Last night’s political forum between Hillary Clinton, the Democrat, and Donald Trump, the Republican, had two distinct halves. In the first, Matt Lauer pilloried Hillary. In the second, he showcased Trump. Don’t take my word for it. See for yourself. You can watch the forum here, but you’d better pack several cases of barf bags.
Hillary Clinton still selfishly insists on breathing. Donald Trump heroically maintained a form of consciousness. Trump wins. Signed, the media.
The idea for the Commander in Chief forum seemed decent, but two things utterly wrecked the evening: the half-hour slice given each candidate was inadequate to discuss substantive issues; and Matt Lauer.
Most of that fault? Matt Lauer.
It’s easy enough in any situation to feel that the ‘ref’ has not been fair. A moderator hitting both sides equally may seem like they’re attacking your candidate, and not going hard enough against the opposition. That’s not the problem here.
Lauer started his interview by sandbagging Hillary Clinton, interrupting her first answer with a lengthy “question” about the email server that was both unrelated to the supposed topic of the evening, and weighted with built-in scorn up to and including the idea that Clinton’s non-crime was “disqualifying” of her candidacy. Before Hillary could complete her answer to this are-we-really-going-to-do-this zinger, Lauer interrupted her again. With another email question. Then he did it again.
Watching a replay of the affair, it’s not that Matt Lauer interrupted some of Hillary Clinton’s answers. It’s that he interrupted all of HIllary Clinton’s answers. Repeatedly, he leaped in mid-sentence, first to spew out ‘questions’ that were actually lengthy position statements allowing no obvious response, then to break in and remind Clinton that they were running out of time when she tried to beat Lauer’s words into an actual question. Lauer displayed a level of disrespect and antagonism to Hillary Clinton that wasn’t just unprofessional, it was punchable.
Even when Trump was producing a running stream of non-connected thoughts, Lauer sat back until Trump had come stumbling to a halt. He didn’t challenge Trump’s flat-out lies, and several times handed the Republican candidate open-ended questions with an intellectual challenge between “what’s your favorite color” and “how cool are puppies?” Lauer never hit Trump with anything remotely equivalent to emails—nothing about his taxes, his failed business deals, his 3,500 lawsuits, or the handy bribes that made some of those lawsuits go away. Since this was ostensibly a forum on military issues, Lauer might have asked Trump to explain his attacks on a Gold-Star family, or the five deferments that kept Trump from ever having to come near service of his own. Nope.
Overall he treated Trump like a respected businessman, while addressing Clinton as if she was a PA assigned to warm up his coffee between floats in the Macy’s parade… [emphasis added]
From <Daily Kos>
The only people that provided a shred of equal treatment were the vets. Rachel Maddow discussed one issue they brought up,
Truthfully, I don’t think Lauer actually prefers Trump. The media have their own corporate agenda. Covered honestly, this election has the potential to be a media disaster, because it matches a well qualified, albeit imperfect, candidate against a buffoon, who lacks the qualities to be elected to clean septic tanks. Yawn!! Change the channel! The only way they can keep raking in the profits is to keep the race close, and they bias their coverage to do it. The problem is that they are also having an impact on a pants load of very stupid sheeple, and in the process, they put our nation at risk.
21 Responses to “The Forum Failed to Inform”
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So easy for us to forget there is no such thing as a perfect candidate.
Would have loved for Rachel to moderate. I think she would have got the job done.
Thanks, Tom.
Matt Lauer aside, Clinton showed herself much better prepared to be Commander-In-Chief than did Trump.
Agree, Jerry.
Everyone warned that as long as Trump didn't drool all over himself it would be considered a good night for him. Of course, Matt Lauer certainly did his best to help Trump! Why doesn't anyone EVER stand up to the continuous stream of lies he tells? And by the way ~ doesn't anyone know it would be illegal to steal Iraq's oil? Good heavens guys ~ if I know that why doesn't anyone else. I have only heard two people point that out.
As far as Hillary's performance and treatment ~ I'm with Bernie ~ I'm sick of hearing about her damn emails! Time for the media to be honest and get over the emails ~ nothing there folks! Start making Trump accountable for his lack of knowledge and constant lying!
I remember Dubya stating that the war wouldn't cost us anything, that the Iraqi oil would pay for it. That never gets replayed.
It wqould not only be illegal, it would be impossible.
The Bush Reich tried to install a puppet government under Chalabi, who would have given the oil rights to western companies, but the Bush Reich failed.
Matt Lauer may have hosted thousands of episodes of the "Today" show and has considerable interviewing skills. But, last night at the Commander-in-Chief Forum, he blew it completely. Even the NBC execs concede Matt Lauer forum performance was "disaster".
Matt Lauer should never host another political forum or debate with political candidates ever again in the future.
What others are saying about Matt Lauer's performance can be googled and read with interest, provided one has a barf bag nearby.
http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=Matt+Lauer%2BCommander+in+Chief+forum&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
Rachel Maddow should have been the host for this event and should be one of the hosts in the upcoming presidential debates. Rachel does her homework and has an excellent support staff, second to none. No Faux Noise person should be allowed to be a host in the upcoming debates as they are too biased. Who cares that The Drumpf does not want Rachel to be a host. What is The Drumpf afraid of…
The VA should not be privatized at all. Look at what has happened with the private for profit prison debacle. It is the same with the privatizing of public schools around the country. Bad news.
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Matt Lauer was intimidated by Trump.
Perhaps it was the red face and loud mouth!
See my comment. He is not a true journalist. I am also prejudiced, I quit watching the Today show after he forced Anne Curry out because she was "too old".
I guess I waqsn't the only one that felt that way, but when I wrote my piece, the Kos article was the only one I found that agreed with me.
Matt Lauer was a stupendous SNORE! I missed it, but from all I've seen from last night, I'm glad I did! If ANYONE would ask Rump Dump Drumpf about ALL the emails he destroyed when he was answering a lawsuit about Trump U, I would think it might be even. But nobody EVER asks him about Trump U or for that matter, ANY of his lawsuits!!! Dumpster dive for Matt the Brat!
The reason Clinton's emails were a valid topic and Trump's weren't is that they were accusing Hillary of failing to protect state secrets, ableit falsely. Trumps email had nothing to do with National Security.
I watched it and quarrelled the whole hour. Matt Lauer should never call himself a journalist. He is a paid shill. He let Trump ramble on and on and never called him out on any of his lies. He started with the email question, then interrupted Clinton every time she spoke. I almost felt that I was watching faux news. Then, tonight, Lawrence O'Donnell praised Lauer's performance, and that did not set well with me. If Trump wins the election, he should donate zillions to the media because it will be their doing.
I have not watched the forum, however with any luck, I'll be able to do so tomorrow or Saturday.
I do however feel that the fix was in for Drumpf when he was given so much control over moderators etc. Again, Drumpf the bully!
If this Commander in Chief forum on NBC is in any way foreboding the next three debates, things are looking rather glum for the saner part of America. The way it was handled by Matt Lauer was a disgrace and really begs the question if America has any network left that is objective and independent enough to host a fair debate between candidates. It doesn't really matter whether they are governed by either the 1% through their owners or by the ratings and the subsequent profits, as you claim TomCat, both are disastrous to Democrats, a Democratic candidate and the nation as a whole.
This is my honest fear.
Watched this attack on Hillary/simpering for Trump and lost all respect for Matt Lauer. At no time did Trump actually say anything that was factual or important and Lauer just smiled and kept on pandering to the idiot. Hillary handled herself as well as could be expected with this moderator…..Boo Hiss to the whole event.
Thanks and amen to all! Hugs!
Just want to be on the record that I have LONG held a loathing of Matt Lauer
… AND said so here:
https://www.7thstep.org/blog/2016/08/05/friday-fun-behind-the-scenes-tour-of-dnc-convention/