Media Research Center says its post-debate analysis confirms yet again that conservatives were denied an unbiased moderator in the latest head-to-head encounter between the two major-party presidential hopefuls.
Analysis following the second presidential debate on Tuesday (October 16) has some claiming Republican nominee Mitt Romney was not only up against President Barack Obama, but the moderator as well. Tim Graham with Media Research Center accuses moderator Candy Crowley for siding with the president for much of the debate.
Crowley, anchor of State of the Union with Candy Crowley and CNN's chief political reporter, moderated Tuesday evening's contentious presidential debate. For Graham, director of media analysis at MRC, the speculation Crowley would show favoritism toward President Obama was confirmed by the conclusion of the debate.
"The low moment was her - quote, unquote - 'correcting' Romney on the Libya matters," he tells OneNewsNow. "And that's exactly the kind of thing that make conservatives across America say We've been denied a fair moderator yet again by the Commission on Presidential Debates."
Graham explains that Crowley's bias was further revealed in regards to the audience participants she selected and questions that were asked of the candidates.
"We found the questions tilted two-to-one again - that there were six questions from the Obama agenda and three from Romney's," he explains. "This is the problem that we have: we get everyday Americans who stand up and ask for gun control, ask for amnesty in immigration, ask for feminist ideas about equal pay for women."
And it did not stop there, adds Graham, who cites another question from the pro-Obama agenda. "The worst one of all of these questions was [asked by] the one who stood up and said [basically] You're too much like Bush, we don't want more Bush. I don't even understand how that's an issue question."
The morning following the debate, Crowley defended her performance and spontaneous fact-checking on The View television program.
The candidates also sparred over suggestions Romney made regarding a possible administration cover-up of events surrounding the terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya. MRC believes Crowley took the president's side in what it calls an example of "moderator malpractice."
MRC president Brent Bozell is demanding the national media investigate why Crowley was allowed to "validate [Obama's lie] by certifying it as honest." If such media follow-up does not happen, he says "they also will be guilty of enabling a massive cover-up."
Bozell adds: "Crowley robbed tens of millions of Americans of the truth on national primetime television. Real journalists -- who were fed the Obama administration's Libya lies for two weeks -- should be furious."