Carol: Raddatz and the VP Debate
It’s been an interesting day. Having been quoted in a Daily Caller piece that was Drudged this morning — about whether Martha Raddatz has a conflict of interest because she was married to one of the President’s best friends from law school — I have heard from all kinds of old acquaintances.
What I find interesting is the way ABC and some on the left have chosen to push back against the story. As I recall, no one has suggested that Martha Raddatz should have to resign from hosting the debate. All that anyone — Josh Peterson (the author of the Daily Caller story included) — has done is point out the connection.
It’s worth pointing out. First, the American people should know of these associations as they try to evaluate Raddatz’s fairness and performance. Second, knowing the story is out there may encourage Ms. Raddatz to be as balanced as possible (not a bad thing, as her associations and marriages clearly suggest she is a Democrat). Was the story not worthy of a mention? Surely the widespread coverage it earned today (from both sides of the aisle) suggests that it was deemed newsworthy by at least a critical mass of people.
So it’s not been clear to me whether those who object to the issue being raised are objecting to people knowing about Ms. Raddatz’s past connections, or whether they’re simply knocking down a straw man by insisting that the idea of her stepping aside is ridiculous.
As far as I’m concerned, the whole point of having a free press and a free society is to facilitate the free flow of information. Why does anyone object to people knowing of the Raddatz-Obama connection if, indeed, Ms. Raddatz is going to be as scrupulously fair as ABC insists she will be? Would it not be newsworthy if the Romneys had happened to attend the moderator’s wedding twenty years ago?
Finally, the ABC spokesman’s insistence that Obama “attended [Raddatz's] wedding over two decades ago along with nearly the entire Law Review” doesn’t inspire confidence — because it is just wrong. Maybe some Review members were there — but it wasn’t like a second-grade birthday party where the whole class was invited to avoid hurting anyone’s feelings. The only people at that wedding were those who were good personal friends of Martha Raddatz or Julius Genachowski . . . and Barack Obama was one of them.
There it is, no more, no less. Now let’s see how Ms. Raddatz handles the debate tomorrow night.
