Wolf Blitzer - Incompetent

Blitzer Epitomizes Journalistic Incompetence

The View from the Middle

Last night I was excited to watch the Republican Presidential debate to educate myself on the positions of the five remaining candidates.  Unfortunately, after the national anthem, performed beautifully by Deana Carter, everything slid downhill fast!  In fact, half way through the debate, I was sure I had somehow switched the channel to “Party Down South” or “Redneck Island” reality shows.

I actually don’t know who was more pathetic; Wolf Blitzer or the trio of Trump-Cruz-Rubio.  It’s true that Donald Trump has reduce most of the Republican debates to name-calling shouting matches, but last night was the piece de resistance of televised verbal chaos.  So, what was the difference last night?  Wolf Blitzer!

First, let me suggest that this rule that any candidate gets an infinite number of responses on a single issue as long as his or her name is mentioned by one of their opponents, has got to go.  This rule, along with Wolf’s absolute disregard for Ben Carson, allowed Donald Trump to dominate the airtime, accounting for 30 minutes of the speaking time.  This rule also allowed Cruz and Rubio to get about their fair share of time, while the great interrupter and monologuer, John Kasich, was able to hang with them.

I guess the lesson is that you have to be an absolute jerk to get your message across at a Republican debate.  Is that the level to which we have actually fallen.  Ben Carson even begged someone to attack him so that he could get some airtime, but Wolf didn’t take the hint.

So, who was the big loser last night?  Wolf Blitzer and CNN.  Wolf was absolutely steamrolled by Trump and company losing complete control of the debate.  While all the other Republican debates have been fiery to one degree or another, this was the worst, so Wolf needs to take credit.  There were even several moments when all of the gang of three (Trump, Cruz and Rubio) were talking at the same time.  These time spans were petulant, childish and incoherent, a real testimony to the lack of control exhibited by Blitzer and company.

Ben Carson may even have some legal charges he could launch against CNN.  He was so completely ignored by Wolf that he accounted for only about 10 minutes of the debate last night.  That was about half of his fair share.  Actually, when he did get to talk, Ben made some very good points and was articulate in his delivery.  If I were honest, I would say that Mr. Carson was my one winner in last night’s debate, although the great interrupter, Kasich, did pretty well also.

The gang of three just served to damage each other and the Republican Party image.  Their third grade, playground tactics of calling each other liars, cheats, choke artists and more is growing old.  We the people need real solutions and Presidential character to show up very soon.

Finally, the real winner in last night’s debate was probably Hillary Clinton.  I can just imagine her eating popcorn and watching the debate with tears of laughter streaming down her face.  Unless these candidates wake up, Republicans may be left with such a damaged candidate that he will not have a chance to defeat her in the general election.