Kudos to Candy and Indelible Images!

Nearly Twenty four hours later I'm still so impressed with the moderating of last night's debate, which was a surprise because Candy Crowley is by no means a left leaner. Ms. Crowley was a wonderful and refreshing contrast to both her predecessors. She was concise, chose probing questions, performed her role with a minimum of drama and a maximum of professionalism, and was the epitome of even handedness and polite detachment. And I am not a CNN fan. I have not been since they changed from a cable news channel with cool women broadcasting actual unbiased news (or so it seemed to me in my youth) any hour of the day or night to the network that force feeds us twenty-four hour sensationalized news (newsertainment) and brought us the likes of the loathsome Nancy Grace, Glenn Beck (I know he's gone, but he should have never been there in the first place) and the first person with a M.D. in Addiction Exploitation, Dr. Drew Pinsky. The only thing I wonder now is what on EARTH a talented professional like Candy Crowley is doing at a snake pit (and I don't mean that in a Cancun translation way) like CNN! She is quite honestly everything one could hope for, whether one leans right or left, in a debate moderator!

I cannot really say that about Martha Raddatz, who actually seemed fixated on one thing above all others, and that was to share her high (as in she MUST be high to be DOING this) opinion of herself during the VP debate. She seemed to think that her experience as a foreign correspondent gave her license to take up time during the debate to take a lecturing tone with Joe Biden and showcase to him and the world her vast knowledge of military chain of command. Then, as if she were a prosecutor leveling an accusation at a war criminal at the Hague--she latched on to some poorly defined esoteric detail upon which she on one side and the Joint Chiefs and VP on the other did not agree, and had herself an odd little cross between a self-promotional and psycho moment with it. 

Fortunately the only knives around were the daggers she was shooting at the Joe Biden with her eyes. Surreal doesn't really capture the feeling of it, but it comes close. For most people I'm sure that moment passed unnoticed, but as a former military person, I found it highly unsettling--more like shocking. Where the HELL does she get off taking a tone like that against not only the VP but also the Joint Chiefs and really the President as well? This is especially so, given the endless river of shit she allowed to flow from the mouth of Paul Ryan! That splinter is still festering all these days later. The sheer effrontery--her attitude of superiority to the Vice President of the United States--ugh, it was just so unforgivably offensive to me! So Candy Crowley was a soothing balm to my soul, indeed. 

Regardless of the fact that Biden won that debate, handily, in my opinion, the way Raddatz moderated still nettles me. On the other hand, I really liked how Candy Crowley, unlike both previous moderators who just let republicans do what republicans always do--talk around in circles and dance around issues, dodging the questions the whole while--called Willard on his outright lie about President Obama's Rose Garden statement. Raddatz would have just let that go as if fact, like she and Lehrer let every other outright lie pass as fact...even though the lies are seen by millions of people who won't bother to watch the fact checkers the next day(s).

Not so with the delightful and eidetically gifted Ms. Crowley, who not only kept close watch on the time, but did all she could aside from putting a literal muzzle on Willard Romney. Now there's an image I can wrap my mind around...oh wait...now my mind took it one step too far...

...somehow I find this image of the Romneys very believable, given what I've seen of Mitt's "better half." Ugh, this image is going to haunt me, I know it. *shudders* Oh well, maybe it will supplant this one...

I don't mind two men kissing...it's just THESE men, and in such gorgeous water! Now THAT is a sin against nature!

Terrible imagery aside, you have my sincere thanks Ms. Crowley.