See TV Interview with Joe Biden that Obama Campaign says is Out of Bounds

Orlando TV station WFTV will get no more contact with the Obama campaign following a tough interview with Vice-presidential candidate Joe Biden. The campaign told Orlando channel 9 that the line of questioning was out of line. See Video

WFTV-Channel 9’s Barbara West conducted a satellite interview with Sen. Joe Biden on Thursday. She asked about ACORN’s controversial voter registration and Sen. Barack Obama’s comment about spreading the wealth.

Biden, Obama’s running mate, evidently disliked West’s line of questioning. The Obama campaign canceled an interview with Jill Biden, the candidate’s wife.

“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,” wrote Laura K. McGinnis, Central Florida communications director for the Obama campaign.

McGinnis said the Biden cancellation was “a result of her husband’s experience yesterday during the satellite interview with Barbara West.”

Here’s a link to the interview: http://www.wftv.com/video/17790025/index.html.

WFTV news director Bob Jordan said, “When you get a shot to ask these candidates, you want to make the most of it. They usually give you five minutes.”

Jordan said political campaigns in general pick and choose the stations they like. And stations often pose softball questions during the satellite interviews.

“Mr. Biden didn’t like the questions,” Jordan said. “We choose not to ask softball questions.”

Jordan added, “I’m crying foul on this one.”

What did you think of the interview?

Source: blogs.orlandosentinel.com via politisite

Reader Comments

UPDATE: Reader C.J. Burch emails: “He got a straighter run than Palin has. No one edited his answers. No one used false quotes against him. No one edited the video tape. No one took him out of context. No one pissed and moaned about his wardrobe or his hair plugs. No one has asked to see his kid’s birth ceritifcate. Thin skinned much, Obama campaign?” Note that they’re only getting these questions from local TV. There was a time when network folks laughed at softball local TV coverage, but in this election we’ve seen more hard coverage of Obama et al. from local media.

ANOTHER UPDATE: David Bernstein is sidin’ with Biden. And TigerHawk calls the questions “obnoxious to the point of being ineffective.” He also comments: “Second, journalists ask equally obnoxious, left-wing conspiracy-oriented questions of Republicans all the time. The effect is different, though, because we are used to seeing aggressive questioning in that direction.”

Source: pajamasmedia.com via politisite