Posted on 10/18/2012 1:04:46 PM PDT by NYer
WASHINGTON, D.C., October 18, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) - Critics of CNN moderator Candy Crowley’s performance in the second presidential debate Tuesday night claim that it is part of a larger pattern that sees Democrats consistently receiving more time to speak, being interrupted less often, and being asked fewer probing questions than their Republican challengers.
Republicans have cried foul after Crowley wrongly corrected Mitt Romney’s statement that Barack Obama did not refer to the assault on the Libyan embassy as an act of terrorism. A transcript indicates Obama did use the term “act of terror” the day after the attack, but in reference to 9/11, not Benghazi.
“I’ve never seen a moderator in a major debate interfere with the two people and take one side and indicate the other one was not telling the truth,” said Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-OK. “I think it was orchestrated.”
“Did the president willfully lie, and was that a set-up deal with Crowley?” Senator Inhofe asked.
Shortly after the debate, Crowley admitted that Mitt Romney was “right in the main.” Later Wednesday, she stepped back, denying that she had acted inappropriately, adding she didn’t think her statement was “a leap.”
The incorrect correction broke Romney’s momentum on what should have been his strongest attack of the debate.
The statement represented only the most memorable facet of what critics see as Crowley’s biased performance.
The veteran CNN journalist interrupted Mitt Romney 28 times, Barack Obama only nine, in keeping with a pro-Democratic pattern that holds true throughout all 2012 debates so far.
Moderator Matha Raddatz interrupted vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan 15 times, but cut off Joe Biden only five. Biden himself erratically interjected himself into nearly all of Ryan’s answers.
Crowley, who has a history of pro-abortion statements, personally vetted all questions the candidates were asked. According to one analysis, since the advent of the town hall debate, moderators have chosen liberal questions over conservative questions by a margin of two-to-one. Some say the same pattern held true last night.
At all three debates, Democrats have received more speaking time than Republicans.
President Obama spoke for 44 minutes, four seconds Tuesday night, while Romney talked only for 40 minutes, 50 seconds.
In the first presidential debate Obama spoke for three minutes, 14 seconds longer than Mitt Romney. Joe Biden got one minute, 22 seconds more speaking time than Paul Ryan. Altogether, the Democrats have enjoyed nearly nine minutes more debate time than their Republican counterparts.
Rush Limbaugh mentioned the Crowley controversy on his radio show Wednesday, saying, “She committed an act of journalistic terror or malpractice last night. If there were any journalistic standards, what she did last night would have been the equivalent of blowing up her career like a suicide bomber.”
See my post 59
Ditto! He must be cooking up something else :-)
Trust but verify DOES NOT WORK!
Verify BEFORE you trust.
When will the GOP EVER learn not to trust these people? They are ALL the same. Liars, cheats, and thugs.
If this is true, and at the time I didn’t think about it but it’s making more and more sense, then it amounts to one of the most low-life frauds ever perpetrated on the American people.
Next Monday is Foreign Policy.
Romney’s got more ammo for that one than all the alphabet agencies put together!
MSM needs to be taken out of the debate equation in 2016. Their bias has gotten past obvious.
Indeed.
Thanks NYer.
Video(several): Who’s up for a focus-group shoutfest about Candy Crowley’s debate moderation?
I am a trifle less obsessed about this now that I sense a defeated kind of anger in the neighborhood, which to me means the always politically astute black voters now know their goose is cooked. A congressional investigation, after all. I was obsessive when I thought no one was going to hear about this.
I’m still mad as all get-out, though.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.