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Tough reviews for Jim Lehrer as debate moderator
San Francisco Chronicle (SFGate) ^ | 10/4/12 | David Bauder

Posted on 10/04/2012 5:33:52 AM PDT by Haiku Guy

NEW YORK — Jim Lehrer may be regretting his decision to come out of semi-retirement and moderate his 12th presidential debate.

The veteran PBS anchor drew caustic social media reviews for his performance on Wednesday, with critics saying he failed to keep control of the campaign's first direct exchange between President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney. The candidates talked over Lehrer's attempts to keep them to time limitations, and his open-ended questions frequently lacked sharpness.

The tough assessments crossed party lines: Republican commentator Laura Ingraham wrote on Twitter that Lehrer seemed "a bit overwhelmed." Comic and Democratic activist Bill Maher bluntly tweeted that "Lehrer sucked."

(snip)

(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...


TOPICS: Breaking News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: debate; lehrer
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To: Haiku Guy

Losers always blame the refs.


61 posted on 10/04/2012 6:28:40 AM PDT by Hulka
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To: AppyPappy

I think this debate format was intentionally picked in order to give Obama time for his “soaring rhetoric.” However, without the TOTUS, he sank like a brick. Romney took the economy, hung it around Obama’s neck and then choked him with it!


62 posted on 10/04/2012 6:31:25 AM PDT by reegs
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To: Andrei Bulba

Oh, I think Lehrer was for Obama, all right. But there is only so much a Moderator can do. Lehrer had to at least pretend to be fair-and-square, but the suggested answers give the game away.

At the end of the day, it was like trying to hide the Grand Canyon under a Welcome Mat. The blowout was just too huge for the Moderator to get in the way.


63 posted on 10/04/2012 6:31:30 AM PDT by Haiku Guy (HELLO!!!!...!!!...MY NAME... IS INOGO MONTOYA!!!1!1!!... YOU...KILLED...MY...FATHER!!!)
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A = I


64 posted on 10/04/2012 6:32:33 AM PDT by opentalk
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To: Haiku Guy

Moderator Jim Lehrer did a GREAT job as a Moderator: He allowed the Candidates to debate during the debate that he was moderating.


65 posted on 10/04/2012 6:32:53 AM PDT by Graewoulf ((Traitor John Roberts' Obama"care" violates Sherman Anti-Trust Law, AND the U.S. Constitution.))
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To: Hulka
Losers always blame the refs.

Please, Hulka... This is still FR.

Do not make such a hugh and series error... The correct spelling of that comment:

Loosers always blame the refs...

66 posted on 10/04/2012 6:35:05 AM PDT by Haiku Guy (PREPARE TO DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
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To: Haiku Guy

Nice Vizzini reference. :)


67 posted on 10/04/2012 6:36:03 AM PDT by Delta Dawn (The whole truth.)
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To: RochesterNYconservative
That is like blaming the Lincoln assassination on the lousy play being performed in Ford’s Theatre.

Our American Cousin wasn't a lousy play at all, you sockdologizing old man-trap!
68 posted on 10/04/2012 6:37:12 AM PDT by golux
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To: VeniVidiVici
It probably evened out the actual speaking time if you were to remove all of the stammering Obama did.
69 posted on 10/04/2012 6:38:09 AM PDT by CrazyIvan (Obama's birth certificate was found stapled to Soros's receipt.)
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To: SeekAndFind

lehrer did fine. He coached obama a few times but to no avail. I very much liked the format of this debate and hope it’s used going forward. It was almost a real debate. I also liked the fact that there was no audience participation. It was just the candidates going man to (ahem)man.


70 posted on 10/04/2012 6:40:18 AM PDT by pgkdan (A vote for anyone but Romney is a vote for obama. GO MITT!!)
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To: SeekAndFind

Actually, I saw today that Zer0 actually spoke for 4 more minutes than Romney. It didn’t seem like it though, because Romney dominated.


71 posted on 10/04/2012 6:40:50 AM PDT by mykroar (October race/religious riots bring November martial law. Voting postponed for your safety.)
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To: Haiku Guy

Its funny how liberals are so quick to eat their own.


72 posted on 10/04/2012 6:42:51 AM PDT by NeverForgetBataan (I am become Barry... destroyer of wealth)
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To: Haiku Guy

Here’s the shocker...it seemed like Romney got a lot more time, but Cnn had the clock running below on the replay, and in fact they were almost dead even on time. It’s just that Romney can put 3X as much information out in one minute as Ah-ah-ah, uh-uh, eyyon’-eeyyon’, uh Obama.

THANK YOU NEWT, for teaching Mitt how to debate!


73 posted on 10/04/2012 6:43:33 AM PDT by cookcounty (Kagan and Sotomayor side with Joe Wilson: -------Obama DID lie!)
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To: Haiku Guy

Lehrer gave Obama 4 1/2 minutes more speaking time than Romney. Maybe that’s what the Kool-Aid drinkers are moaning about this morning.


74 posted on 10/04/2012 6:44:31 AM PDT by txrefugee
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To: mykroar

Romney was so serious, competent and in control that Obama dared not trot out his casual, cool, man-of-the-people, droppin’-his-g’s persona. He knows he would have looked like an idiot compared to Romney’s stainless-steel CEO chic.

But Obama’s casual, cool, man-of-the-people, droppin’-his-g’s persona is the only thing that works for him, anymore. The actual facts are too toxic to his re-election, so he must keep it glib and light to have a chance.

That is not going to fly in a serious debate...


75 posted on 10/04/2012 6:46:09 AM PDT by Haiku Guy (HELLO!!!!! MY... NAME... IS... INIGO!!! MONTOYA!!!!!!!!! YOU! KILLED! MY! FATHER!!!!!!!)
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To: Haiku Guy

One of the moonbats on Huffington Post using the RACE CARD to explain why Obama lost:

texadonkey .371 Fans
(9:38 AM) The real truth is. Obama the black man could not have been this aggresive in a a debate. The fear mongering GOP would be all over this. It would of been worse for Obama. Let them claim this big win. They have no chance of winning the election.


76 posted on 10/04/2012 6:46:21 AM PDT by RochesterNYconservative (ROMNEY/RYAN 20121)
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To: Haiku Guy

PBS/ Lehrer should send a heck to Romney for facilitating an actual debate.


77 posted on 10/04/2012 6:48:38 AM PDT by patriotspride
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To: xzins
"On the other hand, when he did interject himself it was largely in interrupting Romney. The few times he interrupted Obama it was almost coaching: “Don’t you want to talk about this?”

Yup...it's hard to be a good ref when one of the teams is just playing horribly (the good part of that is that usually nobody notices that the refs are knocked off their game when the score is 55-7..).

78 posted on 10/04/2012 6:48:50 AM PDT by cookcounty (Kagan and Sotomayor side with Joe Wilson: -------Obama DID lie!)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
Why are the Presidential debate moderators always Lefty "journalists?”

Is there some law requiring it?

The question actually is, “Why ARE there debate moderators?"
And why so few debates?
There are so few debates because it takes time to prepare for them, because they are such big deals. And they are such big deals because there are so few of them, and people take time to prep for them. They are also such big deals because of the logistics of assembling the candidates &c in one place.

If you think outside the box, you realize that the debates are a rarity and a big deal because of TV. And there is a journalist moderator(s) because the TV execs want them.

If you really wanted informative debates which revealed the candidates warts and all, you would have more, smaller, debates. No one debate would be make-or-break. And there is no reason at all for a human moderator. All it needs is a chess time controlling the microphones. There is also no need to assemble the participants in one place - the candidates could just each use a studio convenient to his own locale/schedule.

That would be trivial to accomplish via PCs and the Internet - but there wouldn’t be anything in it for the TV execs.


79 posted on 10/04/2012 7:04:36 AM PDT by conservatism_IS_compassion (The idea around which “liberalism" coheres is that NOTHING actually matters except PR.)
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To: Haiku Guy

Jim Lehrer wasn’t responsible for Obama’s confused, disturbingly muddled closing statement, which made him seem worse than Reagan in his disastrous 1st 1984 debate. Obama almost seemed drugged at times.


80 posted on 10/04/2012 7:04:55 AM PDT by montag813
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