Ron Paul frozen out of CBS debate...

Ron Paul Silenced by CBS?

GOP candidate says he was deliberately limited to 90 seconds of air time in Saturday's debate.

Marc Fortier

Both Ron Paul and Michele Bachmann are crying foul after what they said were unfair efforts to limit their air time during CBS' Republican presidential debate on Saturday night.

In an email sent out after the debate entitled "What a Joke," the Paul campaign ripped CBS for allowing the Texas Congressman only a minute and a half of air time in the 90 minute debate.

"It literally made me sick watching the mainstream media once again silence the one sane voice in this election," said Campaign Manager John Tate. "The one dissenter to a decade of unchecked war. The one candidate who stands for true defense and actual constitutional government. Ron Paul was silenced, in perhaps the most important debate of the cycle."

Michele Bachmann's campaign made a similar claim, releasing an email it said was inadvertently sent to Communications Director Alice Stewart by a CBS employee that said Bachmann wasn't going to get many questions, so they should try to get another candidate for a post-debate show.

"I was just speaking with Alice Stewart... about the Congresswoman or a senior member if (sic) her staff joining you for the webshow. She said she would be happy to arrange," said one CBS employee in an email sent Saturday afternoon, hours before the debate.

John Dickerson, a CBS News political analyst, then responded, "Okay let's keep it loose though since she's not going to get many questions and she's nearly off the charts in the hopes that we can get someone else."

The campaign said the email indicated "a planned effort to limit questions to Michele Bachmann at tonight's CBS/National Journal Debate."

Link:
http://exeter.patch.com/articles/ron-paul-silenced-by-cbs