Do 'Youdia' Believe Liberal Bias was in Student-run GOP Debate?

(From Chicago Tonight)

The special one-hour candidate forum, hosted by Phil Ponce, gave viewers an opportunity to meet the Republican candidates for Illinois governor. Chicago Tonight is partnering with the Mikva Challenge, a program that encourages Chicago youth to be active in the political process. During the forum, high school students from the Mikva Challenge questioned the candidates about jobs, gun violence, education and more. Joining us are Bill Brady, Kirk Dillard, and Dan Rutherford. We invited Bruce Rauner to attend but he declined.

Watch the full forum here: GOP Gubernatorial Candidates Field Questions from High Schoolers

My thoughts -- student political efficacy and civic engagement is non-partisan. "Democracy is a Verb" -- Mikva Motto

But in the Youdia, it's interesting how politcal events get spun.

(From Public Affairs with Jeff Berkowitz):

Should Republicans boycott WTTW's forums due to WTTW's liberal bias?

Liberal media bias at the WTTW/Mikva Challenge Republican Gov Candidate Forum
It has long been alleged that PBS and WTTW (Chicago Public TV) possess a liberal media bias similar to that of the other national broadcast outlets: CBS, NBC and ABC, and that of MSNBC, which has taken liberal media bias to new extremes. So it was not a big shock when liberal media bias made an appearance at yesterday’s Republican Primary gubernatorial candidate forum, sponsored by both WTTW and the Mikva Challenge (named for long time and nationally prominent Democrat, Ab Mikva-- former Congressman, Federal Appellate Judge and White House Counsel to Bill Clinton).

Liberal bias among the CPS/Suburban school students
The questions came from CPS and suburban students. These students are in schools staffed in large part by left of center faculty, producing students who will ask questions that are in large part politically correct and skew left. What would you expect from students who learn from faculty who belong to unions that are big time contributors to the Democrat Party and Democratic Party pols.

Liberal bias among Team WTTW- Marin, Ponce Arruza
Moreover, WTTW's host/Chicago Tonight anchor Phil Ponce specifically reserved the right to ask follow-ups for the students. Phil, in large part, is out of the business these days of conducting political interviews, but no one doubts he is part of the biased liberal political team led by Carol Marin at WTTW. When the WTTW political team, e.g., Marin, Ponce and Arruza have Democrats as guests, e.g., Senator Durbin or Governor Quinn, they are tame as tame can be, asking few if any follow ups. But, when they have Republican guests who don’t toe the Democratic Party line, well then, it is time for WTTW to get aggressive.

Why require a Voter ID
So, it was not a shocker to see Ponce get his ire up when a student questioned the Republicans about voter ID laws and they didn’t agree with the student that such laws obviously improperly imposed barriers to citizens voting. If you follow politics, you know that various states have passed voter ID laws. The laws reflect the thinking that if we can ask for ID from a person who wants to buy a drink or get on a plane, maybe it would be a good idea for a voter to flash his or her ID before getting a ballot, so that we are sure the voter asking for the ballot is who he or she says she is, i.e., not voting fraudulently.

No voter fraud in Chicago?
There are liberals who argue that there are not extensive studies demonstrating voter fraud. The conservative response is that: one, fraud is often concealed and thus not easily demonstrated. Two, there is quite a bit of evidence of voter fraud in Illinois (the old motto in Chicago—vote early and vote often), New Jersey, Louisiana, just to mention a few of our more notable, politically corrupt states.

Easy for most voters to acquire ID
There are conservatives who argue that there are not extensive studies demonstrating it is inordinately difficult for anyone to acquire a virtually free voter ID, as is offered in most states with voter ID laws. The liberal response? Well, for a liberal perspective, see Phil Ponce’s questions below. However, Phil may not be a real liberal. Perhaps he just plays one on TV. If so, he is an excellent actor.

Rutherford and Dillard go quietly into the night
The other striking theme, below, is just how tepid the response of the Republican Gov candidates was to WTTW’s liberal media bias. The biased question by Ponce was to Bill Brady, and Bill’s response was ok, but he could have gone on the offensive more. Neither Rutherford nor Dillard was asked the

Former 'biased' print journalist with Kirk Dillard.

biased question by Ponce, but they could have been more courageous by responding directly to the bias of the student question or jumped in and defended Brother Brady, since the attack was not on Bill Brady, per se, but on Republicans in general. Clearly, Rutherford and Dillard thought discretion was the better part of valor. Dillard made his reluctance to address this issue even clearer when I questioned him on the issue in a post debate press conference, with the Q/A on the relevant question with Dillard included, below.

Where was Bruce Rauner? (question mark edited in by possibly liberally-biased former print journalist editor of Political Warrior)
Rauner skipped the whole debate. No doubt this reflected Rauner’s political strategy of skipping 75%, or so, of the upcoming candidate forums because he can afford to use paid media to get his word out and he doesn’t want to provide a target for his Republican Primary Gov opponents, who are each trailing Rauner by considerable margins in the polling data.

However, Rauner could easily have argued that all Republicans should boycott any debates sponsored by WTTW. When all of the potential moderators have demonstrated liberal media bias, why would any Republicans attend any debates sponsored by such stations. Would Republicans appear at a debate sponsored by MSNBC and moderated by the likes of Chris Matthews, Rachel Maddow or anybody appearing regularly on MSNBC as a host/moderator? I don’t think so. In the same way, which Illinois Republicans would want to subject themselves to the liberal bias of WTTW.?

http://www.chicagonow.com/public-affairs-with-jeff-berkowitz/2014/01/should-republicans-boycott-wttws-forums-due-to-wttws-liberal-bias/

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