"Norm Ornstein got it right:
"It’s not just that the time allocations were harsh. (The candidates were constantly being cut off, sometimes after being given all of 15 seconds to make their points.) And not just that the time allocation seemed somewhat arbitrary.
"No, it was the questioning that really fell short – very, very short.
"The CNN moderators, again and again, employed the very worst types of questions. One style that Tapper used repeatedly early on was interrupting to insist that the candidates stick to a portion of a topic that he found interesting (such as whether their health care plans would involve increases in taxes for the middle class) rather than what they wanted to talk about. The night also featured too many gotcha questions, in which a candidate is challenged about something they said. (1) But even worse was a constant theme of asking one candidate to fight with another. Candidate X, what do you think of Candidate Y’s plan?" . . .
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WaPo Trump-hater dismayed by CNN’s embarrassing lack of professionalism and showmanship in debate coverage "Last night, CNN disgraced itself with unprofessional behavior by its moderators and just plain dumb decisions on staging the event.
"Don Lemon declared President Trump a bigot in a question director at Senator Amy Klobuchar (who wisely refused to take the bait to label Trump voters bigots):
Senator Klobuchar, what do you say to those Trump voters who prioritize the economy over the president’s bigotry?". . . "If the DNC were smart, they’d reverse their ban on Fox News offering a debate and ban CNN instead. But there’s a better chance of me winning the Powerball lottery."
