WFTV Channel 9's Barbara West puts Joe Biden to the test in this incredible must see interview (HT: HotAir). Yes, hard questions have Biden and company running for cover. For your reference:
Biden: [Barack Obama]'s not spreading the wealth around. He's talking about giving the middle class an opportunity to get back the tax breaks they use to have.Reality: Barack Obama said he would spread the wealth. "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 a chance for success too," Obama responded. "My attitude is that if the economy's good for folks from the bottom up, it's gonna be good for everybody ... I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody."
Biden: "We've not paid [ACORN] one single penny ... there is no relationship.... We haven't paid ACORN a single penny to register a voter"
Reality:
U.S. Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign paid more than $800,000 to an offshoot of the liberal Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now for services the Democrat's campaign says it mistakenly misrepresented in federal reports.An Obama spokesman said Federal Election Commission reports would be amended to show Citizens Services Inc. -- a subsidiary of ACORN -- worked in "get-out-the-vote" projects, instead of activities such as polling, advance work and staging major events as stated in FEC finance reports filed during the primary. - Tribune Review
Biden's answers are representative of the ridiculous double-speak that have become the hallmark of Barack Obama's campaign. For example, despite working to "reduce abortions", Obama's top priority it to liberalize abortion laws - embrace the contradiction.
By mere assertion, Obama and Biden seem to think that reality can be altered.
Update: RUN, RUN, RUN, ... Biden so disliked West's line of questioning that the Obama campaign canceled a WFTV interview with Jill Biden, the candidate's wife.
Update II:
Barack Obama's prior comments related to redistribution of wealth:
WOW did the Obama campaign actually receive a tough question from a journalist?
Did I actually see what I think I just saw?
Biden crumbled. It was apparent he cannot handle anything critical.
If he gets any more questions like that the Obama campaign will loose.
David in (down state - Non Obama land) Illinois
This is the ONLY tough interview Biden or Obama has ever had. Quite in contrast to the many vicious interviews McCain and Palin have endured.
That the Obama campaign will never again allow this station interview anyone with the campaign is proof of his Marxist, Chavez-style beliefs; censor ANY opposition.
Probably will ban this station from getting press credentials once elected, again like Hugo Chavez.
Obama's plans ARE Marxist, and the anchor is to be commended for daring to ask the real questions, the questions the rest of the liberal media refuses to ask.
Great Job. This lady is my hero. A real journalist.
This was my favorite question: "Now you recently said, 'Mark my words,it will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama.' But what worries many people is your caveat, asking them to stand with him because it's not going to be apparant initially that he's right. Are you forewarning Americans that nothing will be done and that America's days as the world's leading power are over?"
Great job, Barbara West! THANK YOU for being a journalist who is not afraid to discuss the fundamental issues of this presidential campaign! This is the type of questioning that should have been brought up during the debates. This interview should be posted on the front page of your website! Everyone should have an opportunity to see and hear this interview before they cast their vote.
So, we finally got to see what a tough journalist would do if they could interview the Democratic ticket. These were all questions that would have (should have) been flushed out by the mainstream media if they were not so personally biased. The use of middle names were off the table, accountability of public statements, etc. Yet we see the media attack the other candidate about wardrobe and family matters. Joe’s reaction during and after the interview showed how surprised they were to get tough questions (they do not even prep for) and they would not come back to WFTV because they can go anywhere else and get the easy softball pitch questions.
Watch how he goes from smiley to grim in a few short minutes, just because he was asked some tough questions. Now compare that to what McCain and Palin get on a daily basis.
Most journalists sold their souls this election cycle, even more so than in 2004.
The interview was clearly unprofessional. Some topics have such negative connotations, like Marxism, that to bring them up in the manner of this interview eliminates any sense of journalistic integrity and unbiased reporting.
It's possible to ask tough questions without them being so obviously slanted to one side. Consider the way Bob Schieffer asked questions in the third debate, and compare them to these questions, which were clearly leading.
This interview was so obviously a right-wing hit job! But Joe Biden handled it just fine.
The statement about Obama being tested is always taken out of context, without completing Joe's statement about Barack's strength in handling the test. Same old Republican fear and smear tactics.
The thing i really dont understand is how people are saying Biden handled this poorly. All he did was say "Is that really a question?" and then he answered it. He seemed annoyed at most, definitely not angered. In comparison to Palin's interviews it's hard to see how Biden could come under fire for this. At least he answered the questions.
"At least he answered the questions" - with lies and half-truths (ACORN, wealth re-distribution, socialism).
Great job ! Hope it don't cost you your job. We need more people like you asking these hard, and honest questions. Keep up the good work ! ..Rjp
She should have asked him a tough question, like "What newspapers do you read?"
I wonder when she stopped beating her kids.
And the Fox News war pimps don't even show his answers. What propagandists they are.
You Libs just can't take it! Now Obama says "no more interviews with this station"! I am proud of this reporter for being up front with the questions that NBC, CBS, ABC etc will not ask! This lady will do fine in the future because there are enough people who understand the POCKET reporting done by the main-stream media! I never thought I would see the day a Socialist could get this many people to follow his tune! Then I remember the time it happened in GERMANY!
Finally great questions from Barabra West! Joe Biden's answers were not on point. Socialism and Marxism are the proper terms for a government that spreads the wealth -- by taking from those who have to give those who don't want to work for it. Liberals cannot discuss the issues without distorting the facts.
DAVE .... Who brought her kids into this blog and what do they have to do with it! If you know her and know this to be true then call the police, otherwise, wake up and try to concentrate on the topic! "YOU ARE AN IDIOT" and you just proved it with your post!
You know, after flying the bird at Bush for the last 8 years whenever he had the guts to stick his face on TV and smirk, and hearing about the gravy tax cut for the rich people as opposed to the crumbs of a tax cut that the rest of us got, and seeing any number of articles on how inundated with money the rich people were and all of the luxury items they were buying, why don't I agree that removing that tax cut on the rich after 8 years of good times and giving the middle class a tax cut is Socialism or Marxism? Why wasn't it socialism when Bush kept lavishing tax breaks on the rich people?
Just as Joe asked: "Are you serious?"
Yes, let's stick it the rich. It's true they already pay more taxes as a percentage of income (as well as overall) than anyone else but the fact that they have more money means they have the ability to give it to others. I can't stand that the top tax bracket is only 35% (federal). These people could be paying so much more!!!! Progressive income taxes have always worked well for socialists and we should be able to eek out a few more years of comfort by draining them dry. After they're out of money, who should we loot next?
Mr. Taggert,
Apparently you qualify for the tax cuts that the wealthy people have been getting. Just what makes you think that the majority of the rest of us out here are eyeballing the rich people's money so that we can live in comfort by draining them dry, as you put it? A lot of perple out here a struggling to make ends meet. We are retired and on a fixed income, much of which has disappeared thanks to the greed of the fat cats on wall Street and their government facilitators.
WE live in a drafty old farmhouse in the midwest. We will be shutting off a good deal of it this winter to save on heating bills, and cutting back on everything else to save money. Fortunately we didn't believe in going into hock to remodel the place, despite the fact that the bank here was practically throwing money at people, or we would be in debt to them. WE never believed in living beyond our means. We pay our credit cards off each month. We bought our last car, a Yaris, outright, after saving the money while we drove the last bit of life out of the old Geo.
Some how it seems fair to us that "Our People" get a tax break, though even with that we won't necessarily be living in comfort. We won't be out buying a Rolex or a new wardrobe or anything, and we don't necessarily care if the wealthy people can't go out and get a new Rolex or a new Mercedes because of them paying a little more in taxes either! So go cry about the plight of rich people to somebody else!
PLEASE - send that wonderful reporter to the Mcain campaign ASAP!!!! Biden looked like a deer in the headlights at the thought anyone might actually ask him about the truth. Amazing how he threw what McCain did instead of answering to what THEY did. And I don't believe it until I see it.
Thank you for this very professional intervew.
Barbara West is my Hero! - Keep it coming.. When will she get her own show on FOX to combat that freak show three ring circus I like to all Keith Oberman, Chis Matthews and Rachel Maddow.
I do hope the station has enough nerve or guts to fire anyone who would ask a vp nominee such silly questions. I guess they are probably gutless wonders like the West woman. I never heard of her before. She must be new at this job. Get her out of the way before she drives all Republicans to the Democrat ticket.
What's silly is the contradictory double-speak emanating from Biden/Obama. It's about time someone asked direct questions rather parrot their party line. Great job Barbara West!
this is to dave who thinks the questioning was unprofessional... it is what is on true democracy loving people minds and want answered. I for one will enshrine barb west because it shows how a gov ran by obama and biden will shut down,cancel,or kill (like the black gay men from wrights church) if questioned. its time for everyone to step back and really look at what could become of our great country under obama/biden....looks to me like the ride of the four horsemen!
Biden's remarks in defense of Obama's position on economic redistribution of wealth seem even more contradictory given the release of an Obama interview from 2001 (see Update II at the end of the post).
Barbara West,
Thanks for asking the real questions, it about DAMN time. May God bless you for standing up for the truth.
In my professional capacity, I often ask people who disagree one question: "Do you want an answer or an argument?" There are ways to get to an answer you seek without asking argumentative questions. Perhaps someone should school Ms. West in the finer points of objectivity in interviewing. You will not be perceived to be objective in an interview when you make an assertion that someone's political thought or practice is akin to Marx. Oh, sure, those who might not be voting for Obama/Biden call this a "hard-hitting" or a "tough, but fair" interview, while those who prefer Obama/Biden will call this interview out of bounds, but please remember we all hear what we WANT to hear, and if you ask what amounts to an accusation in the form of a question, you are not likely to get much headway towards a response, as we see in this "interview." Good for you, Ms. West, you furthered your potential career as a talking head for the right, but not much to establish your journalistic credentials. Ms. West could have asked a question to get to the goal she sought without accusing Obama of being like Karl Marx - or is that the new, clever way of saying he's "anti-American" - a spurious charge that ought to be dismissed out of hand.
icant believe with all the talk about bailing out the car companies not one mention of the documentary about how they had electric cars on california years ago and took then
mall back and took them to the desert and smashed all of them. go get who killed the electric cars movie. true story.
Hi,this is alora.Actually interview questions are depend on our degree related subjects and general knowledge questions.So we can improve our knowledge by study some books and many websites are available for this type of interview based questions.
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Interesting, a spammer who took the time to create a log-in. You've been banned.