Want To Improve The Debates? Stop Giving The Lame Slots To Female Moderators.

Why Female Moderators Ruled The Debates
Moderator Martha Raddatz of ABC News awaits the start of the vice presidential debate between US Vice President Joe Biden and Republican candidate Paul Ryan at the Norton Center, Centre College, in Danville, Kentucky, October 10, 2012. AFP PHOTO / Saul LOEB (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/GettyImages)
Moderator Martha Raddatz of ABC News awaits the start of the vice presidential debate between US Vice President Joe Biden and Republican candidate Paul Ryan at the Norton Center, Centre College, in Danville, Kentucky, October 10, 2012. AFP PHOTO / Saul LOEB (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/GettyImages)

Partisans will never agree on who won Monday night’s debate, but now that the 2012 presidential debates are over, surely we can all agree on some winners and losers: the moderators.

After the first debate’s Jim Lehrer debacle, wherein big-time loser Lehrer basically asked the candidates to share their campaign talking points, Martha Raddatz saved the entire concept of debating by opening the vice presidential showdown with a smart question on Libya and then pushing for specifics on tax plans, Medicare, and Social Security. The best part of that VP debate was seeing Raddatz act like a journalist, not just a host. She is the hands-down winner of the 2012 debate season. Foreign policy moderator Bob Shieffer and town hall chaperone Candy Crowley fell somewhere in between. Schieffer had some trouble keeping the candidates on topic, as foreign policy drifted into domestic. And Crowley simply didn’t have much to work with, given the town-hall format and her limited ability to intercede.

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