moriarty@fluke.UUCP (Jeff Meyer) (08/20/84)
Was watching THIS WEEK WITH DAVID BRINKLEY yesterday, and they had Geraldine
Ferraro (sp? I do it all the time...) on. For those of you who are not
frequent viewers, the format of the show consists of the guest being asked
questions by Brinkley, George Will (Mr. Natty Side-Comment) and Sam
Donaldson (The Poor Man's Dan Rather). Now, don't get me wrong... reporters
SHOULD, in my opinion, ask penetrating questions to get at the truth of a
matter. When Ms. Ferraro came on to talk, she was naturally asked about her
tax returns and how she is handling them. She said that they were releasing
the statements today (Monday) for all to see, and that Tuesday they would
have a press conference to get the whole thing cleared up -- she said it
would last as long as was needed to get the thing straightened out. When
asked to comment on the state of her financial affairs, she made a few
comments but stated that she wanted to wait until the documents had been
handed out and she had several hours to discuss it (instead of the 15 minute
discussion time allocated by the program); to me, this sounds reasonable.
However, even after she said she wouldn't, and explained why, Donaldson kept
asking her questions. He would fire a question at her even before she had a
chance to answer his previous one (or two!) questions, giving the impression
that he was less interested in the answers than getting the questions in.
At one point, he asked if she thought the Republican party was behind her
former accountant saying she had full knowledge of one particular tax
screwup; she answered that she did not jump to conclusions, unlike many
others she could name. Cut to David Brinkley, smiling like a fox (I like to
think Brinkley appreciated her left to Donaldson's midriff), and the words,
"We'll be right back." I'd love to have seen Sam's face. She also earlier
took George Will to task for inaccuracies in his morning editorial (oh,
turnabout is fair play!).
Independent of her politics, I have to say I enjoy this woman's verbal
debate style. I wouldn't want to be in George Bush's shoes at the
vice-presidential debate (he wears size 8's.....).
"There... I've run rings 'round you logically"
Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer
John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc.
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