Chris Wallace Won’t Call Candidates On Their Lies During Last Presidential Debate

[RandySF]

Chris Wallace says it won’t be his job to separate truth from fiction in his historic role as moderator of the final debate before the November election.

Wallace, who earlier this month became the first journalist from Fox News to be chosen to moderate a presidential debate , spoke to the network’s Howard Kurtz about the difficulties of the job and his aim to “ask smart questions” and “engage the two [candidates] in conversation.”

But when Kurtz asked how Wallace planned to negotiate a campaign fraught with falsehoods and unfounded accusations, Wallace’s answer was less than comforting.

“That’s not my job,” Wallace, who hosts Fox News Sunday, said. “I do not believe that it’s my job to be a truth squad. It’s up to the other person to catch them on that. I certainly am going to try to maintain some semblance of equal time if one of them is filibustering, I’m going to try to break in respectfully and give the other person a chance to talk.”


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/chris-wallace-presidential-debate_us_57ccc67ce4b0a22de0967652?ybxyb9rh39dqs38fr

[Aristus]

1. "Chris Wallace" and "journalist" do not belong in the same sentence.

Without the interposition of "is not a".

[oberliner]

5. He's actually the best one they have over there

By far.

[Aristus]

8. That's a pretty low bar to clear.

His father would have been ashamed of him.

If Mike Wallace had heard that "It's not my job to ask tough questions" shit, he would have started looking for a window to throw him out of.

[oberliner]

10. Very true

Most of the interviewers on that channel are just preposterous. Sean Hannity, in particular.

I'm surprised the Trump team didn't demand him as a moderator.

[MoonRiver]

16. I'm sure they tried.

[Thinkingabout]

2. We know if Trump says anything it will probably be a lie.

[napi21]

3. Much as I don't like Wallace, I agree with him on this one.

It's really NOT the job of the moderator to catch lies, mainly because some are partial lies, some are half truths, and a moderators would have to insert himself into the conversation way too much, and most likely get into an argument as well. We ALL want the media to call the candidates out for lies, but that should be done every day during their interviews with them, not during a debate.

[TeamPooka]

9. Trump will Gish Gallop all over the place.

http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Gish_Gallop
The Gish Gallop (also known as proof by verbosity) is the fallacious debating tactic of simply drowning your opponent in such a torrent of small, interlocking arguments that your opponent cannot possibly rebut each one in real time. It is similar to the on the spot fallacy, because it's unreasonable for someone to have an answer immediately available to every single argument presented.

Although it is a trivial amount of effort on the galloper's part to make each point before skipping to the next (particularly if they cite from a pre-concocted list of gallop arguments), a refutation of the same gallop may likely take much longer and require significantly more effort (per the basic principle that it's always easier to make a mess than to clean it back up again).
...
more at link

[RonniePudding]

15. I'm sure glad Candy Crowley caught Willard's lie in 2012

It provided a very important moment in the race. Wallace's response is chicken shit. The reason he won't call it out has nothing to do with ethics, and everything to do with the fact he's not going to do anything to jeapordize the GOP's chances, or upset the audience that provides him with a generous income.

[oasis]

4. Chris can't see himself being slammed like Candy Crowley. nt

[unblock]

6. Green light, on! May the best liar win!

[One of the 99]

18. Only one is a liar

[unblock]

20. trump is in an entirely different league

the republican league.

ok, he's an all-star liar even within the republican league.

[TeamPooka]

7. Chris Wallace: "My next question is for Crooked Hillary Clinton..." Expect the worst from Wallace. n

[TrishaJ]

11. If that's the case, then there

is no need to watch it, is there? Won't be a real "debate" about the issues. So why bother....

[Blue Idaho]

12. It doesn't matter - Trump isn't showing up for the debates...

He now insists the Libratarian - regardless of his poll numbers - be included or he won't debate Hillary.

[MoonRiver]

17. Really? I have not heard this.

Link?

[NYC Liberal]

13. Good. I don't want the moderators taking part in the debate.

Why not let Hillary do the eviscerating? She's more than capable of it and the purpose of the debate is to hear the candidates, not the moderators.

[Loki]

14. Since he refuses to do his job,

perhaps some well timed emails to the debate commission in Las Vegas. Let your voices be heard.

Ashley Keasey| Pre-Show Coordinator
D: 702.550.3562
O: 800.475.2098
Fax: [phone]
ges.com | [e-mail]


Gina Galvan [phone], [e-mail]

Tony Allen
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
[e-mail]

We don't want this kind of shit anymore.

[SaschaHM]

19. I doubt he's going to keep himself from "correcting" Clinton if he feels like she gave him the wrong

Donald, on the other hand, is going to be allow to say whatever he wants without factual pushback.