The Devil makes them do it

TOM BURGUM
Contributing Columnist
burgum@lbknews.com

The Main-Stream-Media is suspected of being dominated by liberals. CNN’s Candy Crowley is suspected of being on of those dominating liberals. Crowley, the host at the second presidential debate, proved she wasn’t just liberal but that she was incapable of fulfilling a nonpartisan role as a debate moderator. As William Biglow, writing in Breitbart, opined, “Candy Crowley, who was suspected of being one more liberal moderator in the tank for Barack Obama, was more than just in the tank for him; she dove in and sucked all the water out for him so he could pretend he walked on water.”

Crowley is a first rate reporter, in most respects, and one wonders why she can’t control her partisan impulses. I think Flip Wilson had the answer, “The devil makes her do it.”

Crowley declared at the outset she would not be just “a fly on the wall,” and she would step in when necessary. She sure did step in when it was necessary and, as it turned out, it was really necessary to interrupt Mitt Romney. She interrupted Obama nine times and interrupted Romney 28 times. The most egregious interruption came when she found it necessary to tell Romney he was wrong when accusing Obama of refusing to call the Benghazi attack an act of terror. She was wrong, of course, as she admitted after the debate but her intervention robbed Romney of a “gotcha” moment he well deserved.

Maybe, you think, Romney got cut off more because he tried to talk to long. Not so, my hopeful friend. Obama was given 10 percent more time than was Romney.

Crowley picked the questions for the debate, selecting them from the so-called undecided voters chosen by Gallup. You have to believe she did a dandy job picking questions, that is if you’re Barrack Obama. My favorite was, “I do attribute much of America’s economic and international problems to the failings and missteps of the Bush administration. Since both of you [Romney and Ryan] are Republicans, I fear the return to the policies of those years should you win the election. What is the biggest difference between you and George W. Bush, and how do you differentiate yourself from George W. Bush?”  You really have to be in the tank for Obama to think that question is fair and the questioner is undecided.

Why didn’t Crowley drop the pretense of impartiality and ask each candidate: Is it not true that the liberal Democratic Party is the only instrument capable of restoring the economy, treating the sick, healing the planet and stopping the rise of oceans, while the Republican Party is mainly comprised of self-interested, scum-sucking, bottom feeders? Then, continuing in the spirit of her debate moderation, she could add; Mr. Obama has 10 minutes with a five minute rebuttal, Mr. Romney has seven minutes and Mr. Obama may interrupt at any time.

At one point, Romney asked Obama how much he had cut federal oil permits. Obama filibustered for a full minute and then shut down the discussion without giving Romney a chance to respond even though she had given Obama that chance in the preceding question. On immigration, after both candidates had addressed the issue, Crowley asked Romney to “speak to the idea of self-deportation.” Why didn’t she come clean and simply ask Romney to justify his racist, anti-immigrant ideas? The answer is, I suppose, that might have been a bit too obvious.

Obama supporters loved all this, of course, can’t hardly blame them for that. In addition, most of the MSM, declared Obama a narrow winner among registered

Voters. CBS had Obama winning 37-30 and CNN gave it to Obama 46 – 39 − but Democrats might hold on a bit before breaking out the bubbly.

Romney scored a decisive win according to the poll internals.

CBS Poll: Romney wins 65-34 on the economy.

CNN Poll:  Romney wins 54-40 on the economy; 49-46 on Health care; 51-44 on taxes; 59-36 on the deficit; and 49-46 on leadership.

In addition, a Frank Luntz focus group swing big to Romney based almost entirely on the economy, taxes, the deficit and leadership in those areas. Even a MSNBC focus group leaned slightly to Romney on the important issues.

Should Romney continue to best Obama in the economic issues, the election is effectively over and even the Devil making the MSM bend left won’t be able to change the result.

Columnist’s Note: Sometime in 2004 or 2005 a reader’s letter told of a week where the sun shone brighter, the sky was bluer, the orange juice sweeter, and she couldn’t understand just why the week was so special. And then, eureka, she understood. She wrote, “Tom Burgum hadn’t written a column.” That letter remains the all-time winner for “The Cleverest Letter to the Editor” — at least as far as I’m concerned.

I have good news for our champion letter writer and those who agree with her. I am taking off two or three weeks to accommodate a knee replacement. Yes, I won’t be able to write any anti-government health care columns for a time. There is more than a whiff of hypocrisy in all this but, I will be a hypocrite with a good left knee. Take that, Liz Hanson.

One other thing, my election predictions:

President: Romney 52% – 48% Obama

Senate: 50 Republican seats — 50 Democratic seats. VP Ryan breaks the tie.

House: Republican hold House majority with a change of plus or minus 5 to 6 seats.