Conservatives have complained that CBS's Bob Schieffer should not be rewarded with a moderator's post after CBS tried to crumble the Bush campaign with forged military documents. They could suggest that Schieffer has failed the test of objectivity all by himself.
■ Kerry's Deft. "This is the best speech I have ever heard John Kerry make. I listened to a lot of speeches back there in the primary. This was the best. This was a very deft critique of policy." - Schieffer during CBS's live coverage of the Democratic Convention, July 29, 2004. He found Bush's convention speech "too long."
■ Liberalism Is Not an Issue. "He [Bush] said, you know, 'Let's talk about the issues.' Well, we all know that one of the first things they're going to do is not talk about the issues. They're going to define John Kerry, and they're going to try to paint him as a left-wing liberal who's out of touch with the rest of the country." - Schieffer on The Early Show, March 3, 2004.
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Iraq = Vietnam. "No matter how bad the news from Vietnam was, official after official came on
Face the Nation to say progress was being made, the press just wasn't reporting it. From the day the war turned bad in Iraq, you could take the words that were said back then and put them into the mouths of today's administration spokesmen and never notice the difference." - Schieffer on
Face the Nation, November 16, 2003.
■ We're Losing. "The President said this week that we are winning and that this violence just shows that the other side is getting desperate. But if this is winning, you have to ask the question: How much of this 'winning' can we stand?" - Schieffer to Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) on Face the Nation, November 2, 2003.
■ SDI? DOA. "I'll lay my cards on the table: I think anti-ballistic missile defense systems are a bad idea and this is something I've thought for 20 years." - Schieffer on Imus in the Morning, July 17, 2001.
■ What Liberal Media? "People are just stunned. It's such a wacky charge, and a weird way to go about it....I don't know what Bernie was driving at. It just sounds bizarre."- Schieffer on CBS reporter Bernard Goldberg's eye-catching Wall Street Journal editorial charging a liberal bias at CBS, February 15, 1996 Washington Post.
■ Could He Go This Soft on Daddy? "All of us wonder what is it like to be out there when you hear these attacks on your dad? How do you handle that?" - Schieffer to John Kerry's daughters, Alexandra and Vanessa, on the August 22, 2004 Face the Nation.
■ Gibson as Role Model. ABC's Charles Gibson chose citizen questions on Friday that resulted in a balanced, informative debate. Let's hope Schieffer can do the same.
- Tim Graham and Rich Noyes