a Socialist country like Sweden?”
“Democracy is the road to socialism.”
Karl Marx

Wow, all Barbara West forgot was asking when Senator Biden stopped beating his wife. This presumptuous line of questioning would get her terminated from a community college journalism program.
While the questions had some worthwhile potential, they were formatted in such a way as to make any answer a confession of heresy.
West should be dismissed or listed as strictly an “Opinion” presence. One is certain that Sean Hannity is drooling over the possibility that she may join Faux News.
It is possible to effectively editorialize without becoming blatantly partisan. Regrettably, Barbara West is unaware of these methods, or unwilling to engage in professional standards of decorum.
Now she has just left those sharing her point of view looking like a horse’s patoot.

JG…get your facts straight.
You people let your obvious prejudices blind you. I’m glad she asked those questions because Biden’s answers were great. Obama’s presidential campaign did not any money to Acorn to register voters. The primary campaign gave money to an organization that outsourced to Acorn to train workers not register voters. Spreading the wealth…How is rolling back tax cuts that Bush put in for the wealthy that didn’t help the ecomomy anyway bad? No one is taking anyone’s money. If the middle class don’t have the money to spend in these businesses no one wins. That is what drives the economy. I can’t believe some of you are that blind. And McCain is ready for a crisis? Ha! Did you see him during the economic crisis? OMG. Now that was scary. He didn’t have a clue as to what to do. We can’t take 4 more years of this mess.
Vote Obama-Biden!

The Republicans are taking “spread the wealth around” out of context. Coaches for amateur athletic teams will usually allow every member of the team have some time on the field in a game. They will not keep them forever on the bench and only allow their best players play. That’s what Obama was talking about.
Here’s the quote: “It’s not that I want to punish your success. I just want to make sure that everybody who is behind you—that they’ve got the chance at success, too. I think that when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.”
When you give everyone on the team a chance to play it’s good for the whole team. Isn’t it?

Ken in WA, All the financial problems we now have are all due to the Democrats and Obama. President Bush was able to get the economy growing again after 9/11 and Katrina. But after 2 years of a Democrat controlled Congress we are on the verge of financial collaspe.
Barack Obama and the Democrats refusal to regulate Fannie and Freddie and Obama’s ties to ACORN are the main reasons the stock market is falling. When George Bush took office, he inherited a failing economy and almost immediately after was hit by 9/11 than Katrina. It was only. through the Republicans tax cuts for small business and all Americans that the economy was able to recover.
The Democrats are responsible for blocking every effort by President Bush and the Republicans to regulate Fannie and Freddie which is one of the main reasons we are in the financial mess we are in now., By allowing drug companies and oil companies, and other American companies to keep more of their money, President Bush was able to create more jobs and keep the economy growing until the Democrats took over two years ago.
1.) The reason we import more oil than ever is because the Democrats have blocked every effort to drill for more oil, build new refieneries and new nuclear power plants.
2.) Our budget deficit will go to the moon if Obama gets elected and implements his TRILLION dollar government programs. There is not enough tea in China to pay for all of his big government programs and Obama is not being honest when he says that he will cut the taxes of 95% of the people,. If Obama was honest he would tell the American people that he will have to tax everyone in order to pay for his gigantic government programs. By the way , Obama’s track record when it comes to taxes. is to vote for every tax increase he possibly could. .
3.) The government has had to bail out banks and insurance companies because the Democrats required them by law to lend to people who could not afford the loans. Obama’s buddies ACORN stronged armed banks into giving out the bad loans
4.) The Democrats are already bragging that if Obama gets elected our military will be cut by 25% and if you think the military is under strain now once Obama gets elected and cuts the military they will have even more trouble responding to any new aggression.
5.) Our stock market and housing market are in free fall is all due to the Democrats, by law, forcing banks to hand out bad loans.
6.) The middle class has growth has kept up with inflation income growth in the last 8 years.
But, in the bizzaro world of left wing nutcases, that’s all the Republicans fault. Barack Obama wants increase the tax rates of American small business during an economic downturn which will cause businesses to lay off people or go out of business. Money does not grow on trees after all, it has to come out of someones pocket and when the pocket is empty, everyone will suffer, mostly the very people Obama says he wants to help as they will be out of a job.
By the way, ACORN has admitted that their staff illegally registered non-existent people like MIckey Mouse” and the same countless homeless individuals more than 72 times.

Wow About time some real questions..
She’s good…
Obama gave Accorn $800,000 four months ago..
Obama was born in Kenya anyway..
Dan Rather could have come up with a better birth certificate,

THANK GOD SOMEONE FINALLY DID IT! Way to go Jill.

About time someone gave the democrats the same type of questions as given to republicans/conservatives.

MRGC
God forbid, what does the Vice President do? be a tough question for the VP candidate. Palin fails at softball questions that high school students even know.

Jerry
I guess after 200,000 people get laid off, the average working salary has kept up with inflation. But I guess they’ve just had bad luck.

George
Don’t bother, they only respond to the passages in the bible that agree with their own views.

I agree Joe did an excellent job in the interview despite the very poor questions.
Democracy works only if citizens are informed with truthful information and use critical thinking skills to choose appropriately. We cannot just take people’s word in face value without examining the validity, truthfulness and relevancy. Don’t blindly accept what is being fed from the campaigns and published in the news media including the posts here as facts.
Use the ACORN issue as an example. We have to ask the questions on the what, how, why, when and who to gain a real understanding of the issue. This is work but is needed if our society is to advance. Also, after hammering hard, McCain campaign has not brought up ACORN in the past few days. Why do you think this is the case?
Hopeful, people will learn to think for themselves and think critically. As a result, our nation and it’s citizen will be better off.

The quote from Marx sounds like what a lot of churches ask for in considering contributions or what the United Way asks people to do. The news anchor questioner sounded like the next Michelle Bachmann.

MM writes, “Only idiots believe the ACORN Lie.”
==============================
Unfortunately the masses are truly ignorant. They honestly believe that Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble will show up at election time and that their votes will ultimately decide this election. (lol)
You hear them all the time. Obama’s folks gave Acorn $800K to register individuals. Okay? So because some of the individuals from Acorn forged voter registrations (registrations which can not under ANY circstance equate to a vote) there’s something inappropriate?
Say it with me….Please spare us the stupidity. There cannot be voter fraud unless someone ACTUALLY votes and I suspect that the odds the Green Hornet and Cato are going to show up to vote for Obama are slim to none. (lol)

Chapman, So if a reporter dares to say anything critical about Obama he or she will be out of a job in an Obama administration? If so, sounds like Obama and his followers may all be closet brown shirts from the mold of the former Soviet Union or maybe Nazi Germany? Pretty scary and what it tells me as someone who was flirting with the idea of voting for Obama, No Way Obama.

Biden is Lawyer, university professor, and effectively experienced US Senator; yet he had to sit through this childishness from this so typically ignorant and disrespectful media moron as she spouts nonsense. Tsk tsk
The utter incompetence of this old woman, West, again demonstrates just how much the media are filled with morons.
Tens of thousands of American lives, limbs, mental health, and trillions of dollars have been wasted in an Iraqi hell hole with absolutely no benefit to Americans. America is being driven to hell in a hand basket by an incompetent and bungling.
And one of the main reasons for America’s slide into the abyss is the sheer and utter ignorance and incompetence of media morons like the witless West.
Instead of seeking to inform Americans about relevant issues, these media morons seek to make the news and to be the news.
To the highly educated and competent Biden, this witless old woman obviously appears like a ‘joke’ to him, as she tries to be the news.

Jerry,
For a moment I thought that your post was sarcasm; then I realized that you actually were serious! Wow, you’re really up that proverbial creek without a paddle, one taco short of a combination plate, etc. I’m really sorry, man. You need to get in touch with reality… real facts instead of Faux News talking points. Too much listening to Rush, I think! That softens the brain.

“Obama wants to raise the limit over $110,000 – but keep the SS cap in place. In other words, “rich” people would pay in more but wouldn’t be able to receive more in SS benefits than the current cap.”
Let me let you in on a little secret. This is exactly what Ronald Reagan did when he was president. St. Ronny increased the SS cap, and reduced benefits.
St. Ronny actually raised taxes.

MY ONLY VOTE; Read Luke 12:48 and Acts 4:32-36—-it makes for some interesting reading about “spreading the wealth”.

Jerry: If we had not invaded Iraq, we may have been able to take out Osama bin Laden and have a better standing in a safer world. After 9/11 most of the world was with us. The people who were investigating Iraq and WMD should have been allowed to finish their job.
However, that is all part of history and it cannot be changed. The question becomes “what do we do now?” Obama has the right idea—-”responsible withdrawal.” Notice he says, “responsible”.

I agree, Biden handled it well. These questions Barbara West asked are in line with the comments of Michelle Bachman and smell of McCarthyism. Ideas do get recycled, both the good ones and the evil ones. Let’s build on the good ones and irradicate the evil.

Tim writes, “Pretty scary and what it tells me as someone who was flirting with the idea of voting for Obama, No Way Obama.”
==============================
Stop telling tall tales Tim. You were NEVER flirting with the idea of voting for Obama. Everything that needs to be said HAS been said. People have had more than enough time to decipher fact from fiction.
When I look around and see poor and middle-class Republicans so easily taken by “what ifs” with little to no thought I worry far more about followers of McCain and less about McCain.
You’re being sold the “what if” Obama raises taxes. Are you prepared ASK your fellow Republicans “what if” he doesn’t? Can you imagine a politician today actually RAISING taxes and committing political suicide? Sorry, I don’t see that happening but for some reason folks like YOU do. Why is that?
You’re being sold the idea that elminating tax breaks for those who earn more than $250K per year is somehow unjust when the majority of folks who don’t earn $250K per year don’t receive the same breaks. Have you ever stopped to ask what’s fair about that? Nah….You hear “Spread the Wealth”. Have you even stopped to ask WHEN is it my turn to receive a tax break? Let me commend you and those who think like you for being concerned about those who are surely NOT thinking about you.

Now when Palin was given stupid questions, she answered them and the critics were all over her, but Biden is given “stupid” questions, which I think were very legitimate he doesn’t have to answer?
Enquiring minds want to know, Joe.
These important questions are no joke.

I’m not sure why the label “socialist” is applied to Obama’s tax restructuring. It was “structured” in the first place, but I guess that’s ok because the wealthier people benefited. So, because Obama wants to restructure it to give lower income people a break, that’s “socialism?” What a bunch of b.s. If McCain/Palin are elected, we “lower income” folks won’t know what hit us.

Mike
So where do we go to see all these
Sarah Palin interviews that she is doing everyday?
Also, did the media want bushie to win in 2000 and 2004?

MM writes, “Only idiots believe the ACORN Lie.”
==============================
WRONGO!
Only Obamaniacs believe that the Acorn news stories are untrue.
And, of course, that’s understandable.
BUT WRONG!

OMG How dare anyone ask gaffe machine Biden a real question!!

… and, by the way, what is wrong with Socialism? Ensuring that public services are available to one-and-all? I realize right-wing Republican Greed is ‘all the rage’ these days… perhaps a change is in the air. Golly gee, gosh, darn it, Sarah Palin & cronies, maybe America is a pluralistic society where even hateful values such as yours are allowed to be aired… the rest of us are concerned with, um, taking care of social ills, caring for our families and friends, and following the road to compassion.

Adam, I though Democrats were for separation of church and state – but if you want to pull tax policy from the Bible, have at it.
As I recall, the Bible had quite a few disparaging words about tax collectors…

samadams
“when is obama going to do more interviews”
Obama has been doing interviews for 2 years now. He kicked mcsames *** in 3 debates.
I think we needs to heh mo from miss sarah to see if she really is as stupid is we think.
6 colleges to get a sports journalism degree = leader of free world.

10 days!

There is a reason West is still a local news anchorperson.

samadams:
Would an interview with Bill O satisfy you? Obama showed up.
Now, hows about pretty sarah doing an interview with Keith Oberman?

He was asked legit questions for the first time in the campaign and this is how he reacts…
Priceless…

it is an embarrasment for the United States to have to have Sarah’s Daddy (McCain) sit next to her to make sure that if she doesn’t know the answer to a question he can help poor sarah.
I mean what if she was asked another “gotcha” question like what newspapers or magazines do you read? See this would stump poor sarah again and Mcsame can wisper “tell her the New York Times”. See how that works?

Lee,
Explain to everyone here how it helps Obama to have people registering micky mouse, or using the phone book to create fake regisrations? This is fraud against Acorn.
The Obama campaign has registerd millions of people on their own – they don’t need acorn.
WHEN OBAMA WINS BY A LANDSLIDE I WANT YOU TO POST YOUR APOLOGY RIGHT HERE. AND DON’T FORGET TO TELL US HOW THESE FRAUDULENT REGISTRATIONS HELP OBAMA.

Rusty,
The difference between Biden and Palin is that HE ANSWERED EVERY QUESTION LIKE BABE RUTH HIT FASTBALLS – HOMERUN.
PALIN CAN’T EVEN ANSWER THE “GOTCHA” QUESTION, “WHAT NEWSPAPERS OR MAGAZINES DO YOU READ.
FAIRLY IMBALLANCED. REMEMBER?

So Joe:
How does it feel not to get the standard rear kissing questions that are usually ask of you?

The right wing of he Republican Party is so one sighted. They do not like that fact that a Democrat is in a position to win the White House. The Republicans announced their intensions to make misleading statements about Obama’s energy plan. Should we believe McCain because he’s RIGHT or because he’s WHITE? I believe he thinks that whatever he says we are supposed to believe. What is even more ironic is that the very people who are complaining about Obama’s economic plan are the people Barack is trying to help. The problem is…Obama is a democrat & He’s a black man.
This election is about pocket book issues and the survival of the middle class. How can you evangelicals say you love the Lord and not be concerned about those who are suffering? You can’t have it both ways. You see McBush calling Obama every name but the child of God. Are you proud of the campaign McCain is running? Now, the hate has escalated to the point that a student made a false police reports just to soil the Obama campaign’s reputation. Do you think God is pleased? What lessons are we teaching our children and grandchildren as they hear you speak your hate at the dinner table? If you know your Bible, you know what color Jesus was?
You need to tell McCain to run an honorable campaign like he said he would do.

all fair and square questions, with the exception of the Marx reference, which was asinine. but considering what they are writing about republicans here, i have to say ” are you joking? is this a real story? ” talk about your crybabies.why do democrats get coddled so much here? its hard to believe some of this stuff.

Good For her! Finally we get some hard questions asked instead of soft balls!!
Way to go Ms. West!
Come Nov 4th Obama and Biden will be out!
wohooooo!!!!!

Since when tough questions are considered “unprofessional question”??
Obama/Biden is so used to soft ball questions that they are shocked if someone dares to ask.

The video of the interview is no longer available. Too bad. Maybe the TV station chickened out.

Bob: Biden asked if she was joking because he couldn’t answer the questions or didn’t want to. I am glad for West, she is doing a good job, knows her business and knows what to ask. The problem with the Demo Dogs is they don’t like to be questioned but they like to dish it out. The problem is that neither Obama or Biden can answer serious questions or their answeers are usually lies. I already can see what a mess this country will be in if he is elected. He doesn’t know anything about politics, Biden will put his foot in his mouth and Powell will be asking what’s going on.

Just look at how the REPUBLICANS carry on would you! They have lied, cheated, pushed us into two wars one of which was TOALLY UNNECESSARY, deregulated the banks and financial markets that have put our nation is such an economic mess, tore up parts of the United States Constitution and deprived American citizens of their rights, tortured suspects against the Geneva Convention,robed from the Middle Class and gave MILLION OF DOLLARS to the top 5% of the super rich and fat cat corporations after passing the LARGEST TAX CUT in the history of the United States, had a dictatorship over the first 6 years of cowboy George W. Bush’s term, refused to allow the Democrats any say in government and are now acting to obstruct the passage of Democratic bills that would help to move our country forward. Now add to all of this the fact that they have not only act like Neo-Nazis screaming out to ‘KILL HIM” at their Republican rallies referring to Barack Obama, but one of John McCain’s supporters even went so far as to mutilate herself and make a FALSE police report trying to blame a black man and by association the Democratic party for this false attack, have screamed bloody murder about ACORN being engaged in voter fraud WHILE LOOKING THE OTHER WAY AT THEIR OWN PARTYS ATTEMPTS TO SUPPRESS DEMOCRATIC VOTES IN CALIFORNIA, OHIO, PENNSYLVANIA and FLORIDA!!
NEVER in the history of our nation has one party, the REPUBLICANS, done so much in just 8 years to DESTROY the United States of America!!!!!!! And they talk about FAMILY VALUES!!! The REPUBLICAN RIGHT WING NUT JOBS ARE NOT ONLY SCARY, SCARY, BUT EXTRMELY DANGEROUS PEOPLE MANY OF WHICH ARE VERY, VERY SICK WITH MAJOR MENTAL PROBLEMS AS WE CAN ALL SEE FROM THE POSTS ON THIS SITE AND MANY OTHERS AS WELL!!!!!

Sammy…After this election they are going to be so marginalized that it will be like that age old question…If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it then did it really exist? Barack Obama has proven to the country that he really is no drama Obama…

After watching that interview, I’m simply wondering why the woman refrained from asking Biden when he and Obama stopped beating their wives.

Oh my God! Someone asked BidenObama some tough questions? Thank the lord there is still a journalist or two left in American that isn’t bending down kissing their ring.

Maybe Biden should’ve winked and said “YOU BETCHA!” more, then you Repubs would recognize your own shabby values, and root for him; Maybe all he has to do to is shout “Tax cuts!” (you know; while we’re fighting two wars, and trying pull ourselves out of financial ruin)!
Some terrific patriotism you GOPers have that would continue to bankrupt the nation. “You can have my son for any war, but if you ask me for a few more bucks, I’ll whine like a little girl.”

Obama is hardly talking about socialism but even if he were, would that be so bad.
The world’s top countries with a highist standard of living are Norway, Sweden, Canada.
The USA is in a distant 6th place ..

“Good for the reporter ! We all need to send her a Thank you card. About time someone in the press gave Biden a little taste of what they have done to Sarah Palin!”
Amen.

These morons do”nt have enough sense to do a history check. George W. Bush or republicans did”nt cause the financial meltdown. The meltdown has been brewing ever since the savings and loan crash and that shows as Obama being stupid or he”s playing the public as stupid. George W. is the one that run the deficit way in the red, I’m not for either party,I simply check the facts !!

Plumbers and local TV reporters… Oh my!
McCain-Palin ’08

Yikes, idiots galore. Did you guys know that it was ACORN that reported their cheating employees? They hire employees to do the work, forms get filled and they are OFFICIAL FORMS. ACORN cannot throw the forms away, they review the forms and identify the bad ones, they fire the employee and then turn them into the government as flagged.

This is what happens when uneducated, people become reporters!

This crap has been going on with ACORN for years, only now it is so extreme that they can’t hide it any longer. It was caught by election offices and showed to reporters. ACORN then tried to cover their tracks and said that they notified officials. BULL!

I laugh when people say they hate Hannity or O’Reilly. Why? What lies do you think they spew? Is it not true about Rev. Wright? Is it not true about Ayers? Is it not true that O’Reilly was the first to bring up Obama’s tax plan as redistribution of wealth? Come on, they only speak the truth and you choose not to listen.

Its about time! What a great interview. I hope we hear more like that. She is a real Journalist!

Is it really that stunning that Joey Plugs would give the reaction he did to these questions? Charles Gibson, Brokaw, Overham,Maddow, and the rest would not dream to asking these questions. Thank you, Ms. West. Maybe there is hope for the media. I pray you are not fired for this, because a truly free press will be a thing of the past under these people.

Joe Biden rocks. She is obviously throwing GOP talking points at Biden and he answers clearly and accurately. Thank you for doing such a great job Joe! Way to turn it around on her.
Her hubby’s a GOP tool btw. A little conflict of interest there.

Ridiculous questions designed to satisfy those who are looking for sensationalism instead of actual journalism.

Paul_in_Vanc – Are you even an American? Socialism goes against everything our Constitution stands for.

counting crows – Obama isn’t JUST giving lower income people a break. He’s giving them back MORE money than they pay in Federal income taxes. Ergo, socialism.

bhciapol – The difference is that everything you listed are optional and we have the freedom to CHOOSE who we want to help. With Obama’s plan, we will all be FORCED to put money to people HE considers worthy of the help.

I can’t believe it..Barney Frank has already tipped his hand and said they want to cut the military budget by 25%. They are more socialists..they are insane

What would Carl Marx call Social Security?

you people are all nuts…you can’t spell, you wouldn’t know the truth if it came up and hit you in the face…every (few) times I read these posts it is so discouraging…you are so afraid and rant and rant about nothing….in case you don’t realize it…by now…..this country is in a major decline and you can blame all the Democrats in the world BUT THE LAST 8 YEARS WE HAVE HAD A REPUBLICAN TAKING YOUR MONEY AND GIVING IT TO THE CORPORATIONS AND THE MILITARY INDUSTRY..You don’t think this is taking and spreading the wealth…. from you??!!?? want health care? “go to the emergency room!” (direct quote from George W) people without food or water after Katrina? “they’re underpriviliged anyway, so its okay” (direct quote from W’s mom) no wonder he is so messed up!!!
every night I pray we get a decent human being as President….Palin is the scariest woman I have ever seen in politics because she is so ignorant and now she is blowing McCains campaign to pieces which many us knew she would.
May we survive the sheep (Americans) who follow those (disgusting politicans who trick the ignorant)into going off the cliff….

Unfortunately we have too many people voting who were not alive then or who were too young to remember it.
Posted by: ellsbells930 | Oct 25, 2008 11:18:49 PM
There’s nothing unfortunate about it.

These comments are awesome. We should forget voting and go to a cage fight system. A lot of polling stations are in gymnasiums so, you know, there are already bleachers for spectators and wrestling mats for minimum safety (i.e. wussies). Of course we’d have to decide on a system of classes and divisions and lord knows how we’ll agree on anything. I guess that brings us back to…cage fight! Sorta seems like Palin and McCain are devolving into Aunty Entity and Master Blaster dynamic already, so there’s that.

ALL taxes are a redistribution of wealth, you morons. The difference with Obama’s tax goals and McCain’s is simple= Obama wants to help the middle class return to the purchasing power it had in the Clinton years, whereas McCain is happy with the current state of affairs where hedge fund managers and CEOs pocket millions of dollars in income and pay less than their fair share of income. They insist, of course, that they are special and unique and worth their outrageous salaries. I guess that is why most hedge funds are underwater this year and many CEOs have earned more in salary and bonuses in the past year than the value they have brought to their stockholders. Both W and Cheney are former CEOs and we now know how insightful they have proven to be!!!!!!! Anyone but a Republican, please. Enough is enough!

I agree with the post re Carters election. Remember in Star Wars..don’t give in to the hate. The dark side feeds off your hate. I know you hate George Bush, but hating him and electing Obama is a horrible mistake. The dark side will take that hate and take this country down. Don’t give in to the hate. Remeber You are our only hope. Don’t serve the dark side. America needs a strong defense, and a strong leader. Vote McCain

WAdem – it is not moronic to know the difference between paying taxes for things such as police & educaton AND taking money from people because a politician has decided that someone is too rich & then gives that money to someone who has paid NO taxes & did NOT earn that money.

As a Central Florida resident I am happy to see our little market stir the pot a little…Now we have the Democratic Rat Pack (Bill and Barack) coming to Orlando on Wednesday so we are on a roll…Now if we could just Mickey Mouse involved in this race we will be over the top!

jesus, reading these comments, did conservatives just realize we have a progressive income tax like yesterday? like, i dont know, pretty much every capitalist country on earth? by this standard we’re all socialists already, save for those libertarian paradises in sub-saharan africa where there aren’t any cuz there’s nothing to tax yay!
…and as much as wingnuts love ACORN, they can all rest their crazy little heads that no matter how many cartoon characters and 5 year olds are registered to vote, VERY FEW of them will actually show up on election day. unless you’re on acid.
…still i have to agree that couric totally trashed palin, asking deep and unfair questions such as “what do you read?” I’m sure all of us here would have withered under such a barrage. of course that’s nothing compared to the nerfballs Biden gets. “Excuse me Mr. Communist, sir, but just how do you plan on going about centralizing control over the factors of production you smelly commie socio-hippie commie commie?”
Seriously though does anyone know what Marx wrote about collateralized debt obligations? i can’t find that passage.

Jimmy Carter was the worst president that we have had since I have been old enough to follow politics.
He was elected because people threw common sense out the wndow and voted their emotions. I see that some people are doing the same thing now.
For generations my family had, for the most part, voted for Democrats. (except Reagan)
Don’t shoot yourself in the foot by voting for Obama because of tough times we are having now. There is plenty of blame to go around on both sides of the aisle.

CCCCC

No doubt about it, “change” is what you will get. And like after four years of Carter, people will have had so much “change” that anyone with a heartbeat will be more electable than Obama will be for a second term. You only think you have it bad now. Check out what inflation, interest rates, and un-employment were under Carter. “Change”? no problem, one heapin helpin comin up. Just remember, you asked for it and don’t worry, a lot of us will be here to tell you we told you so. If you want a stock tip for the future, buy all you can in the “Humble Pie” factory. It’s gonna be working double shifts.

Yes, conservatives do realize that taxes are necessary. They are a necessary evil to be exact – and there should be as little as possible. E.g.: as much Liberty as possible as little government as necessary. And yes conservatives realize that taxes are for the most part a re-distribution of wealth. But the underlying premise is that the aim is for the common good and for the most part indirect – i.e. defense, infrastructure and other things of that sort explicitly noted in the Constitution. When a government official advocates a direct re-distribution of wealth – i.e. a tax hike on “Group A” to finance payments sent to “Group B” we have something quite different. Particularly when that government official advocates such a policy in the name of “fairness” – even when it would be to the determent of government revenues and the economy as a whole (e.g. the common good). This is the plan that Obama articulated quite clearly to Charlie Gibson – and summed-up in a sound-bite to “Joe the Plumber”. This is the kind of America that Obama envisions, and it is certainly more in line with Marx than the authors of our Constitution. That is certainly his right and the right of those who vote for him – but let’s not let them deny what this is.

What is wrong with this woman?
I thank God I don’t live in the Orlando market, forced to rely on this dim-witted hater for my news.
Geez, is this America?

You just keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better. Most of us know all about how great lawyers are at being politicians. The two professions seem to have been made for each other. See ya in a few year to say, “I told you so”

Posted by: Buyers remorse | Oct 26, 2008 12:33:14 AM
OH BUT I AGREE….LOOK AT MCCAIN. EVERYONE ISN’T AS BAD AS YOU PRECEIVE THEM TO BE…OBAMA ISN’T PERFECT, BUT HE IS BETTER THAN THE GARBAGE WE HAVE TO CHOOSE FROM.
MCCAIN IS NOT COHERENT, AND I THOUGHT I COULD GO WITH PALIN, HOWEVER, SHE HAS TOO MANY COVER UP’S AND HER BELIEF’S CAN EASILY CHANGE INTO COMMUNIST. THAT IS MY OPINION AND YOU HAVE YOURS. WE WILL JUST HAVE TO SEE WHAT THIS WORLD IS LIKE THIS TIME NEXT YEAR.

Asking grotesque questions is an art and matter of heart. One needs to show guts to not to succumb to Obama’s stardom to ask these questions. Obama is a Kenyan crap thrown to destroy America. But the problem is Americans want to embrace that and at least short-live in that dirty joy. Wake up and ask yourself :Is Obama the right person? His friends who aim at controlling White House after Obama presidency, The terrorists dancing in the streets of Pakistan and Middle East, UGH. Taliban and Al Qaida will gain control on Pakistani Nuclear weapons after Obama declares war on Pakistan. He does not understand foreign policy. You may get your homes back if you remain secure at home.

As part of the Republican deregulation effort the Fairness Doctrine was axed several years ago. It had required equal time for all viewpoints on any particular issue when journalists were presenting a story. Need I say more? The results are all manner of ideological ramblings masquerading as journalism and clogging the airwaves, making it even more difficult for the average citizen to unearth the truth. The interview with Senator Biden was unprofessional and unethical; it reminded me of the type of blindsiding Rosie O’Donnell pulled on Tom Sellick regarding gun control several years back. Over at FoxNews, the bloggers are having a free-for-all with this – over 1,800 blogs in the past two hours. Democracy in action? You be the judge. Reminded me of a lake full of alligators – all mouth and no ears. Joe Biden handled the interview flawlessly as anyone watching it can see. But the reporter’s question how the Democratic economic plans AREN’T Marxist assumed from the start that they are, indeed, Marxist. This isn’t journalistic objectivity. It’s pushing a particular viewpoint.

I look for that reporters life to be destroyed in about 3 days. I am sure they are going through her records now to see if she used her real name, she owes back taxes, she went to college and is a real journalist.

This was the most useful and professional interview attempt that I’ve seen in the entire campaign.

Hmm, let’s see. Joe Biden is interviewed by Barbara West and Barack Obama is interviewed by Bill O’Reilly. Hey, how’d they do? Pretty respectful and civil, huh? Has John McCain been interviewed by Chris Matthews? Oh wait, has Sarah Palin talked to Keith Olbermann or Rachel Maddow? Me thinks NOT! Same old fear mongering and divisive messages from the party that screwed up our country the past 8 years! Time to vote these people out! CHANGE WE NEED!

Finally! A honest reporter that asked tough question about Obama. Bravo!!!!!
Biden is the Joke!

Kimo_Pono: There’s nothing in that blog that provides ANY proof of his membership in the Socialist Party. More right wing Republican smear tactics. You guys are on the way out. Get use to it. You’ve had your chance, screwed things up royally and have left a mess to be cleaned up.

Joe Biden is clearly presidential material. Sarah Palin would have requested an interpreter and a bag of gummy bears after the first question. But in her defense I will say that when I heard Katie ask her which newspapers she reads, I instantly thought, ‘Oh no, that’s a tough one. That question has toppled so many potential candidates in the past.’ Sorry…had to go there.

Now, that the Joe I knew and love. He did a great. He rightfully and powerfully to control of the interview. He made her look like classless clown.

Obama has affectively bribed the people earning less than 250K into voting for him. Too bad he will break the nation trying to fulfill the promised bribe. Then again he is politician and will only make token efforts that will show he is makeing an effort to. Election law needs to be enforced against those that buy votes through gift and promises. Sure, hop onto my bus to the pole to vote for my candidate and get X for doing so.

Obama is shamelessly bribing americans for their vote. He is promising tax cuts at the expense of businesses. What a great communist we are sending into the White House. What has happened to the american values of hard work, responsibility, and entrepreneurship? They are being killed by the liberals. America is being debased by the liberals.

Senator Obama is a beautiful puppet. Its the guys pulling his strings that are scary. They are social scientists who want to make some really BIG experimental changes around here.

We hear the same exact scare tactics every single election. When are people going to realize it? Republicans are not going to start war with Russia and start the draft, and Democrats are not “communists” who will take away your guns. It’s that kind of retarded partisan bickering which is weakening our whole country.
McCain would be a fine President, and so would Obama. Obama’s tax plan is not going to destroy small business any more than Clinton’s (same exact) tax policy did in the 90′s. They even used the same lines about Clinton’s tax restructuring.
Enough hysteria already.

So, does this mean that I’ve been ‘flamed’?
When you guys were kids, didn’t you hear the bedtime story about “… who’s gonna GROW the wheat….who’s gonna BAKE the bread… etc.”
Socialism really doesn’t work very well folks. Look at Europe. Look anywhere. Why do you think we’re feeding most of them?

Who cares? She asked parroted talking points of the Republican party in such a mean nasty spirit it is obvious the bias which automatically exludes any merit she had going into the interview as a unbiased reporter.

There are already jobs being lost under Republican policies voted in by Mc Cain and not just Bush. Bush used trickle down tax policy for his terms in office and it started the recession. Mc Cain uses a trickle down tax and how could that possibly do anything else but cause another Recession which it already did under Bush?

Where does the Obama plan put money into industries to pay better salaries and employ more workers? If industries are to get their money from the purchasing power of the consumer and those consumers are their employees then how does it help when the government claims a larger share of the industries profits to pay a dole to those that have found the loop hole of doing less to get more from the government? The math is degenerative for any economy. Some have called the trickle down being trickle on. That definitely applies when speaking about how the very poor managerial ability of the government has imposed itself upon those that have grown the economy. Taking away from Research and Development funds, bonuses for significant intellectual and labor contributions, and for business growth is absurd. To demand employers pay more for less is backward. A government funded economy feeds on itself until it is left as its own worst customer.

Funny this article didnt mention the republican connection Im guessing Jake did that on purpose. He does that alot. But working for ABC you make some sacrifices just like Charlie Gibson. I found this on wikipedia.”Controversies
On October 23, 2008, news anchor Barbara West, interviewed Joe Biden, VP Democratic candidate for the United States Presidency asking questions about Obama’s affiliation with ACORN and Voter Registration fraud, comparing Obama’s response to an earlier question from Ohio voter “Joe the plumber” to a quote from Karl Marx, and suggesting that Obama wants to turn the U.S. “into a socialist country much like Sweden.”
The Obama campaign responded by canceling a subsequent interview with the candidates wife, Jill Biden. The campaign’s official statement was, “This cancellation is non-negotiable, and further opportunities for your station to interview with this campaign are unlikely, at best for the duration of the remaining days until the election” [5]
Barbara West is married to Republican strategist Wade West.[6] Wade West is “a popular consultant for political candidates ranging from local elections, to more than 85 members of Congress and members of the President’s cabinet.”[7] In addition, West has made multiple campaign contributions to the Republican Party.[8]

“look at the auto industry. we’ve “redistributed wealth” to them because their business decisions would have buried them a long time ago if this were truly a free market economy.” Well said Jack. We keep redistributing the wealth and to all the wrong places, most of the time. Now we are forced to channel some of it back in the direction of the Middle Classes, or the backbone of the Nation will break. This is one, big Mess. We are borrowing billions of dollars we can ill afford to pay back – to ‘reward’ fat cat bankers whose greed has unstabilised the financial security of the world. We have no choice. We can’t afford not to stabilise the banking system. But let us not pretend that this is ‘free market’ in thought or deed. It is disgraceful. We are borrowing that money – we don’t even have it. What’s worse, we actually need to be investing in our health care, social security and education. We’ve been so busy bailing out Fat Cats, we haven’t had the chance to address the underlying issues and problems. GOP claims of “Socialism” and fears of “wealth distribution” are incredibly hypocritical under the circumstances. Clearly, they are prepared to distribute our taxes among the wealthy whenever it suits them. No National Health Program – but National Banks, they’re fine. Not.

The press is supposed to challenge the candidates — not be lapdogs. The candidates live in a bubble 99% of the time, shielded from interviews and voters that don’t agree with them. Last week Obama’s suprise encounter with Joe the Plumber and this Biden interview both cracked open the namby-pamby scripted narratives and provoked good debate. The real question should be — Why isn’t the national media asking tough questions 7 by 24? Or we could talk about the candidates clothes for 2 or 3 days. The MSM is mostly a joke.
BTW, votenader.org!!

Folks it’s time to wake up and smell the coffee. if obama is elected, your right to free speech may disappear. If he can’t take a few legitimate questions from a reporter now, he will never allow his judgement to be questioned once POTUS. If you don’t make him look good,and worship at his feet, you will be punished. Joe Werzelbacher found that out. He has had his privacy invaded. People accessing his private records illegally and trying to ruin him. Obama or the media he keeps in his pocket has already cost America it’s first job….joe’s

Americans remind me of the parable about cooking a frog. If you put the frog in hot water, he will jump out of the pot. But if you put the frog in cold water, and slowly turn up the heat, he will stay in the pot until he is cooked. We the people are like the frog. Our rights are gradually being taken away. Just a little at time, so we don’t revolt, but one day soon, we will wake up and ALL of our rights will be gone.

These are swift-boating tactics that have no place in legitimate media. That woman ought to go get a job on Fox or Dancing with the Stars. She is NOT a legitimate journalist. The ACORN thing is blown waaaaay out of proportion and ignores the fact that it was ACORN that brought the fake registsrations to light – they are in fact required to do so, the purpose of that law being to ensure that organizations like ACORN or the GOP for that matter are not falsely accused of registration fraud, or at a minimum do not gum up the registration works trying to flag such registrations. ACORN’s problem is that they paid workers to collect such registrations — that should not be allowed. But in fairness to ACORN, they are trying to perform other missions, like helping homeless, unemployed people, so it might seem like a no brainer to pay them to empower others in their community. I have worked in the inner city in Baltimore trying to train poll workers and I can tell you how hard it is to recruit when most people in that area are too busy just trying to keep food on the table. So, it is not surprising that this would happen, but hardly rises to the level of voter fraud – which would be if someone attempted to VOTE such a fraudulent registration for the purposes of defrauding. THAT is serious. Voter registrations that are bogus or mishandled are a problem that has plagued the system forever. Detection is now easier thanks to the state-wide data bases that are required by federal law. As for her questioning about Obama’s tax plan — if you are going to try and hang a socialist tag around Obama’s neck, then in all honesty you’d better hang one around Bush’s and McCain’s as well — the only difference is who the target of government largesse is — “spreading the wealth around” has been with us since implementation of the federal income tax. Republicans like to keep the spreading to themselves — rich school districts, wealthy corporations, and well-heeled citizens. Obama is suggesting to make the playing field more level. We are almost living in a feudal society right now — with the middle class all but disappeared. You have the poor, the working poor and the rich. And that’s it. So to help the working poor seems pretty smart because it is hard to compete globally if your working class is struggling economically. Hard to compete globally if only a small percentage of your children are provided access to quality education. I could go on and on and on. It doesn’t matter. McNasty’s and FailinPalin’s attempts to paint Obama as a socialist or worse will fail, just as all their other Bush-authored tactics will fail and Obama will be elected November 4. Thank God!

The vote on Nov 4 could prove one thing there are more dumb people then smart ones. Obama should not be The president and it should not even be close. wake up America

I never have understood the wealthy that wish to live in a stable society, with it’s protections and infrastructure and their reluctance to pay for any of it. They want a standing army and police force to protect them, yet the folks with the most to loose don’t want to pay for any of it. They want good roads, bridges to transport themselves and their goods and refuse to pay for it. They want tax breaks to build businesses then lament the local schools don’t teach the necessary skills as they lack the funding. They want massive profits for themselves yet refuse to pay a living wage and their employees are one disaster away from loosing everything they own. So here we are with crumbling bridges and roads full of pot holes, providing the worst education in the developed world, an army in psychological tatters, a police force that’s being pared down to the bare essentials and nobody that can afford to purchase the goods they sell as they don’t have the cash or can’t get credit.

Well, well, well….. this dirty business with Sarah “The She-Thug” Palin just keeps getting better and better all the time. But certainly it comes as no surprise of just how much this ‘she-thug’ has no business making decisions about ANYTHING!! I honestly doubt that she would qualify as a parking meter attendant.
It seems that Sarah Palin is not only “one of the good old boys”, but she reeks of it! What an obscene joke that John McCain and the Republican Party/GOP has touted her as “taking on these good old boys network”. I actually think that she is much worse than this GOB’s network, because at the same time, she is UNBELIEVABLY AND SUPERBLY IGNORANT!
In MY opinion, the only difference between Sarah Palin and this “good old boys” network is that she wears “VERY” EXPENSIVE DRESSES and ACCESSORIES, AND SPORTS “VERY” EXPENSIVE DO’S AND LIPSTICK!!!
Let this be a lesson on just how much not only INTELLIGENCE, COMMON SENSE AND EDUCATON are required when placed in positions of authority, but INTEGRITY is required as well…… otherwise, innocent people stand to pay for that ignorance.
No doubt, Sarah Palin never bothered to “really” understand the bidding process and conflicts of interest or lucrative contracts, just as she has never bothered reading the US Constitution. I guess that she was working on “instinct”.
What is the next episode of “As The World of Sarah Palin Turns?”

This is a manufactured controversy – Obama is not a Marxist – pay no attention to his voting record, rhetoric, or his tax proposals – and don’t bring it up again or there will be AP “investigations” against you. No this is just part of a “vast right-wing conspiracy” to divert attention from the real issues that will affect our country – important issue’s such as Palin’s wardrobe and Joe the Plumbers tax returns. Asking about political philosophy and tax proposals in a polictal campiangn is “swift-boat tactics” and dare I say “McCarthyism”!!! …. BREAKING AP “NEWS” – Palin may have once jaywalked in high-school – a team of 100 reporters is cover this and details are emerging fast in this sorted tale – and remember VOTE OBAMA (or you are a racist)!

Guess Joe Biden thought he would get softball questions…like he does from MSNBC or the girls on the “View”. If he and Obama can’t stand up to tough questions from the media, how are the going to stand up to Iran, Russia and North Korea??

SOCIALISM, COMMUNISM, MARXISM. THESE NAMES IMPLY AT LEAST AN ATTEMPT AT A RATIONAL ORDER.
THIS IS SIMPLY GANG/CLASS WARFARE. IT IS ANIMALISTIC BEHAVIOR. “WE WANT IT; LET’S GANG UP AND TAKE IT.”

THESE GRAND SOCIAL EXPERIMENTS HAVE BEEN TRIED OVER AND OVER AND OVER.
WHEN ALL THE INCENTIVE TO PRODUCE IS REMOVED, THEN EVERYONE STARTS GETTING HUNGRY. THEN THE AK-47S COME OUT (TO TRY TO INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY) AND THINGS GO DOWNHILL FROM THERE.
OUR SYSTEM HAS CREAKED AND HICCUPED ALONG NOW FOR 200 YEARS, AND PROVEN ITSELF FAR SUPERIOR — WE’RE FEEDING MOST OF THE WORLD.
MUST WE REALLY DESCEND DOWN THIS WELL-TRAVELLED RAT-HOLE?

If you actually listen to the interview you would she that Joe Biden did a wonderful job and made her look stupid actually. If helping the middle class is socialism or welfare then what do you call 700 billion bailout that John McCain also signed and what is the check the gov. Palin give to each alaskan…..that’s a true welfare check. To bad the link above doesn’t work but it was a good interview and Biden was wonderful. I know that Obama and Biden will make me proud.

Swift-Boat tactics? Unprofessional journalism? How about: questions that are on the forefront of some people’s minds. We may only have the illusion of freedom in this country nowadays, but you can kiss my redneck Texan butt if you don’t thnk that we are and have been slidingdown the slope to socialism. Who is going to ask the questions? I financed my car and my land. Everything else paid with cash. It was not always that way for me but I saw the light. When the rest of the country is in debt to the State because the credit card companies become nationalized, the people can kiss my butt and ask the government for more assistance. What ever happened to personal responsibility?

Dems–don’t overreact so. Welcome to one ten-millionth of our world of conservative treatment by the mainstream press. If you enjoy dishing it out 24-7, then you’d beteer be able to take it at least one time during , 18th month election campaign.
By they way, MBell has posted the most substantive comments to date.

Being down in the polls really brings out the worst in some people…all were loaded questions.

THE OBAMA CAMPAIGN TRASHED JOE THE PLUMBER WHEN THEY DIDN’T LIKE WHAT HE SAID, NOW THEY TRASH A NEWS ANCHOR WHO FINALLY ASKS JOE BIDEN QUESTIONS ON THINGS HE’S ALREADY SPOKEN OF. ARE THEY GOING TO TRASH HER NOW TOO?
I’M BEGINNING TO SEE AN OBAMA-PATTERN.

In a free country, there is no such thing as in impermissible question.
There is no other way to get to the truth.
The reporter did not ask Biden an empty or trick question about Marxism: she defined her terms. She added nothing to the definition.
Biden’s reaction and his answer were interesting to say the least.
If the Obama/Biden campaign cannot handle the challenge of plainly worded questions about the nature of their political philosophy — and purges those who ask them “difficult” questions, this has significant implications for how they will run the goverment. I remind you all that the reporter is an American citizen who, at least for the present, still has the free political right to ask, on camera, whatever question she chooses of any politician whatsover. It is more than troubling when a politician is not forthcoming about the fundamentals of his campaign’s political philosophy instead of hiding specific principles behind a vague phrase like “helping the middle class.” The ideal of forced wealth redistribution by goverment is Marx.
If that is a good idea, why hide it? Biden missed an opportunity to be plain wwith the American people.
If it is not such a good idea, the principles must not be clearly identified, which means the cause must rely on rhetorial deception or direct oppression to have a chance in a free election.
The Obama/Biden campaigns reaction — essentially banishing WFTV for asking impermissible questions — should be perceived as a harbinger of goverment threat to free journalism and to anyone who dares to ask of our leaders incisive questions about political philosophy. It is not lost on me — or to a lot people — that this is what a political dictatorship does to its critics.

I live in Florida and when I choose to watch the news I want news not a paid reader of the news giving just her opinion of what she can ask to sway people to her way of thinking and voting.
Being a republican and hosting republican fund raisings with her husband as West did, people in Florida know why she did this.
It’s to bad because she has made Channel 9 in Florida to lose viewers during her slot.
Channel 2 here we come.

It was a fun interview to watch. I really enjoyed it when Joe tried to grimace but his forehead refused to because of the botox treatments. :p. Yeah “who’s writing these questions?” sorta sounded like “did obama put you up to this?” boy, joe was really flustered.

The reporter just cited McCain campaign talking points in short speech form and added on a question. If the people who employ her allow her to do that kind of junk—which is not journalism, but unpaid propaganda—then she can do it. Biden can also point out how ridiculous it is and the rest of us can change the channel. I doubt that station will be doing many interviews from the winning party this election. Hope they enjoy their solitude.

Will CNN, ABC, CBS & NBC call the Obama campaign out on this behaviour, or will they let it go? Remember, next week it could be one of you that gets cut off.
Put your bias aside and please try to be the crusading journalists that you all aspired to be early in your careers.

This reporter took it a little far with things like “a huge political blunder” and things like that, no worse than what the media has been doing for months.
But the questions are legit. An affiliate of ACORN was paid a ton of money by the BO campaign. They paid an affiliate, not ACORN directly, to avoid the political fallout that they knew might happen if people decided to investigate ACORN at some point down the road. This thing about they only “register” voters and nobody ever fraudulently votes is nonsense – things like absentee balloting and on the spot voting open the system up for abuse. Joe B bent the truth when he said they never paid ACORN.
The spread the wealth questions are legit too. There is not enough money in his tax plan to pay for the trillion in new spending he’s proposing. He’s proposing universal healthcare. He’s proposing a massive redistribution of wealth. We are headed for recession. Revenues to the government will go down. We just had a $700B rescue plan. The money has to come from somewhere – increased taxes (for practically everyone) or new deficit spending. Neither higher taxes nor increased government spending are going to help the recession. He cannot keep his 95% promise and implement the programs he’s proposing.
Something has to give – He’s the #1 most liberal Senator in Congress, so I’m betting the 95% promise is tossed first.

I am shocked that ABC would allow this forum….good brief, is the liberal left waking up? Those questions should be ask by all the main stream media. Barbara West did a great job — I hope her station backs her. If Obama or Biden can’t/won’t deal with the tough questions they should drop out of the race.
McCain/Palin 2008

I notice that this article is hidden in the background of the ABC website. While the interview could of been delivered better they were questions many US Citizens have asked and never got an answer. One must guess the the Obama/Biden Presidency will continue to answer pointed questions the same way. The second point is the the Democrats in general are gettng bolder in making pronouncements such as the loser Barney Franks and comments about the “Fairness Doctrine”. Makes a person nervous.

Marxism – Marxism is a belief that capitalism is based on the exploitation of workers by the owners of the means of production or a belief that people’s consciousness of the conditions of their lives reflects the dominant ideology which is in turn shaped by material conditions and relations of production.
Socialism – Socialists mainly share the belief that capitalism unfairly concentrates power and wealth among a small segment of society that controls capital and creates an unequal society. All socialists advocate the creation of an egalitarian society, in which wealth and power are distributed more evenly, although there is considerable disagreement among socialists over how, and to what extent this could be achieved.

Tough questions? All is amounted to was baiting. If that what the right thinks are tough questions, maybe you ought to have her lob a few at McCain. Then you’ll start complaining about the media again…

==This is the most UNPROFESSIONAL PIECE OF DOOOOO ever. west is a Sean Hannity toe sucker wannabe.
Love watching the libs whine about “unfair” media coverage. How ridiculous! LOL!

and the hate and spewing from the new extremist radical hijackers of the republican party will WIN this election for Obama. The country ‘s majority sees it for the divisive and evil hate it is, and the more you spew and scream and post the absurd and hateful and slanderous lies, the more people tune you out and vote for Obama.
Obama supporters talk about hope and a better nation.
Mccain extremists talk about hate and a bitter nation.
and Obama’s polls just get better and better because the extremist radicals and their behavior reflect right onto mccain and palin…..and the majority is rejecting the haters. All of them.

this woman is toast – as we speak BO’s army of lawyers and journalist friends are tearing through her tax records, credit reports, medical records, etc to smear and discredit her.
just like joe the plumber, sarah palin, rush, sean, mark, etc. anyone attempting to challenge the one must be crushed immediately. rogue dictators and america haters – well we’ll just have to sit down and “talk” to them like reasonable people.

Uniter, West is not toast. If anything, she deserves to be toasted. It’s nice to see a real journalist for a change. As far as smearing from the left goes; it didn’t work when the liberal media went after “Joe the plumber,” and it won’t work in this incident either. I’m sure Barbara West is more popular and well known today than she was a week ago.

I hope Barbara West gets a raise. I wish she had asked even more questions. It was actually refreshing to see real reporting for a change. Biden seemed surprised at her blunt questioning. The Obama Biden ticket has been getting such a pass with the rest of the media that Biden seemed shocked that gosh, wait a minute, I have to answer a real question.

Good work Biden, That far-right wing womans question was just stupid.
Does people realize its not about spreading the wealth is about sharing the cost based on how much you make.
We give rich people the right to make money and defend their wealth and power with my middle class money.
Its fair if they who uses and benefit from all the goverments spending to pay a larger share.
We currently has socialism for the companies and rich people and crums for the workers.
Nobody is complaining about that.
I pay tons of taxes for military that benefits mostly the rich who has things that needs to be protected.
I pay tons of taxes for infrastructure that benefit companies and rich people.
I pay for Police / Firemen even though rich people need them more.
I can go on and on, how use socialism to benefit the rich but when worker asks for it, then it somehow bad.
Wake up America.
Tha facist and Rich people have joined forced in the Republican party.
Let throw them out..
Obama 2008

West should have Palin on today since she is in Florida. She should ask her about Todd being a card carrying memeber of AIP and whether she is a seccesionist because her husband is.
She should ask McCain if infidelity and adultery are Christian values (he was with Cindy while married). Shw should ask McCain if he is a habitual liar because at the RNC the announcer said John lied to Cindy about her age.
She should ask Palin what she understands by ‘abuse of power’ or Todd using her office to pursue a personal agenda. Or how she figures to be a ‘joe six pack’ when she is wearing 150 grand of designer clothing. Is Palin a hypocrite?
West was unprofrssional and clearly partisan.

Democrats want to talk about Palin….Biden is such a joke. They added him to the campaign because of his foreign policy experience? Why didn’t he stop Obama from saying our people were flying around bombing villages and killing civilians or that Iran was no threat because it is just some little country (Afghanistan is a little country too)or that he would go into Pakistan to get Bin Laden which could risk them handing nukes over to our enemies. Not only did his sage advice not stop those comments but he turns around and scares the people saying there is gonna be some attack to test Obama. Come on…is that what you call experienced people. The fact is Biden didn’t agree with many of Obama’s policies but adjusted to them to suit the circumstances. Michelle Obama says this is the first time in her adult life she is proud of this country. So between them they insult the military, the country and foreign countries. With all of Obama’s dubious connections, hidden background (sealing of college records, refusal to provide his original birth certificate for verification)these questions were perfectly acceptable. He could avoid such questions by being open to the people instead of dodging questions that he is worried would expose his true socialist agenda

Please. Why are you removing my posting? It’s a fair and honest point about a misstatement of Sen. Biden’s and related issues. It’s a very progressive view. I used no foul language, and never would. It was simply factual economic information which I believe would improve the intellectual discussion on the economic bumper politics being thrown at we the people in this election. Truly, the readers here would enjoy and benefit from that information. You can e-mail me a response. I think I can expect that much. I speak and exchange information with journalists the world over on a daily basis, and I am shocked that suddenly this would occur – here?

Ever wonder how some community organizing group (ACORN) that is now under public eye for massive voter fraud finds their way into the first bailout bill? Maybe because
Obama worked for them in the past and gave $800,000 to them to get out the (democrat) vote and they were campaign contributers to Obama. Wait till all the truth comes out concerning the republicans trying to tell democrats on numerous occasions that the sub-prime market was gonna cause problems only to be ignored by them. You deserve what you get if you wanna vote for the party (Democratic)that let this economic crisis take place but we don’t wanna suffer for your ignorance

Obama’s economic plans will be disastrous to our country!
Most of the jobs in our great country are created by small businesses. If Obama raises taxes on people (and businesses) who make more than $250,000 a year, he will force these businesses to stop hiring, will discourage business growth and potentially lead to layoffs and hence greater unemployment.
Take a look at history please! In response to the Depression, Hoover did the wrong thing. He raised taxes on the wealthy and signed a devastating tariff that undermined the economy. Higher taxes on people who create jobs and economic opportunity always have a detrimental effect.
The USA has the 2nd highest corporate tax rate in the world. If the corporate tax rate were reduced, it would encourage business development and more jobs!
People complain about jobs leaving our country but businesses function by looking at the BOTTOM LINE i.e. profitability. If businesses pay lower taxes in other countries, it makes sense to them to develop their businesses there.
Let’s keep our jobs in the USA.
Vote: McCain/Palin

THIS IS TOO FUNNY..
AMERICA MEET YOUR NEW V.P. …
SAME AS YOUR OLD V.P.
I AM LOVING THIS– BARBARA WEST HAS
OFFICIALLY MADE MY DAY..
BIDEN WAS THE WORST V.P. CHOICE EVER..
JUST ASK THE OBAMA GURUS!!!!!!!

Biden looked like he saw a ghost. How dare we question him. All of the questions were fair. Just goes to show they can’t handle what Sarah Palin has had to handle for months. Wah Wah Friends this is what we are going to have in the White House? Someone who cries when he is asked tough questions.
How obsessed obama is with Sean hannity.
How dare we don’t kiss his ass. Pretty ssad. We are headed for disaster. I am sserious and don’t say this lightly. Be afraid Be very Afraid…

McCain survived the communist interrogators and Biden is crying over a female “news” reporter’s questions…guess who is really ready on day one…say it’s not so, joe

Very disappointed in Barbara West, thought she was different and better than other reporters….she was up until now, no longer a viewer.

The problem Biden seems to have been is that the softballs that have been tossed his way since he joined the chosen ticket have made him forget that until the votes are counted and you are declared the winner that you may be asked questions you don’t like.
It will be interesting to see how admiring the press will be in an Obama/Biden presidency when there is no longer a need to give an appearance of being candid.

SARAH PALIN’S AN IDIOT WHO’S GOOD FOR ALASKA JUST NOT AMERICA.. HOPE ALASKANS STILL FEEL THE SAME ABOUT YOU PALIN WHEN YOU RETURN NOVEMBER 5TH.. WISH YA LUCK, YOU BETCHA! :)

BARBARA WEST IS A JOKE JUST LIKE THE REPUBLICAN PARTY CANDIDATES.. AIRHEADS WITH NOTHING OF SUBSTANCE TO OFFER..

About time someone asked some tough questions!! She is only catching flak from the Obama supporters that want the chosen one not to have to explain any inconvenient truths. Good for her, the questions were fair. The idea that Barak Obama is above having to answer questions he doesn’t like isn’t going to wash with the American people.

Fact: Obama did say to Joe the plumber that he wanted to spread the wealth. Spreading the wealth is a Marxist ideal. So if that is what Biden and Obama believe why not just admit it?
I don’t have anything personal against Democrats, It’s just that every Democrat that I have talked to seems to want something from the government. I don’t want anything from anyone, except a little lovin from the old lady. I guess I must be an old fashion caveman but, I think would rather shovel manure 24/7, or be dead, before I would admit that I needed help from anyone, including the government. Am I so wrong?

How scary you people are. Have I fallen into an Orwell story? DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND THAT THE OBAMA/BIDEN PEOPLE ARE CENSORING THIS STATION FOR ASKING QUESTIONS? The job of the media is to ask questions, to allow the viewer to make up their minds after seeing the facts. We are about to enter the darkest period in American history, and most of you out there are welcomeing it. WE KNOW NOYTHING OF THIS MAN (Obama). The people who do know him have been silanced. WAKE UP

bluetidalwave — Joe Biden got asked some questions from Orlando WFTV reporter Barbara West on Thursday that where completely false. Biden: “Are you joking? Is this is a joke? Or is that a real question?” Turns out that her husband, Wade West, is a media consultant for Republican politicians!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Obama/Biden 08 ;-)

So were her questions HER OWN questions or her husbands questions, with a Republican agenda. Joe Biden was right to question this interview.

dwitter:
I am with you on this. i just read an article on her. Her husband is a Republican media consultant.

Finally a newscaster who actually asks some tough questions!!!

I’ve witnessed better magic shows from 7 year olds, even without the misdirection of smoke and mirrors.

Some 7 year old kids held a mock vote for president in NJ and this little girl hit the nail on the head about the difference in democrats and republicans. She said “the democrats want to give you a fish to eat, the republicans want to give you the fishing pole so you can catch more fish for yourself”. The democrats need to get their hands out of my pocket and people should quit looking for handouts from the government. Whatever happened to working hard in this country is what gets you ahead? Have we lost it completely?

thank goodness someone is finally asking some good questions. Shame on Biden for his attitude. Like he is better than everyone else. She asked some questions friends and I have been wanting some real answers too, and stil haven’t gotten. Old boy network not used to fresh questions.
11 Days out and we still don’t know who OBama is. Will the real Obama please stand up!
Kudo’s to Ms. West

I am delighted at the chance of being part of “citizen journalism” movement these days. We don’t always get the full picture right, but it’s not like we are complete fools either. From a professional journalist, I expect much less bias or, if that is too naive an expectation, at least informed questions. When a journalist calls Sweden a “socialist” country, I wonder about her grasp of basic political science knowledge. Sweden is a market economy, not a planned economy. Sweden does have a number of social programs in place, the absence of which in America gives fuel to notion of America being a “third world country”, e.g. as concerns matters of access to healthcare. When a professional journalist exposes such profound disrespect for facts or sheer ignorance thereof, I feel more empowered as a citizen journalist and invite other citizen bloggers to set the record straight.

My concerns with Obama are his radical ideologies as it relates to the size of government, government control over my life and livelihood, media censorship, government sponsored health care, etc. I just don’t believe in those ideals. I believe in the strict ideas set for on the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights. McCain is also has these beliefs. Obama wants to take all control out of the hands of state governments as well.

Google her name for info about her being married to a GOP political operative. Make your own decision. The info is out there.

Thanks Patrick.
You’ve converted me!
:-)

Hey, Joenugget…
FYI…. Black men were allowed to vote in the USA BEFORE women were allowed to vote.

That was not a news interview! It was straight out of the Fox Network playbook.

Right off the top, Obama just out and out lied to Joe the Plumber. Obama said:
“we haven’t given a break to folks who make less.”
Yes “we” did. Lots of them.
For the record the Bush administration, with congress, did in fact give poorer and middle class working folks numerous and significant tax breaks.Obama and Biden are free to argue for them or against them – but should not be allowed to lie straight out to the American public and suggest that they do not exist. Obama/Biden must be questioned on these misrepresentations. The voters have a right to expect that our media will not just sit and let that remain on the table as the final say.
**… significant tax breaks; all middle and lower tax rates were lowered, with the 15% lower bracket being cut to 10% (a 50% reduction); child tax credit was doubled; and the marriage penalty tax trap was fixed – and it helped a ton. In 2001 they received a tax rebate. In 2008, for goodness sakes, once again, we are given a tax rebate, a larger one, a part of a stimulus package. Millions of lower and middle class workers invest in the markets and did in fact benefit from lower capital gains tax and lower dividend tax rates. The capital gains tax reductions also extend to the sale of rental property and to the sale of a small businesses, creating a much needed break for all, including the middle class. The AMT adjustment was renewed each and every year.

Everyone seems to be missing a few easy misrepresentations from Biden (and Obama) – and they really are the main message of the Obama economic message.
1.) Biden stated [to Barbara West]:
He [Obama] is not spreading the wealth around. He’s talking about giving the middle class to get back the tax cuts they used to have.
“..used to have.” ? When? Bush did not take away tax cuts – he gave them tax cuts**.
2.) Biden said to Barbara West:
..they [Bush] have devastated the middle class. We, for the first time since the 1920′s – 1 % of the American people make 21% of all the income in America. That wasn’t the way before George Bush became president.
Bottom line. False. This wealth gap exploded during the 90′s under Bill Clinton. Hit 21% (+/-) in 2000. Here’s the backup:
Let’s look at this great misrepresentation in two ways. First it’s rather to handy that the MSM stood on it’s heels when in June, 2005, NY Times economic writer David Kay Johnston wrote a piece attacking the Bush tax cuts. The article, “Richest Are Leaving Even the Rich Far Behind, ” used data illustrating how the rich got richer during the Clinton years, but then the rest of the media ran with the view that it was all about Bush.
http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2005/06/05/national/06HYPERA_GRAPHIC.html
Look carefully at the chart — Not since the 20′s roared — at when this great rise in wealth of the super rich occurred. The president here was Bill Clinton, not George Bush. Then look at when this rising trend ended.
Now. Biden said specifically, “first time since the 1920′s – 1 % of the American people make 21% of all the income..”
Well, technically he may be right, but only by 0.19% – this is simply a political sales job. From 1993 to 2000 the top 1%’s income rose from 13.79% to 20.81% (I’d call that 21% – then) of all the income. Imagine the power of the proper follow up question to Biden here.
Enter Bush. By 2003, the top 1%’s share had dropped to 16.77%. Latest data I have does show that by 2006, it’s up to 22.06%.
So under Clinton, this “horrible thing” increased by a large amount; while under Bush it’s managed in 7 years to pop up a point. So let’s love Clinton for it, and hate Bush for it. How about, “let’s challenge the lies – and educate the voters – the readers.”
An extra on the same angle: Anyone want to look at how CEO’s vs. worker bees faired under Bush compared to Clinton? Once again look closely at the chart – where is the anger at the Clinton years – and the celebration of the end of the Clinton years?:
Average CEO to Average Worker Pay Ratio
http://www.aflcio.org/corporatewatch/paywatch/pay/images/2006_trend_chart.gif
Note: the last data year in the chart is 2005. The ratio for 2007 has continued to drop to 344. And something tells me it will have dropped further in 2008 – just a sneaking suspicion.
I hope that folks find the information useful – and that you can use it. We the people have a right to be informed.

Our current economic crisis which started with the sub prime housing meltdown and subsequent credit crisis actually started in the Carter administration (and was strongly supported by Bill Clinton during his administration) with the passing of the Community Reinvestment Act.
Granted, the CRA was started with good intentions… i.e.: to allow a greater number of Americans to have the “American Dream” and own their own homes. Research was done and it was found that the two impediments to home ownership for the poor were coming up with a down payment and the ability to afford monthly mortgage payments. The down payment problem was solved by allowing 100% financing which meant that these people had no equity in their homes. The monthly mortgage payment problem was addressed by allowing ARMS… Adjustable Rate Mortgages, with low teaser rates for the first several years before the rates were “reset” and the mortgage payments increased significantly. (The HUD site had damning words to this effect on their website that was erased recently). Many people took advantage of the push for greater homeownership: new homeowners, people moving up to larger homes, speculators who “flipped” homes, appraisers who were “incentivized” to appraise homes at higher values, mortgage brokers, real estate brokers, COUNTRYWIDE, ACORN (who would hold demonstrations on lending institution’s properties to force them to make risky loans to the poor) as well as other lenders. Banks were FORCED to make these risky sub prime loans under the Community Reinvestment Act MANDATES. These loans have subsequently been called NINJA loans: No Income, No Jobs, and No Assets. They have also been called Liar Loans and No Doc (or no documentation) loans. Apparently, no one understands history or physics very well… i.e.: gravity – what goes up must eventually come down. It was ludicrous for lenders to believe that these sub prime loans would be fine because housing values would continue to climb. The CRA helped create the “housing bubble” and our subsequent credit crisis.
Under the Clinton administration, sub prime mortgages jumped 39% from 1993 – 1998 while other loans increased by just 17%. Prior to the CRA, home prices increased almost in parity with inflation. But because Democrats in Congress and President Clinton were trying to get more people into their own homes, housing prices climbed dramatically and people were still buying homes at these higher prices. Once the adjustable rate mortgages were reset and people defaulted on their mortgages (remember, with NO down payments they had no skin in the game) many people now owe more than their homes are worth. Therefore it becomes easy for them to default and just walk away allowing real estate values to plummet even more.
Also, under the Clinton administration, these sub prime loans were the FIRST to be allowed to be packaged and resold as investment vehicles (and were GUARANTEED by Freddie Mac with a AAA rating). They have ended up being owned by banks, brokerage firms, hedge funds, retirement accounts, other countries etc so that this has now become a global crisis.
Under the CRA mandates, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were also forced to lend to support sub prime loans.
Countrywide began their business under the Clinton administration and was allowed to sell mortgages WITHOUT HAVING ANY ASSETS TO BACK THOSE LOANS!
It’s interesting how people pay no attention to history and credit Clinton for the great economy during his reign and attack Bush for our current housing meltdown and subsequent credit crisis that actually began BEFORE he was elected into office.
The Bush administration and McCain both tried to warn that Fannie and Freddie were potential problems. Bush in the early 2000s and McCain in 2005. Democrat, Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee (who, btw, had an intimate relationship with Herb Moses, an executive of Fannie from 1991 – 1998… perhaps a conflict of interest?… if he were a judge he would have had to recuse himself) was vehemently opposed to regulating Fannie and Freddie.
In September 2003, Barney Frank, as the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee, denounced the Bush administration’s proposal for creating a new agency to oversee Fannie and Freddie. The main stated concern of Democrats was the potential “weakening the bargaining power of poorer families and their ability to get affordable housing”. And again, in 2005, Barney Frank repeatedly said that Fannie and Freddie were financially sound and should not be regulated. In October 2008, Frank called Republican criticism of the Community Reinvestment Act, in light of the nation’s housing crisis, a veiled and racially motivated attack on the poor.
If our government had regulated Fannie and Freddie in 2003, most if not all of the financial crisis we are currently in could have been avoided.

Expect to see more of these tactics if the Marxist is elected. Censoring or silencing dissent is a hallmark of Marxism. This country will be reduced to nothing more than the socialist eurotrash countries.

Scott,
Censorship would mean that this article would have never been posted. Try again.
Please do your own research,
Attempts were made to look at Freddie and Fannie, but don’t solely blame Barney Frank for that not materializing, the Republicans were in control of congress in 2003.

Please do your research,
Once again, you fail to tell the whole story.
Yes, while the right to vote for all men was granted in 1870, fifty years before women received suffrage, the use of the grandfather clause and poll taxes greatly hindered minority voters, particularly in the south, until the 24th amendment in 1964.

A reporter FINALLY asked the Obama campaign some tough questions! Too bad Dan Rather couldn’t ask any real questions during the “debate.”
To all the liberals out there who want to ‘spread the wealth around’ I have one question- why should we believe Obama will limit tax increases to those who make over $250K per year? This coming from a man who won’t release his tax return, his transcripts, or even his birth certificate. Why should we trust Obama?

Wow. I don’t know what’s more bizarre: The actual questions from this interview (How would you conservatives like it if a reporter asked McCain, “Isn’t it rather like Mussolini to invade another country before they’ve attacked you? Aren’t you embarrassed, Senator?” That would be ridiculous, just like this was.) or the reaction from the old reliable conservative internet gremlins praising this hack of an anchor or–more laughably still–crying “censorship” from the Obama campaign. Good lord: do you have any idea what censorship means? Are you in 4th grade? Refusing to grant anymore interviews to one station? Have you even heard of the 5th Amendment? I wish no ill to conservatives or the Republican party, and John McCain is still a good man in my opinion, but you people take the cake. I’ve got no sympathy if you’re ticked off about an Obama win.

Ms. West had enough professionalism to let Sen. Joe Biden answer the questions without interruption.
The questions were transparent and unhelpful in bringing out new information. This territory has been covered over and over.
But then, as a McCain “foot soldier” she was obliged to deliver the party line.
But honestly, Karl Marx?
If she is going to bring up Karl Marx, she owes her audience to have a real understanding of Marx to enable a real debate.

Obama and Democrats want our 401K accounts, what’s NEXT
Also want to bring back the fairness doctrine
Google fairness doctrine and nm senator

As I was watching the the World Series last night, I was struck by the following thought when the score was 8-2: If baseball followed Obama’s tax plan, then the Phillies would be forced to give 3 of their runs to Tampa, so that Tampa would have a chance to win too. Now is there ANYONE in this country who thinks that is fair? I would bet not. Tampa had as many chances at bat as Philadelphia, but they didn’t capitalize on those chances. Just like the way EVERYONE in this country has a chance at success if they put forth the EFFORT. Some just don’t take advantage of it -so should those who do be punished?

Now Gov. Palin knows what to say to get out answereing ridiculous questions posed to her during an interview.
“Are you joking?” No Senator Biden, are you?

I, too, feel that Biden is a good man and that often what has gotten him in trouble has been his unscripted honesty. I also don’t feel he is a Marxist and is towing the top of the ticket’s line….but I don’t understand why he won’t defend his own words on the “gird your loins” fiasco. Well, I do understand, I think, because he can’t defend it without continuing to undermine the ticket with his honesty.

Obama refused to allow firearms questions at the debates. He has flip flopped on the issue every time the political winds shifted. Hard to explain? Hard to justify?
He refuses questions on ACORN, and even in his debates when he was forced to asnwer a few, he gave non-commital answers and dodged the true question.
Biden authored the Clinton Gun Ban. It was overturned as a pathetic attemt to punish the law abiding for the crimes of the criminals. It accomplished nothing, and they want to bring it back. It is going to be Obama’s and Bidens “Masterpiece” that they will shove down the throats of the American people.
Obama will push for sharia law in the US. If you don’t know what that means, then look it up. But that is all part of the fairness doctrine. Got to be fair to the Muslims that are trying to discipline themselves as they plan to kill you. Remember, we have fought four wars with them now. Notably the Barbary Wars.
Obama’s campaign tried to strip TV stations of ther license for running NRA ads that exposed his past gun voting record.
Perhaps he got his campaign plans from the president in Africa that was forcing voting at the point of a gun, after raping the girls in the villiage and threatening the lives of everyone of someone voted for the wrong person.
Obama scares me more than Hitler. Hitler was over there, Obama is preaching to his fighting flock over here.

Do you know what.
Its irrelevent who asked the question.
It is typical of liberals to ignore questions, answer with something else, be affronted, insult people, refuse to play again.
Any competent person
(and I will grudgingly include politicians (poly = many, tic = bloodsucking creature)
would just answer the question and explain why.
People here are so biased and full of hatred for their opponents, an intellectual discussion seems to be beyond them.

“Are you forewarning Americans that nothing will be done and America’s days as the world’s leading power are over?”
Dear interviewer:
What is there to forwarn? America under your boss’s administration has alraedy lost the status as “world’s leading power” . A couple of dozen terrorists are able to strike terror right in USA. One small person called Bin Laden who instigated these terrorists is able to fool the greatest power on earth and live happily among his worshippers. The world is ridiculing us because our intelligence failed to detect the real position with WMD in Iraq or the president/ administration intentionally hid the facts to go to war. Now we also proved to be the worst financial power on earth.Our wall street mistales are causing hardship to all countries and people all over the world. There is no more bottom to be hit. OBAMA and Biden with people of America are planning to rebuild America and resuurect from the “ashes of the Bushes” and restore its position as the true leader nation on earth

That was the most ridiculous interview I have seen. Amazing that the campaign allowed this to even happen. Biden did a good job of handling the far, far right questions. No comparison to the Katie Couric interview.
I really hope people will stop hating and using fear to manipulate the uninformed.

Barbara West did have tough questions for Biden- questions that he should not be ashamed to answer. She gave an equally difficult interview to McCain- and McCain answered the questions with integrity and honor. I want an honest President whose not afraid to answer questions. McCain is what we need- he’s got this country’s best intentions in mind…
By the way, off topic- people complain about Palin’s $150,000 wardrobe- how does an estimated $2 million sound for an election party- how is Obama going to donate that to charity?
I’m sure Obama and Biden are nice people but I don’t want Democrats running our country- let’s not forget we’ve already got Pelosi, Reed, and Frank! Yikes!

Nice to see some real question coming at these people finaly. We need question asked like this of ALL the candidates no matter who they are. These people want to govern over us and make our laws. We all need to wake up and stop being partisan. I want interviews like this with all the candidates.

Earlier, “Thomas” wrote:
“Actually the center right party is in power now in Sweden. However I think we have a lot to learn from Sweden.
Here is what great infrastucture gets you in Sweden: Imagine a digital sign on every train platform that says what time the next train arrives. Guess what happens when that time roles around? The train is there!
Thomas”
*********
Uh . . . haven’t you ever heard the expression, “Mussolini made the trains run on time?” If I were an Obama supporter, I’d probably try and avoid comparisons of The One with Il Duce, you know, with all the “Obama youth” videos, wealth redistribution, weird Obamabot followers, “freeing us from the restraints of the Constitution,” etc.
Maybe I’m wrong, though. Maybe Obama will make the trains run on time. How’d that work out for the Duce (and Italy, in general) anyway? I guess I’m a little old fashioned and still prefer individual liberty. But then again, I usually drive myself, rather than waiting around for public transportation, know what I mean?

I think that B.Obama is professing socialism with his idea to spread the wealth. It was an embarassing question for J. Biden by the Orlando reporter,who should be given credit for a very apprepov relationship between marxism and Obama’s comment. Democrrat’s won’t accept this as socialism.but that’s what I was taught in school. We’ll certainly find out the intellectual level of the American’s on november 4th,won’t we!

Americans, do you want to lose your right to free speech?
Obama’s campaign wants to reinstitute the “Fairness Doctrine” which would limit free speech.
Governor Blunt of Missouri had to step in to make sure this did not happen in his state during this campaign.
Gov. Blunt Statement on Obama Campaign’s Abusive Use of Missouri Law Enforcement
JEFFERSON CITY – Gov. Matt Blunt today issued the following statement on news reports that have exposed plans by U.S. Senator Barack Obama to use Missouri law enforcement to threaten and intimidate his critics.
“St. Louis County Circuit Attorney Bob McCulloch, St. Louis City Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce, Jefferson County Sheriff Glenn Boyer, and Obama and the leader of his Missouri campaign Senator Claire McCaskill have attached the stench of police state tactics to the Obama-Biden campaign.
“What Senator Obama and his helpers are doing is scandalous beyond words, the party that claims to be the party of Thomas Jefferson is abusing the justice system and offices of public trust to silence political criticism with threats of prosecution and criminal punishment.
“This abuse of the law for intimidation insults the most sacred principles and ideals of Jefferson. I can think of nothing more offensive to Jefferson’s thinking than using the power of the state to deprive Americans of their civil rights. The only conceivable purpose of Messrs. McCulloch, Obama and the others is to frighten people away from expressing themselves, to chill free and open debate, to suppress support and donations to conservative organizations targeted by this anti-civil rights, to strangle criticism of Mr. Obama, to suppress ads about his support of higher taxes, and to choke out criticism on television, radio, the Internet, blogs, e-mail and daily conversation about the election.
“Barack Obama needs to grow up. Leftist blogs and others in the press constantly say false things about me and my family. Usually, we ignore false and scurrilous accusations because the purveyors have no credibility. When necessary, we refute them. Enlisting Missouri law enforcement to intimidate people and kill free debate is reminiscent of the Sedition Acts – not a free society.”
Please be very careful of the “CHANGE” you vote for…. it might not be what you really want or need.

Nothing brings out the ugly & prejudice in people than a major election. We are very inteligent people. We know politics well enough to know that congress runs the U.S. not the president.

to – do your own research: History is best qualified to reward research, So who was ever qualified to be president? If they were qualified then how did the situations the country is in come about if qualifications of Presidents past were a criteria? I guess your definition of qualification is what the country was founded on – Lies and deception. It’s time for CHANGE!

Asking questions that come to conclusions before they are answered is not journalism.
When asking questions such as this, it is common and understandable to quote the candidate. Quoting Karl Marx instead in an obvious (and lame) attempt disparage the candidate is reprehensible.
She should be reprimanded, not defended.

EXCELLENT & VERY IMPORTANT QUESTION !!!!!!!God Bless You for doing your job, & focusing on the “serious” issues of Obama’s radical history!!! Having lived in Florida for 20 years, I pray Fl does us proud in electing John McCain. You make me proud of you!
Thank You

I do not condone either Ms. West’s questioning strategy or Senator Biden’s responses to her.
Ms. West definitely conveyed if not a republican bias an anti-Obama sentiment. She conducted her interviewing very much like an attack-ad, raising questions into Obama’s character through insulting, biased inquiries.
However, a couple of Senator Biden’s responses were inappropriate overreactions since Ms. West did state the bare truth in some of her comments. For instance, her question about whether Sen. Biden could call his campaign’s economic policy “Marxist,” though rather blunt, was legitimate. A policy that calls for redistributing wealth through taxes and tax cuts or other means, subscribes to Marxism. Senator Obama’s and Senator Biden’s economic policy advocates placing more taxes on the rich to “bring more tax cuts for the middle class.” It is therefore Marxist. Senator Biden was unjustified in telling Ms. West that her question was dumb.
Although it is debatable whether this interview was appropriate, I think that it is a good thing that it was broadcast to the public. The media does Americans a service by presenting such political discussions that challenge politicians; doing so protects voters by forcing politicians to hold a certain level of accountability in their words and actions. That is much better than if the media stood aside and allowed politicians to make any given claim in order to gain our votes. If candidates knew that voters would be largely uninformed of whether their statements were true or false, then there would be little incentive for politicians to be truthful to voters.

I welcome tough probing questions by ethical reporters. However, this was a statement of the reporters political believe couched as a question. When an ethical reporter asks a tough and probing question, the listener should not know their political belief…not necessary, not relevant, not ethical. This question obviously came from a conservative Republican reporter attempting to make a statement. I am a Republican that used to consider myself conservative-however, my party has been highjacked by the religious right and has gone so far right I find myself to be moderate. This woman, and my party, has been an embarrassment to me in this election.

Who is Barack Obama?
Very little is known of him prior to this campaign. If you will do your homework and look at HIS RECORD…. you will see that he voted to raise taxes 94 times.
When he was in the Illinois Senate, he voted “present” 130 times.
What are his ethics… his morals?
We KNOW he lied about his past associations….. He said he never heard Rev Wright spout hatred of America. By his own count, he attended church about twice a month for 20 years… that’s 500 times. Do you really believe that in 500 sermons he NEVER heard the hatred in Wright’s sermons?
People…. HE LIED then and continues to do so.
He said he would accept public funds for his campaign… but then he fiip flopped once again. HE LIED ONCE AGAIN did not take the public funds for his campaign and is spending almost 8 to 1 against McCain.
Is a liar a man of CHARACTER?
By contrast, Senator McCain (son and grandson of Admirals), was given the option of being allowed to leave the POW camp and to return to the US. HE CHOSE TO STAY WITH HIS MEN in the POW camp and was tortured and imprisoned for 5 1/2 years. McCain MADE THE HARD AND ETHICAL CHOICE WHEN NO ONE WAS LOOKING. It’s a very good indication of HIS MORAL FIBER AND CHARACTER!

Obama’s policies will be death to our economy.
He says he will give tax breaks to 95% of Americans. That’s funny because approximately 40% of Americans DON’T PAY ANY TAXES! Soooooo, Obama intends to INCREASE WELFARE to those who pay no taxes calling it a tax break.
Roughly 70% of our jobs are created by small businesses yet Obama wants to tax people (including businesses) who make more than $250,000 year.
What happens when businesses have to pay more taxes?
a) They pass the cost off to their customers.
b) They stop hiring.
c) They lay off employees.
d) They make less money, contribute fewer taxes to our economy etc.
Obama also talks about “windfall profit taxes” on BIG OIL. Now, let’s consider this rationally. When a company has higher taxes, they pass these costs onto their customers. Hence, Obama’s plan to tax BIG OIL will RESULT IN OUR PAYING MORE FOR OIL AND GAS! Is that what we really want or need??? If that happens, the painful price of gas at $4 and more may seem very cheap compared to where future prices can go. Our gas prices are subsidized by our government. Would you prefer to pay $8 to $10 per gallon like they do in Europe? Taxing BIG OIL’s PROFITS WILL RESULT IN THEIR PASSING THOSE COST ONTO US…. THE CONSUMERS!
The ONLY people who should be excited about Obama’s tax proposals are those who HAVE NO JOBS AND DON’T INTEND TO WORK WAITING FOR A GOVERNMENT HANDOUT INSTEAD!
I doubt that includes all of Obama’s supporters. So, please, people….. do your homework and THINK before you elect the MOST RADICAL, FAR LEFT SENATOR of today.

Finally….a reporter who is not afraid to ask some tough questions to the Obama/Biden campaign. The only reason Biden thought it was a joke is because none of the mass media have given him anything tough or relevant to answer. These were all questions aimed at the policies they are touting…so why the difficulty in answering them? Also..who really believes that Katie Couric’s interview with Palin wasn’t intended as a “gotcha interview” from the moment it was scheduled? The double standard in this election is just plain embarrasing. One other thing …Obama is not running against Bush…he is running against McCain.The way all Democrats running for office this year seem to be running against Bush is just unbelievable!

All taxes spread wealth in one direction or another. It seems that McCain doctrine is that giving a tax break (spreading the wealth) to the wealthy is to be applauded, while giving a tax break (spreading the wealth) to any lower income group is Marxist. When will the non-wealthy citizens wake up to the fact that the tax code is designed to distribute wealth–away from them and to the already wealthy? The wealthy are getting more wealthy while others are not even keeping up, in large part because of taxing the lower income groups.