Charlie's Blog

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

Thank you, Charlie for your perspective on this very critical election. I've been reading and enjoy your blogs since they've started--just wanted to add my two cents--since I watch your newscast every night. You're the best!

Charlie, for years I have loved watching you on TV and now I look forward to following you on your blog as well. As someone who also just started a blog, I understand the questions you raise of whether blogs are worth the time, and I also feel how you feel when I get behind. I think once we get in the blogging groove it will get easier.

I was actually just writing a post about how much I've enjoyed some of your side notes in your convention coverage: first at the DNC on the Hillary night when you joked, "We'll have continuing coverage tomorrow on Good Morning America, which is in about 15 minutes," and second, how fascinated you were with the balloons at the RNC. The shot of you, Diane, and George all with your backs to the camera admiring the balloons was just so classic. It made me happy that the three of you appreciated the balloons just as much as I did. In fact, it was in searching for a photo of it that led to me discover your blog (and soon you'll have a prominent link on my page).

In reading your posts, I love hearing about all the planning that goes into the show. You and your crew face so many obstacles but seem to overcome them all to create a flawless show every time. It really makes me want to work with you!

Finally, I noticed in the photo of you on your second post that you use a PC. Have you ever tried using a Mac? I find them to be way more useful and fun and I'm sure you would too. I think you should have ABC get you a new MacBook Pro.

"once you know about her husband's political interest in the Alaskan Independence Party... I think that's enough."

Are you kidding me? If Michelle Obama belonged to a political party as recently as 2002 that believed a state should secede from America, we would hear about it nonstop, for days. It would be claimed as proof that she was an "America hater." The media's job is not to give certain family members a pass. No, Mr. Gibson, it's not enough to mention it on a blog.

Charlie,

It IS very IMPORTANT to know "why" her husband belonged to an organization, for 7 LONG YEARS, that hates America so much they want Alaska to secede from the United States.

When you interview Palin, are you going to ask her why her husband belonged to a hate-America group for 7 years?

Are you going to ask her why she gave the Opening Address to the 2008 AIP Convention?

It isn't every day a govenor of a state gives the opening address for a group that wants to secede from the United States.

Gov. Palin GAVE the 2008 opening address to just that group. Her Opening Address is on You Tube video titled:
"McCain's 'Alaska First' problem"

At the Convention the AIP leader said, "we don't say we're Americans we say we're Alaskans - when we talk about America kids in classrooms put their thumbs DOWN when we talk about Alaska our kids put their thumbs UP"

Charlie, Palin's affiliations and her HUSBANDS affilitiation are absolutely relevent and should be investigated as thoroughly as Obama's affiliations have been.

Charlie,

Now that you trashed Obama at the Democratic debates, landed an interview with John McCain, reportedly respect the ideologue (and that's being very kind) Brit Hume, and being a apologist to the right in your interview with Arianna Huffington, let's see if you have the guts to ask Sarah Palin the tough questions without fearing to 'offend' the fanatical right.

1. Did you or did you not support the Bridge to Nowhere in your campaign for governor?
[Read newspaper headlines calling her on the flip flop. Show short video clips of her expressing support for the bridge. Show her photo with Bridge to Nowhere shirt.]
Follow-up question: If you did support the Bridge to Nowhere, do you believe you were dishonest when you claimed that you said ‘thanks but no thanks on that Bridge to Nowhere’ during your first campaign appearance with John McCain in Dayton, Ohio and in your acceptance speech at the RNC?
2. The McCain campaign is touting you as an ardent opponent of Congressional earmarks and Washington lobbyists. Is it true that you hired a Washington lobbying firm to secure over $27 million in Congressional earmarks for your hometown of Wasilla, Alaska? Is it true that as Governor of Alaska, you have requested over 31 earmarks worth $197.8 million in next year’s federal budget?
3. The Alaskan Independence Party favors Alaska’s secession from the United States. [Read quote from AIP website: "I'm an Alaskan, not an American. I've got no use for America or her damned institutions."] There are reports that you had ties to this party in the past and that you are sympathetic to it. [Play video of AIP vice-chair claiming she was a member. Play video of her addressing the 2008 convention.] You have denied being a member of this party and the party is now confirming it does not have any records showing that you were. At the same time, your husband Todd was a registered member of this party and there are suggestions that you sympathize with the party and have even attended its conventions. For how many years was your husband Todd a member of the Alaskan Independence Party? What kind of ties have you had to the Alaskan Independence Party? Have you ever attended an AIP convention?
4. You have been accused of using your influence as governor to fire a state trooper, your ex-brother-in-law. When the public safety commissioner Walt Monegan allegedly refused to cave in to your repeated demands, you fired him. You have publicly denied exerting any pressure on Monegan. There is now evidence of at least two dozen contacts between your office and Monegan. Your sister went through a nasty divorce. I have no doubt you had your reasons to be angry at your ex-brother-in-law and many people may be able to relate to your experience. But let’s be clear: the issue is not whether the trooper should have been fired. The issue is whether you abused your power to fire the public safety commissioner. The question is simple: Did you fire Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan because he refused to fire your former brother-in-law?
5. Your teenage daughter Bristol is pregnant out of wedlock. Do you still favor abstinence-only education in public schools?
Follow-up questions: Do you believe it is acceptable for unwed, teenage girls to have children out of wedlock? Do you blame yourself for your daughter’s situation?
6. Let’s say John McCain is elected President but becomes incapacitated during his first term and you assume the office of the president. Given the opportunity, would you appoint conservative judges to the Supreme Court who would overturn Roe v. Wade, that is take away a woman’s right to choose to have an abortion ?
7. Your education is rather unique. You attended at least five different colleges in six years. You attended North Idaho College, a two-year community college, before transferring to the University of Idaho where you received your B.S. in Journalism. You did not go on to earn an advanced degree such as an M.A. or a doctorate. Why did you transfer so many times from one college to another? Are you proud of your academic record?
8. The War in Iraq is one of the most pressing issues of our time.What is your position on the war? Do you believe the troops should come home? John McCain is quoted as saying that our troops should stay in Iraq to help the Iraqi government, if necessary for another 100 years. Do you agree with John McCain’s assessment of the War in Iraq?
9. The McCain campaign has praised your role as Commander-in-Chief of the Alaska National Guard. What kind of command decisions have you made as Commander-in-Chief of the Alaska National Guard?
10. The National Enquirer is reporting you have had an affair with a business associate of your husband. Is there any truth to allegations that you have had an extramarital affair?

The write of these questions stated:

I’m afraid there’s a good chance Palin will not have to answer many of these questions. If there are any interviews, the McCain campaign will probably want to decide in advance which questions can be asked. Also, it’s very likely that they will pick a weak or sympathetic interviewer. For all we know, it could be Sean Hannity.

I hope these comments do not apply to you. If you are not prepared to ask the tough questions, with appropriate follow-up, I suggest that you disqualify yourself for the interview!! We don't need a water boy or water girl for the McCain campaign; our freedom matters. Please don't be an immoral, gutless wonder!!!! Do the honorable thing and decline the interview, if you are not willing to take the honorable path.

dear charlie,

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

News just broke that you will be interviewing Palin on Thursday. Are you going to be able to ask totough questions and report the whole story. Please check this out:

http://mediamatters.org/items/200809040021?f=h_latest

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

Charlie,

We don't have much time to get to know Palin. Please get to the key points in your interview with her. I for one do not want to make a big mistake due to the clock running out !

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

Charlie,
Really? Palin's husband's affiliation with an organization that sought to SECEDE from the United States is irrelevant but flag pins (brought up in the debate you moderated with Barack Obama) are not? Please explain that logic.
I'm sad. I really used to respect you.
Danielle
New York

“It took some time in thinking about it, but I finally decided not to even bring up the issues with her family, for they are issues of family and should remain so."

Baloney

Once Palin paraded those children in front of the klieg lights, subjected them to google frenzy and shopped them to the tabloids, it ceased to become a "family issue."

“Once you know about...her husband’s political interest in the Alaskan Independence Party...I think that’s enough."

More baloney.

Does media hypocrisy know no limits? Digging into the "first dude's" fantasies of seceding from the United States of America is something that every single American deserves to know. Charlie, if your country comes first you owe it to all of us to ask such pertinent questions. In fact, all Americans, left and right, should be up in arms right now, demanding that you do it.

There is pandering. And there is shameful pandering.

Wait. What kind of quid pro quo did you agree to? Did you let her write the questions, too? How is it not valid to ask Sarah Palin about her husband's political affiliations when she addressed that party's convention? It's not relevant to ask her about her family but it is relevant for the news to report on Cindy McCain's numerous houses?

How can you not ask about a woman's family when she herself used her family as a prop during her VP acceptance, and shamelessly used her son's military service and her baby's medical condition in the text of her speech? Please don't be bullied by the people you are meant to report on. It's shameful.
David L
Cleveland

By the way--it sounds like the "maverick" and the "barracuda" are chicken. I'd say that the emperor has no clothes but in this case it's both the emperor and (his) court who are chicken...

Charlie,

With your upcoming interview of Palin, this is your big chance to hold a tough, no-holding-back interview. Don't blow it! The American people have many crucial questions they would like to ask Palin, who could become PRESIDENT.

Top 10 Questions For Sarah Palin

1. What was your actual role in the Bridge to Nowhere?

2. Why did you say at you r acceptance speech that the Alaska's jet was put on Ebay, inferring that it was sold there, when it was not?

3. You say that you are opposed to earmarks, but yet under your leadership, Alaska has accepted hundreds of millions in earmark funds. Can you explain this dichotomy?

4. What foreign policy decisions, if any, have you made?

5. Why is it that you have never traveled outside of the country until last year?

6. What role will God play in your political decision making? Do you, as reported, pray to God against the Democrats?

7. Why is the McCain campaign interfering with the current "TrooperGate" investigation? Do you think that you broke the law by your actions in the original incident? Is the campaign worried that this problem will blow up in its face?

8. Like your church advocates, do you believe that Gays can pray and become straight?

9. John McCain says that the economy is not a strong suit for him. What economic experience do you bring to the table? What kind of economic shape did you leave the city of Wasilla in when you left as mayor?

10 Why should the American public trust that McCain and Palin will be genuine forces for change, when John McCain has approved 90 percent of Geore Bush's policies? And, how would you accomplish change, given the Congress will likely be Democratic controlled.

"who are you to be criticizing so directly? We don't know you yet. You have to earn that right."

hmmm, i don't remember anyone asking this from Obama. someone with no executive experience and hardly a Senator stated preaching us how the world should be.

I have yet to see a journalist, gutsy enough, to ask Obama about his own book and things that he admits in that book? Not one journalist has asked him, how did he become a Christian. Clearly he was raised in a Muslim family until 10 years old. Or has anyone asked Mr. Obama about this article in New York Times, from last year (3/16/07)?

Media has to be fair to both side, they are not the "king makers" of America and they sure are coming close to be.

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

Hi Charlie!

Be sure to see Frank Rich's piece in the Sept. 7 NY Times. He raises several points and questions that seem critical for people to know about Sarah Palin.

Below I pasted one paragraph from the article. Mainly, I am concerned about John McCain's judgment in picking her. It really feels like he has put political maneuvering way ahead of the public interest. Do Americans really feel that ANYONE who managed people is qualified to be president? Does years of thinking about national and international issues, and acting on behalf of the public really mean NOTHING? (Her personal life is only relevant in that the policies she supports--no sex or birth control/HIV protection education except abstinence, leads to the epidemic of unwanted pregnancies and has been shown not to be effective. And the environment is shuddering from her views that global warming is not related to human activity. Even if the polar ice caps weren't melting does really want to promote pollution with those views?) It all makes me sad.

Here is an excerpt from the Rich article:

. . . She didn’t say “no thanks” to the “Bridge to Nowhere” until after Congress had already abandoned it but given Alaska a blank check for $223 million in taxpayers’ money anyway. Far from rejecting federal pork, she hired lobbyists to secure her town a disproportionate share of earmarks ($1,000 per resident in 2002, 20 times the per capita average in other states). Though McCain claimed “she has had national security as one of her primary responsibilities,” she has never issued a single command as head of the Alaska National Guard. As for her “executive experience” as mayor, she told her hometown paper in Wasilla, Alaska, in 1996, the year of her election: “It’s not rocket science. It’s $6 million and 53 employees.” Her much-advertised crusade against officials abusing their office is now compromised by a bipartisan ethics investigation into charges that she did the same. How long before we learn she never shot a moose?

Good luck!