Hello Everyone:
This is Blogger Candidate Forum checking with a take on Wednesday's epic fails by NBC's Matt Lauer and presidential candidate former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson. Epic they were, characterized by a complete failure, on Mr. Lauer's part, to demonstrate any modicum of professional journalism. Governor Johnson's failure was sheer lack of preparation. Allow Blogger to explain.
Wednesday night's nationally televised forum was considered a dry run for the upcoming debates between Democratic nominee Secretary Hillary Clinton and Republican candidate Donald Trump. The format was pretty basic: each candidate had a half hour to answer questions on policy and issues, posed by Mr. Lauer and members of the audience. Pretty straight forward. Madame Secretary went first, having lost the coin toss. Matt Lauer spent a bulk of the allotted time grilling Madame Secretary on her dubious emails, then rushed through the remainder of the allotted time on everything else. In the process, Mr. Lauer proceeded to interrupt and cut off Madame Secretary-tactics worthy of a Mad Men episode. Is the type of respect you show a successful and articulate woman who has served her country with distinction? Of course it is not. Madame Secretary is running for higher office and even if she were running for dog catcher, you still allow her to fully answer the question without interruption. Absolutely she should answer the hard questions about her email and the Clinton Foundation activities and other policy questions. Matt Lauer's comportment when quizzing Madame Secretary seems to be typical of this election cycle. What century and decade is he living in? Fully interrogate her, she answers the questions to the best of her knowledge, and you are still not satisfied with the answer. The main stream media has been grading her on a far steeper curve than usual because of who she is. We can contrast this with the relatively soft treatment that Donald Trump received when it was his turn.
Donald Trump was next up in the forum. As usual, he was his blustery self, ducking and dodging questions like a boxer ducking punches. Matt Lauer's questions were more like powder puff punches. When given the opportunity to fact check Mr.Trump on his Iraq War flip flops, Mr. Lauer completely blew it. Tell us Mr. Lauer, did you not prepare for this forum? Mr. Trump's own statements on the Iraq War and other issues are all out there for public consumption. All you had to do was Google them, assuming you have heard of Google. Here was a golden opportunity to ask him why he supported the Iraq War, then turned around and said he was against it. This was on top of not pressing Mr. Trump to actually answer the questions. Once again, this is an example of the relatively soft treatment Mr. Trump has been getting from the main stream media compared to the harsher treatment given to Madame Secretary. It seems like Mr. Trump is being graded on a big curve for whatever reason.
The bottom line, Matt Lauer please stick to hosting The Today Show. Cooking and travel segments seem to be your speed, not serious journalism. You proved why you were rightly passed over for a debate moderator. Matt Lauer was not the only epic fail, Gov. Johnson managed to prove that lack of preparation can be an embarrassment.
At a third party candidate forum, Gov. Johnson was asked about the ongoing conflict in Aleppo, Syria to which he replied "What's Aleppo?" No doubt his handlers were cringing under their seats. How does a person, who bills himself as the thinking conservative option to Donald Trump, not follow the news. Blogger wonders if the Governor watches CNN or reads a newspaper. He probably does both but not in this case. Preparation is the absolute key to this forums. How can a person, running for higher office, not keep up with current events? This is basic running for office stuff. With that red-faced moment, Gov. Johnson proved why he does not belong on the debate main stage.
Fortunately, we have less than two months to go before this election madness ends. Yours truly expects more this kind of amateur hour nonsense as Election Day draws closer. In the meantime, Blogger Candidate Forum is on vacation until September 26 but may check in before then.
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