Barbara West

Education

West attended the University of Vermont and obtained a Master"s degree.

Career

Before starting her career in television news, she was an Assistant Professor at the university. West"s husband Wade West is a former political strategist for both Democrats and Republicans, including presidential cabinet members and the Bush and Clinton administrations. West was principal assistant to Peter Jennings while he was anchor for American Broadcasting Company"s World News Tonight in London.

She helped cover such stories as the Royal Wedding of Charles and Diana and the Iranian Hostage Crisis.

Since 1992 she has served as health reporter and anchor for Orlando"s WFTV news at noon and 5:30. As a health reporter she traveled to Canada to report on its health care system and to the Ukraine to report on the 10th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster and its health effects.

On October 23, 2008, West interviewed Democratic vice-presidential candidate Joe Biden with questions she personally wrote. The Obama campaign responded saying "This station"s interview with Joe Biden wasn"t tough — it was just absurd." The Obama campaign cancelled a subsequent interview with the candidate"s wife, Jill Biden.

We ask questions on behalf of viewers."

While praised by "birther conspirators", reactions from mainstream commentators were negative.

Her performance was criticized as a "desperate audition for a primetime job at Fox News", considered a partisan stunt after she gave a soft interview to Republican candidate John McCain and West was characterized as exhibiting conservative bias. Others said that these characterizations were unfair and that Biden had overreacted. A few noted her husband"s connections with the Republican Party, questioning if that was an influencing factor.

West attempted and failed to deflect criticisms by promoting her husband"s relationships with the Clinton Administration State Department and the Department of Justice Office of Civil Rights Enforcement.

Now, West is considered to be a foreshadow of the irrational hostility and obstructionism exhibited by rightwing extremists throughout President Obama"s tenure.

Achievements

• While there, she won the 1969 Mission Vermont contest and was selected to represent her state in the national Mission America competition. She received the 2002 Summit Award for Community service from Central Florida Women"s Resource Center and an Emmy for her reporting on women fighting breast cancer. On her official biography page on WFTV.com, she lists her first two specific accomplishments as covering the inauguration of President George W. Bush and covering the impeachment of President Bill Clinton.

Politics

West asked Biden if he was "embarrassed about Barack Obama"s affiliation with ACORN" given allegations of voter registration fraud by ACORN in elections past, likened Obama"s response to a question from Ohio voter "Joe the Plumber" to a quote from Karl Marx, asked how Obama is not being a Marxist given his views on "spreading the wealth", and questioned if Obama might lead the United States. "into a socialist country much like Sweden." At one point, Biden asked West if she was joking, and later suggested she was offering "talking points" against Obama.

Views

Obama"s Florida spokeswoman called West "both combative and woefully uninformed about simple facts." WFTV"s news director defended her, saying she had not been inappropriately tough: "I"d rather be known as aggressive than pulling punches.