# Where was Palin on debate night?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-was-palin-on-debate-night/465557
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [September 28, 2008, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-was-palin-on-debate-night/465557 "2008-09-28T06:37:33Z")
**Posts on this page:** 17
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [September 29, 2008, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-was-palin-on-debate-night/465557/21 "2008-09-29T14:36:03Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#):
>
> 1. Well, damn it if the media doesn’t indeed have a liberal bias - we sure just saw evidence of it.
No, this is one of those cases of the **facts** having a liberal bias.
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### Author:  [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)
#### Post date: [September 29, 2008, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-was-palin-on-debate-night/465557/22 "2008-09-29T14:37:27Z")
> [@Marley23](#):
>
> Why would this be evidence of a liberal bias instead of frustration that Palin has been so unavailable to the press?
They have a bias against stupid and unqualified, although it did not show when Bush ran.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [September 29, 2008, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-was-palin-on-debate-night/465557/23 "2008-09-29T14:41:09Z")
> [@gonzomax](#):
>
> They have a bias against stupid and unqualified, although it did not show when Bush ran.
Cite please? The bias is against people who don’t cooperate with the press, which is pretty reasonable.
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### Author:  [@Sinaijon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sinaijon)
#### Post date: [September 29, 2008, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-was-palin-on-debate-night/465557/24 "2008-09-29T14:56:06Z")
> [@Marley23](#):
>
> Cite please? The bias is against people who don’t cooperate with the press, which is pretty reasonable.
Reasonable, but a bit unprofessional on both parts.
Personally, the whole thing is a bit like being invited to a dinner party where the host and hostess are bickering. Not constantly, but just every 10 or 15 minutes one makes a snide remark to the other that just kills conversation, and leaves everyone feeling awkward.
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### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [September 29, 2008, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-was-palin-on-debate-night/465557/25 "2008-09-29T15:03:21Z")
> [@Sinaijon](#):
>
> Reasonable, but a bit unprofessional on both parts.
>
> Personally, the whole thing is a bit like being invited to a dinner party where the host and hostess are bickering. Not constantly, but just every 10 or 15 minutes one makes a snide remark to the other that just kills conversation, and leaves everyone feeling awkward.
The entire calling of politics meets that description. If Palin can’t stomach it, she should have chosen some other path.
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### Author:  [@Sinaijon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sinaijon)
#### Post date: [September 29, 2008, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-was-palin-on-debate-night/465557/26 "2008-09-29T15:38:36Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#):
>
> The entire calling of politics meets that description. If Palin can’t stomach it, she should have chosen some other path.
The same could be said for journalists who make the snide remarks after being rebuffed for an interview.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [September 29, 2008, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-was-palin-on-debate-night/465557/27 "2008-09-29T15:48:31Z")
> [@Sinaijon](#):
>
> The same could be said for journalists who make the snide remarks after being rebuffed for an interview.
It’s unprofessional and I doubt he intended the remark to be heard on air, but the comment related to the campaign’s repeated unwillingness to let her take questions at all, not a situation in which Cooper himself failed to land an interview.
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### Author:  [@BrandonR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrandonR)
#### Post date: [September 29, 2008, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-was-palin-on-debate-night/465557/28 "2008-09-29T15:59:13Z")
Anderson Cooper is my new hero after he voiced his opinion loud and proud on _Living Lohan_ (the ridiculously pointless reality show with Lindsay Lohan’s mom/sister): [http://www.tvsquad.com/2008/08/06/anderson-cooper-reviews-living-lohan-video/](http://www.tvsquad.com/2008/08/06/anderson-cooper-reviews-living-lohan-video/) (scroll down for the video)
The Soup also had another clip of him expressing his disgust of something else this past week (which regrettingly I can’t remember at this time) which made me laugh. If anything, I think that’s just his personality. It’s quite refreshing to see a news anchor who’s not afraid to speak what’s on his mind.
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### Author:  [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)
#### Post date: [September 29, 2008, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-was-palin-on-debate-night/465557/29 "2008-09-29T16:02:36Z")
Sinajon, the fact is that the McCain campaign is terrified of letting Palin appear at an unscripted event. She can read a speech, she can kiss babies at rallies, but they’re afraid to let her on TV to talk with reporters. They’re afraid to let her give a press conference, something even Dan Quayle was able to do.
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### Author:  [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)
#### Post date: [September 30, 2008, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-was-palin-on-debate-night/465557/30 "2008-09-30T01:18:09Z")
> [@](#):
>
> originally posted by **Marley23** :
> Why would this be evidence of a liberal bias instead of frustration that Palin has been so unavailable to the press?
The tone of disgust with which he said it made it fairly clear what his PERSONAL feelings about her were, and that’s where the bias crept in. Had he said, in a neutral tone, “Palin’s absence today is consistent with her availability to date” it would be much harder to argue bias. Yes, as a journalist he might have been frustrated with a Dem or a Pub who was unavailable to the press - but realistically, you are more likely to let something like that slip if you don’t like the views of the target of your remarks.
Unfortunately, I missed the beginning of the segment where he said that, so I have no idea how it was framed - if the session was opened with a remark like “And now, the CNN journalists covering this election are going to kick back and share their personal perspectives” then Cooper’s aside may have been appropriate. But if the segment was presented as “Now our senior journalists will do some objective fact-checking,” it would not have been.
At the end of the day, though, I’m with **Brain Glutton** - the facts have a liberal bias.
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### Author:  [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)
#### Post date: [September 30, 2008, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-was-palin-on-debate-night/465557/31 "2008-09-30T01:21:57Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#):
>
> The tone of disgust with which he said it made it fairly clear what his PERSONAL feelings about her were, and that’s where the bias crept in. …
>
> Unfortunately, I missed the beginning of the segment where he said that, so I have no idea how it was framed
Am I misunderstanding? You’re assessing bias because of his tone on something you didn’t hear him say?
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### Author:  [@askeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askeptic)
#### Post date: [September 30, 2008, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-was-palin-on-debate-night/465557/32 "2008-09-30T01:23:22Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#):
>
> Am I misunderstanding? You’re assessing bias because of his tone on something you didn’t hear him say?
Welcome to conservative America. You must be new around here.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [September 30, 2008, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-was-palin-on-debate-night/465557/33 "2008-09-30T01:30:05Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#):
>
> The tone of disgust with which he said it made it fairly clear what his PERSONAL feelings about her were, and that’s where the bias crept in. […] Yes, as a journalist he might have been frustrated with a Dem or a Pub who was unavailable to the press - but realistically, you are more likely to let something like that slip if you don’t like the views of the target of your remarks.
Assumptions and interpretations don’t rise to the level of fact. You may be right, you may be wrong, but ‘you could tell how he feels about her from his tone of voice’ is just not convincing.
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### Author:  [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)
#### Post date: [September 30, 2008, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-was-palin-on-debate-night/465557/34 "2008-09-30T05:01:07Z")
> [@](#):
>
> originally posted by J **ack Batty:**
> Am I misunderstanding? You’re assessing bias because of his tone on something you didn’t hear him say?
Sloppy writing on my part. I heard Anderson Cooper make the snide remark. What I did NOT hear was the introduction to the segment.
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### Author:  [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)
#### Post date: [September 30, 2008, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-was-palin-on-debate-night/465557/35 "2008-09-30T05:53:47Z")
Originally posted by \*\*\*\*Marley23
> [@](#):
>
> Assumptions and interpretations don’t rise to the level of fact.
Agreed. In fact, I will happily withdraw my assertion that “Anderson Cooper exhibited liberal bias with his humorously derisive aside about Sarah Palin” if **askeptic** will agree not to put me in “conservative America.” Because I don’t see how the characterization of me as a conservative has more evidence to support it than my claim that Anderson Cooper showed liberal bias does.
I’m a liberal Democrat, okay?
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### Author:  [@askeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askeptic)
#### Post date: [September 30, 2008, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-was-palin-on-debate-night/465557/36 "2008-09-30T06:14:26Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#):
>
> Originally posted by \*\*\*\*Marley23
> Agreed. In fact, I will happily withdraw my assertion that “Anderson Cooper exhibited liberal bias with his humorously derisive aside about Sarah Palin” if **askeptic** will agree not to put me in “conservative America.” Because I don’t see how the characterization of me as a conservative has more evidence to support it than my claim that Anderson Cooper showed liberal bias does.
>
> I’m a liberal Democrat, okay?
Sure, but you have to admit it is rare to come across a liberal Democrat who thinks the mainstream media has a liberal bias. And even more rare to find one who is not disgusted and offended by Palin.
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### Author:  [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)
#### Post date: [September 30, 2008, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-was-palin-on-debate-night/465557/37 "2008-09-30T07:09:26Z")
> [@](#):
>
> originally posted by **askeptic** :
> Sure, but you have to admit it is rare to come across a liberal Democrat who thinks the mainstream media has a liberal bias.
I wouldn’t know, given where I live, but I take your point.
Still, I believe (hope) that liberal Democrats do take the high road more often than their political adversaries - Swift Boat and Willy Horten are Republican tactics. I wouldn’t expect a Rove Republican to have the decency to admit that s/he saw conservative bias in the media. I would expect more from a liberal Democrat, because I have higher standards for us. Therefore, if I see what appears to be liberal bias in the media, I’d rather that liberals condemn it, instead of allowing it to become fodder for Republicans, who will twist it for their own ends. And while we can dance around the idea of “tone of voice” if we like, and I will concede that it was far from definite proof of bias, what Anderson Cooper said was at the very least skirting the boundaries of what we would consider objective. While I thought it was hilarious, I sort of wish he hadn’t done it.
> [@](#):
>
> And even more rare to find one who is not disgusted and offended by Palin.
I’m disgusted and offended by Palin. And having a hard time figuring out why that’s not obvious - I did say, in this very thread, that I LIKED Anderson Cooper for his remark, and that I agreed with Brain Glutton that reality has a liberal bias. Not only that, but I attempted to conjecture a situation that would have excused AC’s remark.
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