although to be fair, Romney's the one who started it and exploited it the most.

Lehrer's is afforded the opportunity to be a "moderator"! He was astoundingly TERRIBLE! He had no control whatsoever and, in my opinion, totally dissed the President!

When the 3 moderators were announced I said that both Lehrer and Schieffer were terrible choices because they are too old to be able to control the debate. I was proven correct regarding Lehrer and will be proven correct with Schieffer. Both should have retired at least 5 years ago. The losers are the American people.

has nothing to do with his age.

And by far his worst. What has changed is his age. That made it predictable that it would be his worst.

In tandem with its push to the right, the GOP has become increasingly bellicose and boorish. Or have you not noticed the talk shows where whoever talks loudest, incessantly, interrupts the most and doesn't allow the opposition to state their side "wins?"

Pres O did what he had to and nothing more.

have devolved into nothing more than infomercials since the League of Women voters pulled out.

or were they forced out?

They were tired of the demands the campaigns were placing on them, and they issued a press release in 1988 saying they didn't want to be party to "perpetrate a fraud on the American voter."

I am old enough to remember when debates were an exchange and comparison of ideas. I always got a copy of the LOWV election guideline. I checked the candidates and their position and went in with my filled out ballot. I was what every democracy needs, an educated voter. It is increasingly time consuming to make intelligent choices, but it is my duty as a citizen.

I miss the League of Women Voters.

right wing broadcaster) to moderate another one.

Shut everything down, and quit.

If he can't control Mitt during a debate, why bother?

Hell, replace him with Rachel Maddow, and she'll make sure Mitt will shut up when he's supposed to.

In other words, the Commission needs to rethink their moderators.

He was the real loser

have taken their toll on Mr. Lerher.

I stopped watching The News Hour's talking head rodeo a few years ago when it began to be mostly conservative/libertarian unemployable think tank shills

If the microphone switches are two 6" diameter bright red panic buttons affixed to the top of the moderator's podium, he or she would be better able to enforce the rules.

No need to whine, complain or negotiate. It's been 180 seconds, your time is up.

You beat me too it. Why is this difficult to figure out? Hell, simply put them on an automatic timer. Hit the button, time starts and your mic goes live. Two minutes is up and your mic goes dead. Put a cheap LCD clock in the circuit on each podium for pacing.

Fuck me, let's join the goddamn mid-20th century already, eh?

Kill me now.

I still refuse to forgive Stupidfuckidous for his "flag pin" bullshit on 2008. Creepy Crawly will be worse.

Candy Crowley will be ignored.

and she will interrupt the president long before his allotted time is up. She does it every week on her sunday talking head show. I hate having to edit her stuff because she doesn't know when to shut her effin' trap.

Or a GONG...something...anything!!!

Mittens was just outright disrespectful, trying to take over the host job AND lecture America.

...arrogant asshole.

And now he admits he lied.

Easy.

Maybe also have an orchestra play them off like they do at the Academy Awards.

When dealing with a flim flam man all rules fly out the door. Mitt is experienced in the art of BS to an extent that he probably has a doctorate of BS. He out bullied and lied his way through the whole non-debate. The president, sad sack, wasn't much help either.

You did a poor job. A really poor job. You were being way too gentlemanly. You needed to shut down mittiot and you let him hold you down and cut your hair.

Who they needed to moderate the debate was Chris Hayes. The way he shut down rudy giuliani after the debate program last night was a thing of beauty.

It was so great, Chris reduced Ghouly to the whimpering whining mittiot he is.

Both candidates? What the fuck debate were they watching? It was romney that wouldn't shut the fuck up and who kept interrupting both Obama and Lehrer.

If they keep talking then they look like morons.

Turn off their mikes. And make a big deal out of it, too, so that everyone knows what's about to happen. They'll know why.

If my 1st grade teacher was still around and put in charge, they wouldn't dare.