Republican Debate !

[nathanziarek]

I believe there are liberal papers the same way there are conservative ones. I also believe that an editor that leans left can approve articles with a conservative bias, and journalists with a conservative bias can believe in gun control. Simply determining if journalists are conservative or liberal doesn't really tell me if the specific media is conservative or liberal, let alone the entire industry, like you are claiming.

The most recent Pew study asked a single question about political leanings.

I found a great quote about the UCLA study:

"Overall, the major media outlets are quite moderate compared to members of Congress, but even so, there is a quantifiable and significant bias in that nearly all of them lean to the left," said co?author Jeffrey Milyo, University of Missouri economist and public policy scholar.

The nation, taken as an average, is center. Congress is (supposedly) representative of the country. The study was done in 2005, when Congress was overwhelming Republican.

So, if the major media outlets were "moderate" compared to Congress, and Congress was leaning left, that would really mean that the media outlets were leaning right.

Anyway, I'm not going to convince anyone differently. You just keep feeling persecuted in the liberal media and watch Fox News exclusively. I'll keep reading the Liberal Times, and we'll continue to never see eye-to-eye

[Murffieus]

The nation in 2005 may collectively have been center----but the constant struggle is to move that center either right or left to make that "center" more liberal or less liberal----or put another way ----more conservative or less conservative.

Roughly 35% of the country is intrenched as liberal and 35% conservative----with the other 30 % the swing sentiment.----- e.g. if the swing breaks 20%-10% conservative at any given time, that center moves to the right. That's where the politial battle is----the swing vote! Right now the swing appears to have broken to the left!

[ChicosBailBonds]

Comments from the press on how it was conducted


The second presidential debate is over. The dust is still settling as to who did the best or the worst but one thing is clear: Fox News proved to be a much better debate host than MSNBC.





"There is no comparison between Brit Hume and Chris Matthews, and the two networks as well. This was crisp, sharp, with germane and substantive questions and a minimum of silliness. The MSNBC forum was so silly that it almost defied description. Perhaps the Democrats should reconsider their allergy to Fox."


or this one

"That was simply in a different league than the goofball format and goofball "moderators" on MSNBC.  Given the crowded stage and time constraints, the debate still produced memorable moments, spontaneous conflict, and useful shakeouts."



           

[Mayor McCheese]

Nobody with any sense accuses liberals for "hating America"-----some of the things that bother me about liberals is their tolerance in the face of threats from abroad, their thirst for higher taxes to redistribute wealth, excluive reliance on government plans as a solution to the looming crisis in medicare & Social Security, and their turning away from the plight of life in the womb ------(among other things).

abortion as an issue is pointless to argue, either you are for it or against it, no one is really on the fence on this issue... my one main argument about it is, why is it a bunch of older white wealthy men's decision on what a women wants to do.  If you make abortion clinics illegal, will it stop abortions, no, they will just go to unhealthy means about going to get them done.  And in my eyes, a fetus in the womb is not a living human being, sorry, maybe when in the third trimester, but abortions are barely done in this trimester, only when it is known that the baby will hurt/kill the mother I think that they are done.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Nobody with any sense accuses liberals for "hating America"-----some of the things that bother me about liberals is their tolerance in the face of threats from abroad, their thirst for higher taxes to redistribute wealth, excluive reliance on government plans as a solution to the looming crisis in medicare & Social Security, and their turning away from the plight of life in the womb ------(among other things).

abortion as an issue is pointless to argue, either you are for it or against it, no one is really on the fence on this issue... my one main argument about it is, why is it a bunch of older white wealthy men's decision on what a women wants to do.  If you make abortion clinics illegal, will it stop abortions, no, they will just go to unhealthy means about going to get them done.  And in my eyes, a fetus in the womb is not a living human being, sorry, maybe when in the third trimester, but abortions are barely done in this trimester, only when it is known that the baby will hurt/kill the mother I think that they are done.

Because those "older, white, wealthy men" care about the baby kicking in the womb....that's why.   You do realize the original woman in Roe v Wade has also changed her mind and totally against abortion.  Though I agree with you, people are not riding the fence on this one.

As for your definition of when a baby is a baby, well we have examples of premature babies living outside the womb at 20 weeks.  As a father of two, when I saw the ultrasounds of my kids early in development sucking their thumb, kicking, etc....well, it was more than a "fetus" to me I can assure you.  But to others it is not.  Fair enough.

However, the concept of partial birth abortions in the 3rd trimester is grotesque and how anyone supports it (80% of the public does not) is mindboggling, but yet some on the left want to keep that dream alive of delivering the baby half way, cutting a hole in the head, inserting an instrument to scramble the brain and then sucking it out...or you can go for the crushing of the skull.  I don't care how often it's done, the fact this procedure is allowed is mindboggling.

These are the same lunatics that while supporting this practice wet their pants when a serial killer is given a lethal injection that puts him asleep forever because it's "cruel and unusual".  Think about it.

[muarmy81]

honestly,
people need to be given a vasectomy or make them steril around birth and then you need to complete a test to be able to reproduce...if you can't make up your mind to keep a baby after months of being pregnant you shouldn't be reproducing in the first place.  As my in-laws are foster care parents and have also adopted I have seen how desperate some people are to raise children.  If you don't want your child or don't have the means to provide for the child fine, the state will find one of thousands upon thousands of couples who have tried to have their own children unsuccessfully but still have the desire to be parents.  There are sooo many capable couples out there who want to raise children so to me flushing a fetus or aborting a baby is such a waste of life.

[nathanziarek]

The nation in 2005 may collectively have been center----but the constant struggle is to move that center either right or left ...

Just so that I am not misquoted: The entire national personality, when averaged out, defines the center. The center changes -- after 9/11, the center was heavily in favor of strong military. After Enron the center was strongly in favor of forced corporate responsiblity.  Eventually it levels out, and it could level out in a way that would make you think the country leans left or right, but that would be inaccurate. The country is center. You can only believe right or left of it.

Great. Now I'm confused.

[Murffieus]

The political center moves------currently it has moved to the left----for how long is anyone's guess----will depend a lot on our success in Iraq which the liberal wing of the Democratic party is trying to limit!