Last night’s biggest debate loser: Chris Wallace; Trump: “Chris had a tough night”

Last night s train wreck had more than one author. Donald Trump repeatedly interrupted, even when it would have been smarter to let his opponent tie himself up in knots. At times, especially on taxes, Biden had difficulty with remaining on point but Trump kept letting him off the hook by talking over him. Joe Biden didn t do all that much better on interruptions or side interjections, plus Biden reverted to his own form by repeatedly calling Trump names such as clown or fool, and also repeatedly telling him to shut up, man or shut your yap. At times, it looked and sounded like a chess-board argument between two old men in the park.

However, the two old men playing chess last night were the only two who belonged in that argument. Rather than let the two candidates fight their way out themselves, moderator Chris Wallace kept repeatedly inserting himself in the middle, and kept scolding Trump while rarely if ever rebuking Biden. Trump did more interrupting, so a moderator would need to restrain Trump more, but never once did Wallace rebuke Biden for his own interjections or for the name-calling that Biden did.

Worse than that, Wallace broke the rules himself. Just before the debate, Fox Business Network s Neil Cavuto explained that everyone had agreed that Wallace would not act as a fact checker on stage. If either man erred or lied, it was up to the other candidate to call that out, not the moderator. Within about the first half hour or so, Wallace began breaking that rule, fact-checking in real time, almost entirely with Trump except on one notable occasion when Biden couldn t remember which side of the Green New Deal he was on.

As my friend and generous on-air partner last night Hugh Hewitt remarked, Candy Crowley was the big winner last night.  She s no longer the worst presidential moderator in history.

Even allowing that the moderator position in this battle would be a thankless job at best, Wallace didn t grasp that he and his list of questions weren t the stars of the show. He would yell to shut down an argument over one question even if it hadn t been resolved in order to change the subject, seemingly so Wallace could get through his prepared questions. The point of presidential debates, however, isn t to limit discussion so that the moderator can ask questions. It s to let voters hear what both candidates have to say to each other as well as us. Wallace isn t the first moderator to be confused by that, but it seemed especially problematic last night.

via hotair.com

Wrong. We were the biggest loser.