The Four Moderators

The moderators of the Presidential debates have been named. Martha Raddatz will lead the VP debate. Raddatz is a foreign policy expert (for ABC), which makes her an odd choice to question Paul Ryan, a lifelong Beltway insider, who is as ignorant of foreign policy as he is of economics and real life.  Ryan understands nothing. I can't say that I know Raddatz well--I stopped watching ABC when they hired Diane Sawyer, a Republican hack, to front their band--but I suspect that Raddatz, an actual person,  will attempt to do a good job. 

Bob Schieffer will moderate one of the Obama/Romney debates, and that is likely to be the one worth watching. Schieffer is a somewhat crusty old feller who might follow up on a question when he gets a stupid outright lie as an answer. And he will get many such opportunities.

The other moderators, Candy Crowley and Jim Lehrer, let any crap slide. In a way they are fun to watch as they struggle not to become human.  They are pure Wall Street lapdogs, although their styles differ. Crowley is aggressively wimpy, where Lehrer (rhymes with terror) is wimpy masked by extreme fear. They both operate from that fabled position in which if Obama sneaks a cigarette and Romney strangles a baby girl, they are equally flawed candidates. Like the Vicar of Bray, Crowley and Lehrer will contort their thick faces in support of any political view that keeps them in their lucrative chairs as Wall Street TV news distorters. That can be enjoyable.