TMZ obtained an internal CNN “talking points” email sent by Managing Editor Mark Whitaker, defending Candy Crowley amid criticism of her performance at Tuesday’s debate. But not only does Whitaker misrepresent Crowley’s “fact-check” to make it sound more accurate, he also acknowledges that there is disagreement over whether President Obama referred to Benghazi as an “act of terror” in his Rose Garden speech (h/t Powerline):
“Let’s start with a big round of applause for Candy Crowley for a superb job under the most difficult circumstances imaginable. She and her team had to select and sequence questions in a matter of hours, and then she had to deal with the tricky format, the nervous questioners, the aggressive debaters, all while shutting out the pre-debate attempts to spin and intimidate her. She pulled it off masterfully.
The reviews on Candy’s performance have been overwhelmingly positive but Romney supporters are going after her on two points, no doubt because their man did not have as good a night as he had in Denver. On the legitimacy of Candy fact-checking Romney on Obama’s Rose Garden statement, it should be stressed that she was just stating a point of fact: Obama did talk about an act (or acts) of terror, no matter what you think he meant by that at the time. On why Obama got more time to speak, it should be noted that Candy and her commission producers tried to keep it even but that Obama went on longer largely because he speaks more slowly. We’re going to do a word count to see whether, as in Denver, Romney actually got more words in even if he talked for a shorter period of time.“
Nobody disputes that Obama “talk[ed] about an act (or acts) of terror” in the Rose Garden speech. But that’s not what Candy Crowley alleged during her impromptu “fact-check.” She claimed Obama specifically called Benghazi an act of terror, which is not clear from the speech. Here’s the exchange from the debate:
Romney: You said in the Rose Garden, the day after the attack, it was an act of terror? It was not a spontaneous demonstration? Is that what you’re saying?
Obama: Please proceed, Governor.
Romney: I want to make sure we get that for the record, because it took the president 14 days before he called the attack in Benghazi an act of terror.
Obama: Get the transcript.
Crowley: He did indeed, sir, call it an act of terror. [Applause from audience].
Obama: Can you say that a little louder Candy?
Crowley: [Laughing] He did call it an act of terror.
Whitaker also adds, “no matter what you think he meant by that at the time.” In other words, the meaning of the president’s speech was not cut-and-dried at the time, as Crowley claimed.
If she had interrupted to say that Obama had used the general term “act of terror” in the speech, as Whitaker implies she did in the email, nobody would have had a problem with it. But instead, she made a factual judgment on a point that was up for debate. Contrary to Whitaker’s email, it’s not only Romney supporters who thought she was out of line.
Whitaker makes two points and I’m going to take issue with both of them.
First, with regard to Crowley’s “just stating a point of fact.” If that was expected/permitted/promoted, given the dozens of assertions made over the course of the debate, why did she choose to weigh-in on that one? When Romney asserted that oil production on Federal land and drilling permits are down, and Obama say, “no they are not,” why didn’t she correct the president? I could go on and on but you get the point.
And on the word count vs talking time . . . Whitaker must understand how we see his position as soooo self-serving.
If the rules were written to provide equal time then the equal time rule needs to be enforced. If Whitaker notices that debaters speak at different paces and thinks this unfair that that equal words would be “better,” then let him propose equal-word rules (equal-word technology) but that wouuld be for the next debate that “unfairness” can not be used justify not enforcing the agreed on rules.
Imagine that the moderator noticed that one candidate seemed to have better arguments than another. Would Whitaker advocate giving that debater more time and more words to try better arguments? Or having the moderator weigh-in with additional arguments? Yes, to both, if it would help the Democrat, I guess.
Please keep your nasty opinions to yourself if you are not respectful of other's opinions. In other words,kindly stop the juvenile behavior you are exhibiting.
It appears that Contentions has removed the nasty and juvenile comment that I was replying to, from a commenter I had never seen or heard of before. Good riddance!
Cooked up at Fox? Were they moderating the debate? Crowley cooked the questions. I can't believe that questions on contraception, earnings of women and comparisons between Romney and Bush were the most serious questions she received to choose from. She chose some trivial and biased questions. She then intervened over and over again for Obama (the genius can't even argue his own debating points). Finally, she told a great big porkie about Obama calling the Benghazi attack by Al Qaeda elements a terrorist attack. And you say thi s was cooked up by Fox? What world do you live in?
You make a charge that then devolves into slander… all without even making a ground for your charge (aside from maybe that of "This is what they do!"). Firstly, a very intellectually wide swath of those in American politics has pointed out the importance of Benghazi when partisans, such as Stephanie Cutter, have made out the whole issue to be a political manufacture, for at least one reason as serious as this: there are four violently murdered Americans. n nSecondly, went it comes to dumbing anything down… n nThirdly, you're certainly pushing the boundaries of "art…"
It's all very sad. I think we need a computer as a moderator
See if we can get the one from Monkee versus Machine.
New computers are undistinguishable from humans (according to Turing’s criteria) but are honest.
There is a saying that says if you tell a lie often enough people will begin the believe it. Well with four news outlets screaming the same crap if another comes along and tells the truth, who do you think is going to take the heat as a liar? As Fox News says "Fair, Balanced and unafraid" the other weenies won't touch anything that would throw a bad light on "The One." They just can't see that if Obama succeeds and is reelected then takes the country Marxist/Socialist a whole bunch of them are going to be on the street without a job. Afterall how many networks will be needed to tell the public how wonderfully the government is taking care of them.
Yes, Crowley should have kept her mouth shut and failed in her obligation to do so, but what she said was true. In the Rose Garden speech Obama clearly referred to the "killing of four Americans" as one of the "acts of terror" that we wouldn't let deter us from acting on our principles. Pretending otherwise is just stupid. This has nothing to do with his administration's incompetence in providing security for the Libyan consulate or in the serial lying about a nonexistant protest that was sustained afterwards. Failing to attack on the right front was an epic fail on Romney's part, defending it just won't do, and is just a distraction from making the points that need to be made.
I seen the CNN interview 9/30 where Candy Crowley confronted David Axelrod about what Obama said in the rose garden the DAY AFTER the terrorist attack in Benghazi. She was saying the same thing Mitt Romney tried saying to Obama, (that Obama never stated it was a terrorist attack). I am appalled she calls herself a journalist when she LIED to thousands of us watching the debate. I feel your STATION and her should be airing her 9/30 video or interview with Axelrod so the public can see and hear the real truth! All the leftest keep saying, you can call it the way you see it,(it's a generic term, acts of terror) that's bunk! If you read the whole rose garden script, you would see he was talking about in general acts of terror, and he says they are still checking into the situation, etc. Also, why 9/13 Hilary Clinton claims it was due to the VIDEO and even OBAMA a good 2 weeks later was saying due to the VIDEO. All of them were apologizing for the Video, what, Obama never talked to Hilary(9/13) nor Rice (9/16) within that 1 week time to tell them it was a terrorist attack before they told the public on those days! All of you leftist news stations claim OBAMA said it was a terrorist attack the next day 9/12. Your station along with the others are suppose to tell the people the TRUTH, not Cover Up nor Lie! What has happened to the freedom of the Press and News Stations? Are all of you afraid of Obama or are all of you really that naive or have blinders on! No matter how bad the truth is, I was brought up to tell the truth and pay the consequences. HONESTY is the BEST policy. All of our American people, if you care about what Obama is doing to our country, and want the TRUTH told, you need to see it on FOX news. I listen to all stations and I see CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, over and over again siding with Obama since they support him also, he LIES and your stations aren't telling us the real TRUTH! Obama green jobs have been a waste of taxpayers dollars, Talk about shipping jobs over seas, there's no difference when Obama has given our tax dollars to Brazil to drill (the criminal George Soros also involved) and so many other countries and then all Obama's green bankrupt companies now. Obama is taking our defense away from us, giving our money to other countries, and devaluing our dollar. Also, quit blaming Bush, Clinton started all the Bank problems during his term forcing the banks to give loans to people that couldn't afford them, low down or $0 down! People tend to walk away when they loose their jobs and very little invested in their homes, all that takes years to collapse. We had $10 trillion in debt(from Clinton/Bush/all prior presidents) when Obama took office, now we have $16TRILLION in just LESS than 4yrs! Also, most americans don't know the difference between the General Fund where Clinton had a SURPLUS (and our Social Security goes there which they spend and why we will run out of it) at the end of his term and our National DEBT was approx. $6 trillion then. Politicians even refer to, well we had a Surplus when Clinton left, now we have Trillions in Debt(National Debt) from Bush! Considering Bush had 2 wars, and 9/11 in his 8yrs it's not bad to end with approx. $10 trillion. The politicians keep dipping and over spending our General Fund (previous surplus), the Unions keep demanding more pay for Union workers, yeah, companies will go overseas for cheaper labor. Take Raul Emanuel (mayor of Chicago, another Obama man), the unions there with the teachers striking forced Emanuel to make a teachers contract for more money just last month, those teachers get paid about $75,000 per year before new contract and only work about 8mo a year, wouldn't we all like that and super pensions, benefits, and Chicago has the worse SCHOOLS! All other teachers get about average $45,000 per year! Unions back OBAMA! This country will fall from WITH-IN (like Rome) with all the GOV. SPENDING, UNIONS and, lets not forget our GOV giving all our tax dollars to Egypt, Pakistan, so on and so on to countries that say out loud they HATE AMERICANS! Take your blinders off America, wake up, Obama has had his chance and made our economy worse, we need to give some one else a chance, I want what is best for our Country, I don't know if Romney will be better, but he certainly couldn't be any worse than these last 4 years from Obama. Furthermore, Obama didn't have any FOREIGN AFFAIRS experience and from what's going on in the Middle East, he hasn't done any good and we have 4 dead men because of his policies and the whole White House cover up! Cindy Crowley should be FIRED for her LIE and banned from being a commentator for ever! She is a SAD example of a journalist or what ever she claims to be on CNN. Where is the TRUTH about all these things that our government is doing to our country!!!!!
You better hope CNN never goes out of business. Your only job wouldr nSeparating hogs in a slaughter house. I want you to know I used hogs as a reference to you.