I'll be honest. I don't like John Roberts. I don't know him personally, but since he's been on CNN in the mornings, I've noticed a definite slant to the coverage and on more than one occasion, he has used Republican talking points as questions. He has an obvious disdain in his questions when interviewing Democrats, and an obvious admiration for most Republicans I've seen him interview. He has also bragged about riding motorcycles with White House aides. I used to regularly watch CNN in the morning since I am admittedly a political junkie, and the fluff on the network shows after about 7:15 am just doesn't cut it. Lately it's been mostly C-Span for me since CNN has been so bad.
This morning, I was clicking around getting ready for work and came across an interview with Richard Holbrooke and John Roberts.
I'm glad I stuck around for it, because I would like every Democrat to look and learn how to handle a biased reporter. I haven't found the video yet but here's a part of the transcript (emphasis mine):
ROBERTS: We should mention, as you said, you support Senator Obama. You have written the lead article in the new foreign policy magazine in which you compare the foreign policies of the two candidates. You do come down on the side of Barack Obama for the most part in this article.
But let me ask you, in terms of the response to Georgia, John McCain came out very quickly with a very forceful statement against Russia. It took Senator Obama three times to get to a similarly tough position. Has he got the foreign policy experience to be able to deal with a person like Vladimir Putin?
HOLBROOKE: John, with all due respect, I would dispute what you just said. Senator McCain and Senator Obama have roughly the same positions. It's the Bush administration that was behind the curve. President Bush embracing Putin, sitting next to him in Olympic stadium, having a most cursory talk and taking four or five days while he's playing volleyball in Beijing before he gets a serious statement. Meanwhile, the French are out there.
This is not a political issue. And you're just repeating spin from McCain supporters. Senator Obama was in the air on his way to Hawaii. He put a short statement out, got on the plane. He understood the severity of the issue instantly. And he followed it carefully. He talked to President Saakashvili by phone and his position is absolutely correct.
And I am not criticizing Senator McCain's position either in this case. I just think we ought to recognize this as a historic event and it's not a time for the kind of politics which some of McCain's supporters have been putting out recently.
Transcript
Roberts denied using Republican spin of course. How wonderful would it be if everyone who he interviewed with such an obvious bias called him out on it?