NCE 301: Meet the Press

Welcome to News and Current Events 301! For this week, we will cover 5 interviews on Meet the Press.

This Unit is the Meet the Press unit. It will deal with 5 interviews from this year that deal with politics. We will NOT pay attention to the panelists (though you are more than welcome to watch them and bring some of their information into the discussion) as panelists tend to try to influence us on what to think about what we just saw. With that in mind, let’s get started!

For Meet the Press, the months of June, August, September, AND October were the juiciest for political interviews, etc. The subject matters that were covered were:

1)    After the 1^st Presidential Debate

2)    Joe Biden saying he was in favor of Same-Sex Marriage

3)    A Portrait of Vice-Presidential Candidate Paul Ryan

4)    Mitt Romney’s first (Non-Fox) TV Interview

5)    The Middle East Uprising in Libya, Egypt, and so forth.

We will go in order as the above.

Post-Debate #1

Link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/49318712/ns/meet_the_press-transcripts/#.UKA6maV9nww

(The transcript is below for those of you who don’t want to watch it)

(We are only going up past the 24-minute mark)

October 7^th, 2012: One Sunday after the first Presidential debate in which Barack Obama did not seem to be a very enthusiastic candidate, and one that the pundits clearly thought Mitt Romney won. NOTE: Since this is a PANEL interview, we are only going to deal with the two political, non-panel (on the panel) guests: Newt Gingrich and Robert Gibbs.

Discussion, Robert Gibbs:

1)    What did Gibbs think about the jobs numbers?

2)    What is Gibbs’ take on Romney’s debate performance?

3)    What is Gibbs’ take on the jobs numbers?

4)    What is Gibbs’ take on Obama’s debate performance?

Discussion, Newt Gingrich:

1)    What did Gingrich think about the jobs numbers?

2)    According to him, what does the “average American” think and how does it play to the election?

3)    What does Newt Gingrich say about Jack Welch’s claim on the job numbers? Why does he say people are losing confidence in Washington?

4)    What is Gingrich’s take on Obama’s debate performance?

Long Question: Looking solely at Robert Gibbs and at Newt Gingrich, who do you think voices concerns closer to your own if the election were held again? In other words, who makes the better case?

Joe Biden in favor of Same-Sex Marriage

Link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47311900/ns/meet_the_press-transcripts/t/may-joe-biden-kelly-ayotte-diane-swonk-tom-brokaw-chuck-todd/

May 6^th, 2012: Joe Biden comes out in favor of same-sex marriage, making him the first Vice-President of ANY American Presidential administration ever to back same-sex marriage. We’re going to try to stay away from your own personal views, as that could get nasty; instead, we are going to deal with the politics of it, as well as deal with the other things that Mr. Biden said.

Discussion:

1)    Does Vice-President Biden think about the state of the economy? (Remember, this is May) How does he dress up the results?

2)    How does Vice-President Biden admit that there is a recession?

3)    Why does he think the American public should not elect Candidate Romney?

4)    What is Chen’s future, according to Joe Biden?

5)    What is Biden’s take on the rumors about him not being the running mate?

6)    What is Biden’s take on the issue of love?

7)    What accomplishments does Biden say that Obama has on the issue of National Security? Why does he think Mitt Romney fails in this regard?

8)    Why does Joe Biden want a strong Republican Party?

Long Question: In the realm of politics, do you think Vice-President Biden should have come out in favor of same-sex marriage BEFORE the President? Do you think this “forced” Obama’s hand in this matter? Is it really the Vice-President’s place to mention his views independently of the President?

Portrait of Paul Ryan

Link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48634410/ns/meet_the_press-transcripts/#.UKgxc6V9nww

August 12, 2012: Meet the Press did a profile on the recently-announced vice-presidential running mate, Paul Ryan. As you read and/or watch, answer the following questions:

Discussion Questions:

1)    What does Priebus say about the economy?

2)    Do you think than Paul Ryan was the most risky choice Romney could have made for running mate? Why or why not?

3)    Describe Reince Priebus’s statement about Paul Ryan’s ideas.

4)    How does Paul Ryan want to change the Medicare/Medicaid system?

5)    Is Romney’s vision on Medicare the same vision as Paul Ryan’s, according to Priebus?

6)    Is Paul Ryan “Ready on day 1” according to Priebus?

7)    What are Paul Ryan’s most desirable characteristics, according to Scott Walker?

8)    What is the opinion of most of Americans, according to the poll?

9)    According to Scott Walker, has the Obama administration succeeded or failed in protecting “future generations?”

Long-Answer Question: Do you think Mitt Romney picked Paul Ryan to win Wisconsin? If so, do you think that that was shortsighted? Why or why not?

Mitt Romney’s First Non-Fox TV Interview

            September 9, 2012: Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney goes on Meet the Press, hoping to explain himself and his ideas further. For this one, we are talking more about his political views, which is the second part of his interview.

Discussion:

1)    Why does Mitt Romney say the math for his economic plan adds up?

2)    What does he want to increase defense spending?

3)    Why does Erskine Bowles think that his plan will not work?

4)    What methods does he plan to use to “lower the burden” on Middle Income Families?

5)    What does he say make him qualified to balance the budget?

6)    When does he say the budget will be balanced?

7)    Does he want to cut a deal with Democrats?

8)    What is the problem with the country, according to him?

9)    What does he want to change about “healthcare reform?”

10) What will Romney do about Medicare?

11) How does Mitt Romney explain why Afghanistan was left out of the convention speech?

12) What is Obama’s greatest failure of his foreign policy, according to Mitt Romney?

13) Does he think the country is safer because of Obama?

14) What is Romney’s “red line?”

15) Will Romney overturn Roe v. Wade?

16) Does Romney care about his political prospects?

17) Why does Romney think he should be President?

Long Question: Do you think Mitt Romney did a good job of explaining himself and his views? Why or why not?

Middle East Views

September 16^th, 2012: Ambassador to the U.N., Susan Rice, goes on Meet the Press and calls the Benghazzi embassy attack an “isolated incident.” Many politicians, notably on the right, claim that she and the Obama Administration were playing politics and trying to downplay the importance of Al Qaeda and other extremists elements that President Obama had done a good job of defeating thus far.

Discussion Question:

1)    What does she say the attack was based on?

2)    What is the US view?

3)    What does she liken it to?

4)    What information about the incident does she currently have at hand?

5)    Does Susan Rice say there was any sort of “failure” there?

6)    How does Egypt serve U.S. “interests?”

7)    What does she say about the other Middle East leaders?

8)    Was the U.S. “apologizing” for the violence?

9)    What does Rice trump up?

10)  What is the U.S.’s “line in the sand” when it comes to Iran?

11)  According to Rice, are the dealings with Iran succeeding? Why or why not?

Long Question: Does what Susan Rice says about that incident, match what actually happened? Why or why not? 

NCE 301: Gallup Poll

Welcome to News and Current Events 301! For this week, we will cover five polls as covered by Gallup.

This Unit is the Gallup Poll unit. It will deal with 5 polls that helped influence political events this year. In addition, there is a Gallup Event on “Religion, Wellbeing, and Health.”

For Gallup, the months of August and October were the strongest for polls that described the political landscape:

1)    Approval Rating of Congress

2)    A description what a “likely voter” is

3)    Initial reactions to Paul Ryan

4)    Americans’ Top Priorities for the next President.

(The above in is addition to the religion coverage)

We will go in order as the above.

Americans’ Views of Congress Revert to All-Time Low

Link: http://www.gallup.com/video/156722/americans-views-congress-revert-time-low.aspx

August 16^th, 2012: Just about three months before the election, Gallup Poll released their date on approval ratings for Congress. Keeping in mind the recent elections, answer these questions.

Discussion:

1)    In what other month had the lowest approval rating been reached?

2)    What is the percentage of people that approve of Congress?

3)    Where has Congressional Approval typically averaged?

4)    When was the high point of Congressional approval? What event happened then? Was it an outlier?

5)    Knowing this, would you have advised Romney to pick Paul Ryan as a running mate?

Long Question: Keeping in mind the results of the Congressional elections this year, is the result surprising? Why or why not?

Election Matters: The Lowdown on Likely Voters

Link: http://www.gallup.com/video/157943/election-matters-lowdown-likely-voters.aspx

October 8^th, 2012:  Election Matters is a segment that Gallup runs every election and explains the different issues in play for the different candidates. This episode, they discussed “likely voters.” Likely voters are not the demographic of all of those who like a candidate, but instead are those that Gallup deems most likely to show up and vote on election day.

Discussion:

1)    What did the poll about the first (Presidential) debate say?

2)    What group did Obama still have a favorable lead for (Registered or likely)?

3)    Who does better amongst likely voters?

4)    Why did they think the election was too close to call?

Long Question: Keeping in mind the results of the election, the outcome of certain states, the outcome in certain swing states, AND the way in which they were first projected on media news outlets, are you surprised that the election turned out the way it did?

Election Matters: Americans’ Initial Reactions to Paul Ryan

Link: http://www.gallup.com/video/156659/election-matters-americans-initial-reactions-paul-ryan.aspx

August 14^th, 2012: The American public is introduced to Paul Ryan as Mitt Romney’s running mate as Vice President in the Presidential election. Gallup reported their initial findings on this edition of Election Matters.

Discussion:

1)    What was the American public’s initial reaction to Paul Ryan?

2)    How does this compare to Sarah Palin’s reaction?

3)    Did the choice more Americans more or less likely to vote Republican?

4)    Why is Paul Ryan running for the state different than voting for him for the House?

Long Question: Considering the American public’s reactions… do you think Paul Ryan was a good pick as the Republican Vice-Presidential candidate?

Americans’ Top Priorities for the Next President

August 2, 2012: Gallup Poll releases what Americans think are the top priorities for the Next President.

Link: http://www.gallup.com/video/156407/americans-top-priorities-next-president.aspx

Discussion:

1)    What was the top priority?

2)    What was the next one?

3)    Considering how many people wanted to restore Medicare, was it still a good pick for Paul Ryan as running mate?

4)    How many people considered global warming to be a top priority? What about taxes on the wealthy?

Long Question: Considering the top (And lower) priorities mentioned, who had the most priorities in common with the American people? Did the outcome of the popular vote surprise you at the end of the election?

Gallup Event: Religion, Wellbeing, and Health—Part 1

Link: http://www.gallup.com/video/152798/gallup-event-religion-wellbeing-health-part.aspx

February 2^0th, 2012: Gallup has an event in which it describes the findings in a recent poll on religion. The results were that people had positives feelings when it came to religion. NOTE: Since this is an hour-long presentation, we will only be discussing the first 3 presenters (up to the 30-minute mark, roughly).

Discussion:

1)    What is subjective wellbeing? How is it measured?

2)    Describe the method using the buzzer.

3)    What did Gallup find about church attendance, etc.?

4)    What was the sample size? What is its significance?

5)    How many people have no religious identity, but are classified as very religious?

6)    What was the “least religious, religious group” that they looked at?

7)    What is the most religious state in the USA?

8)    What are the 6 domains? Which one is the exception to the rule?

9)    The more religious you are, what are you likely to do in terms of taking care of yourself?

10)  How do they avoid the self-perception bias?

11)  Do you get happier as you become more religious?

12) What specifically about makes religious people happy?

13)  What happens the more frequently you go to church?

14)  What was their methodology?

15)  What is the best day of the week, according to ONLY religious people?

16) What is the correlation between church attendance and happiness?

17)  If you don’t feel God’s presence, what happens?

18)  If you have close friends in organizations, work, etc. but do NOT have close friends at church OR don’t go to church, what happens to happiness?

19) Compare close friends at church to close friends outside of church.

Long Question: If you are religious, what about church makes you happy in the moment? If you are not religious, what makes you happiest?