"During last night's live blog, I received the same basic message from multiple people: Why couldn't these two be running at the top of their tickets? That reaction came less from a desire to see either be president, but more from an appreciation of the return of the traditional debate, comity, and at several times, mutual graciousness.
"None of that helped Tim Walz, however. And neither did CBS News and its moderators, Norah O'Donnell and Margaret Brennan -- although Lord knows they tried to do their best to rescue the Democrat.
"David Muir and Linsey Davis got a deluge of criticism for interfering in the one presidential debate on ABC News with one-sided "fact-checks," clearly corrupting the process in favor of Kamala Harris. CBS News promised its moderators would not conduct any fact-checking. It took them less than 20 minutes to violate that, interjecting at least twice to contradict J.D. Vance, and then cut off his microphone when he attempted to rebut their "fact check."
"Nor was that their only attempt to rescue Walz. Throughout the debate, O'Donnell and Brennan would ask Vance to clarify claims and frame context for his one-minute rebuttals, while simply allowing Walz to frame his own rebuttal times. This happened throughout the debate, and it created the exact same three-on-one dynamic that plagued the ABC debate.
"Plus, the question sets were essentially copied from Muir and Davis, designed to give Walz the most breathing room. After spending a few minutes on Iran, foreign policy largely disappeared from the questions, although both candidates brought it up. We had no questions on China policy, Taiwan, military readiness, or the deficit. Instead, we got child care and "democracy," which Vance turned into a debate on censorship and caught Walz sputtering over it.
"The moderators chose sides again, and provided yet even more reasons for Republicans to demand new platforms other than media outlets to run these events." . . .
Exclusive: Expert Calls Out VP Debate Moderators’ Climate Lies – PJ Media . . ."The CBS vice presidential debate moderators, Norah O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan, tried to tie Hurricane Helene to “climate change” and pressured both Republican JD Vance and Democrat Tim Walz to endorse government climate action. But “the notion that this is a man-made or -enhanced or -caused weather event is just without a foundation,” Milloy explained." . . .
. . ."Milloy cited an “ironic” article he found from last year saying people were moving to Asheville, NC, which has since been devastated by Helene, “because they thought it would be … safe climate wise. And of course, you know, climate is a ridiculous reason to do anything. They should have been thinking about the weather.” After all, “those mountains get storms,” Milloy pointed out, “it's a flood-prone area. And this time they got a really big one, and no one was ready for it, because I guess they're imagining that emissions are a problem.”. . .