{"id":50424,"date":"2016-09-27T12:57:27","date_gmt":"2016-09-27T16:57:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=50424"},"modified":"2016-09-27T12:57:42","modified_gmt":"2016-09-27T16:57:42","slug":"lester-holt-spins-debate-for-hillary-six-huge-ways-plays-gotcha-with-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=50424","title":{"rendered":"Lester Holt spins debate for Hillary six huge ways, plays ‘Gotcha’ with Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"http-blueprint-api-production-s3-amazonaws-com-uploads-card-image-224370-gettyimages-610601042\"<\/a>
\nBy Dan Gainor
\nFOX News<\/p>\n

Journalists got their wish. Presidential debate moderator Lester Holt hoisted Hillary Clinton\u2019s campaign high in the air like Atlas. Holt repeatedly called out Trump, as both the Clinton campaign<\/a> and the liberal media had begged him to do.<\/p>\n

Holt reminded viewers he\u2019s liberal<\/a> \u2013 from pushing the birther issue to harassing Trump about his tax returns to a wildly biased question about Clinton as \u201cthe first woman nominated by a party\u201d not having \u201cthe look.\u201d Clinton skated<\/a> by with a 15-second response on her emails while Trump was asked repeated follow-up questions while Hillary was not. There was no \u201cdeplorables\u201d question and Holt promoted the birther meme without noting its origin in the Clinton camp.<\/p>\n

Clinton discussed fact-checking three times, even imploring her media friends<\/a>: \u201cWell, I hope the fact checkers are turning up the volume and really working hard.\u201d Holt sure was. He dragged the debate to the left in six major ways:<\/p>\n

1.<\/b> Jobs: <\/b>Holt pressed Trump with two questions on how he was going to add jobs even though the first answer discussed renegotiating trade deals.<\/p>\n

2.<\/b> Taxes:<\/b> He portrayed the tax plans from the left \u2013 Clinton wanting to tax the rich and Trump \u201ccalling for tax cuts for the wealthy,\u201d forcing Trump to correct him.<\/p>\n

3.<\/b> Tax Returns:<\/b> Trump got hit hard with tax return questions for \u201cbusiness conflicts\u201d while Hillary got a slide on emails, her hidden speeches and Clinton Foundation business conflicts.<\/p>\n

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The latest headlines on the 2016 elections from the biggest name in politics. See Latest Coverage \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

4.<\/b> Birthers:<\/b> Holt asked a \u201cbirther\u201d question that lasted longer than Clinton\u2019s email answer. He then added three separate follow-ups to jam up Trump.<\/p>\n

5.<\/b> Iraq:<\/b> He hammered Trump for supporting the Iraq War, downplaying how Hillary had voted to do the same.<\/p>\n

6.<\/b> Hillary\u2019s Gaffe:<\/b> When asked about biased policing, Clinton said, \u201cI think implicit bias is a problem for everyone, not just police.\u201d Holt ignored it, rather than challenge the idea everyone is bigoted.<\/p>\n

The New York Times<\/a> said Holt \u201cOpted for Restraint,\u201d and called him a \u201cminimalist moderator.\u201d The paper liked some of Holt\u2019s approach, given the \u201cnews media tempest over how aggressively a moderator should fact check candidates.\u201d Still, the Times called it \u201ca split decision\u201d for Holt.<\/p>\n

USA Today<\/a> summed it up with the magic words: \u201cHolt fact-checked Trump.\u201d Right-leaning HeatStreet called Holt the \u201cthird debater.\u201d<\/a> Media Research Center President L. Brent Bozell<\/a> III (Hint: My boss), said, \u201cHolt failed in his role as a moderator. Period.\u201d<\/p>\n

The news media have been shouting \u201cfact check\u201d in desperate cries for relevance<\/a>. More than a dozen outlets fact-checked the debate as a result. CNN “Reliable Sources<\/a>” host Brian Stelter, also formerly of the <\/i>Times, focused on the fact-check strategy to target Trump during his Sunday show. \u201cDoes a unique candidate like Donald Trump require a different kind of moderating?\u201d he asked a guest before being told, \u201cNo, no absolutely not,\u201d by long-time debate moderator Jim Lehrer.<\/p>\n

Bloomberg TV, owned by left-wing media baron Michael Bloomberg<\/a>, ran on-screen fact checks<\/a> for its tiny audience. The Times<\/a> \u201cassembled a team of 18 fact-checkers,\u201d generating a 2,400-word fact-check. The paper even had a correspondent<\/a> \u201cwatching for gender moments.\u201d<\/p>\n

The paper pushed hard for fact-checking while it pushed hard for Clinton. Its official endorsement<\/a> dropped one day before the debate \u2013 as certain as death and taxes. It\u2019s opinion page Twitter account oozed pro-Hillary headlines during the debate, such as: \u201cWhat a fantastic moment<\/a>, to see Donald Trump self-destruct.\u201d<\/p>\n

Left-wing Fusion<\/a> was worse, calling out Trump for \u201cMANTERRUPTING HILLARY CLINTON.\u201d And The New Yorker<\/a> complained Holt didn\u2019t attack Trump enough: \u201cCNN LAUNCHES MANHUNT AFTER LESTER HOLT VANISHES FROM DEBATE.\u201d<\/p>\n

Journalists have demanded their industry give up neutrality throughout the campaign. It\u2019s a laughable conceit for anyone who recalls Candy Crowley\u2019s<\/a> 2012 bias or the 2016 CNBC GOP primary debate<\/a>. Univision anchor Jorge Ramos turned from journalist to crusader<\/a> with barely any professional criticism. Reporters might as well wear blue jerseys with \u201cI\u2019m With Her\u201d on the back.<\/p>\n

Back in August, Times media columnist Jim Rutenberg argued<\/a> the paper had to sacrifice its alleged neutrality. If you think \u201cDonald J. Trump is a demagogue playing to the nation\u2019s worst racist and nationalistic tendencies,\u201d then \u201cyou have to throw out the textbook American journalism,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

By Monday, that had escalated into an industry-wide demand for debate moderators to attack Trump misstatements. As Rutenberg explained<\/a>, that would \u201crequire the debate moderators to interject with the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Journalists have skewered anyone soft on Trump. NBC’ the “Today” show\u2019s Matt Lauer faced a \u201cStorm of Criticism<\/a> Over Clinton-Trump Forum\u201d because he didn\u2019t play the fact-check game<\/a>. Even “Tonight Show” <\/i>host Jimmy Fallon was bashed for mussing Trump\u2019s hair instead of smacking him upside the head.<\/p>\n

Dan Gainor is the <\/i>Media Research Center’s Vice President for Business and Culture<\/i><\/a>. He writes frequently about media for Fox News Opinion.<\/i> He can also be contacted on Facebook and <\/i>Twitter<\/i> as dangainor.<\/i><\/p>\n

___
\nhttp:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/opinion\/2016\/09\/27\/lester-holt-spins-debate-for-hillary-6-huge-ways-plays-gotcha-with-trump.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=50424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50424\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=50424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=50424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=50424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}