Any of the three best political commentators in the business today- Rachel Maddow, Martin Bashir, or Lawrence O’Donnell.
Lehrer’s questions sucked. Instead of asking “how do you differ from your opponent on X”, it should have been “what is your position on X”, and then after he gets the answer from both then he can talk about the differences. It just seemed premature to ask how someone’s position differs from his opponent before the opponent says what the hell it is.
Who are good interviewers from Ireland and Switzerland?
Being cheeky, how about Lord Sugar?
The above discussion also mentions some of the tools that the moderator does / doesn’t / should / shouldn’t have – like a cut-off button.
How about having the next debate moderated by our very own SDMB moderator staff using the very latest vBulletin moderation tools?
They’ve had the last 2 years to tell us that. What I expect from a moderator is to demand the contestants cut the crap and discuss something substantial.
Well, it would advance their program for world domination.
Blaming the moderator?!? Seriously. Obama lost because he sucks at debates. Period. Only this time, he has a record to explain - so the media can’t protect him as much although they still try.
I actually agree with Shodan, timed microphones.
They can have the final Jeopardy theme run during the last 15 seconds…
Blaming the media?!? Seriously. Romney’s going to lose because he sucks at campaigning. Period.
The problem with getting decent moderators and questions is that no US politician of any ilk will stand in front of a strong moderator and take straight unvetted questions. If they can’t manage the situation to their best advantage, they’ll go find some other venue which will give them what they want.
It’s like a chuckle hitting the Daily Double.
I think Bob Schieffer shows every Sunday he can keep things impartial and moving along. Or heck, let’s go in a different direction entirely… Verne Lundquist or Rich Eisen.
ETA: Hell, I know… Roy Firestone!
Jon Stewart. Calling bullshit is pretty much what he does, and he has no problem doing it to people he supports.
Simon Cowell.
Fareed Zakaria, Christiane Amanpour, or Shepard Smith. Or you can get a competent non-famous person, like a judge, who must wade through bullshit on a regular basis.
If nothing else, these debates would do better if they had an on call fact checker that would intervene when someone says something factually inaccurate.
I’d vote for that.
In the alternative, I’ll nominate Anderson Cooper for moderator. He’s a liberal, but I think he’d be fair.
I though Lehrer was just fine. A neutral and calm approach. But a loud buzzer timed to five seconds more than the time limit given for any question, would be a great improvement.
“Mr. Obama your time is up . . . BUZZZZZZ.”
Another vote for Jon Stewart.
Athought I might like to see Chris Berman.
I think he’d be good. Another is that Pierce guy with the CNN talk show.
It’s the moderator - that’s why Obama lost. Meh.
Jeff Daniels, doing his Newsroom character!