Slant and Bias

How gullible do they think we are?  Answer: Very.

Ignore the premise of the question.

   Candidates can't complain about media bias from the moderators in the latest GOP debate, hosted by Fox Business Network. If any, bias was in their favor, with questions reflecting conservative views. Even so, the contestants often were non-responsive, as they switched to their prepared talking points.
   Many of the questions were highly selective, slanted against the economic progress of the past six years under the Democratic administration of President Barack Obama. Example: The first question of the evening cited the number of people out of work in America, rather than  job growth -- 571,000 jobs were added in October, as the unemployment rate dipped again, to 5 percent.
   Candidates continued to hammer at the theme that the nation is an economic disaster, despite the reality that recovery remains steady. Political candidates and those out of office have never let the facts get in the way of a good slogan, nor have they paused before spreading a good story about themselves, regardless of petty details like truth.
   Consider the slogan, "Make America Great Again." This is based on the idea that the country is no longer great, and only the sloganeer can change that. They warn that disaster is either already here or is about to open an economic abyss and tumble the nation to perdition.
   Here are some of the ideas put forth by some of the candidates at the debate:
-- Return to the gold standard in determining money supply.
-- Hobble the Federal Reserve Board, or dismantle the central bank entirely.
-- Impose sharp cuts in social assistance programs.
-- Slash taxes and reduce spending, but boost military and defense spending.
-- Repeal government regulation.

   The first two alone are enough to make an economist cringe. Why? Limiting the amount of money in circulation to the amount of gold or silver in hand would stifle wages, and limit purchases, except for the ultra-few who had hard cash, returning society to the Golden Age of the late 19th Century. And abolishing the central bank would cancel any ability to encourage growth and limit inflation, using the supply of currency in circulation, as well as interest rates, as levers.
   Failure to help those in need is immoral.
   As for slashing taxes and spending, except for boosting large outlays for the military -- you can't do both.
   And repealing government regulation of questionable business practices ... you're kidding, right?

   As for selective truth-telling, candidate  John Kasich claimed credit for balancing the federal budget while he was chairman of a Senate committee. While it is true that he was chairman of the committee at the time, it is also true that the federal budget was balanced during the administration of Democratic President Bill Clinton, who first reduced the deficit inherited from his two predecessors, Republicans Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, and then posted four consecutive balanced budgets and a surplus.
   That surplus promptly disappeared and the budget crashed into a major deficit pit under the next president, Republican George W. Bush. Kasich made no mention of that.
   It's time for debate moderators to return to the basic journalistic guideline of the Five Ws -- Who, What, Where, When, and Why. Plus the H-word, the one often forgotten, but possibly more important than any of the others: How do you plan to do this?
   For too long, candidates have been ignoring journalists' questions, forgetting that reporters are citizens first, and ask tough questions because they need to be asked, and they do it on behalf of all citizens.