The non-biased moderator who attended Obama’s wedding, Martha Raddatz, attacked ryan 9 times, Biden once
Attack #1: Holding Ryan and Romney, not Biden or Obama, accountable for Libya statements.
I just want to talk to you about right in the middle of the crisis. Governor Romney — and you’re talking about this again tonight — talked about the weakness, talked about apologies from the Obama administration. Was that really appropriate right in the middle of the crisis?
Here, Raddatz was providing cover for Biden, as she primed the topic of Libya by focusing on the intelligence gathered and what “people” said, rather than the Obama Administration’s lying about the cause of the attack:
What were you first told about the attack? Why were people talking about protests? When people in the consulate first saw armed men attacking with guns, there were no protesters. Why did that go on for weeks?
Attack #2: Asking Ryan–and only Ryan–to respond to American misdeeds in war.
Mr. Ryan, I want to ask you about — the Romney campaign talks a lot about no apologies. He has a book called “No Apologies.” Should the U.S. have apologized for Americans burning Qurans in Afghanistan? Should the U.S. apologize for U.S. Marines urinating on Taliban corpses?
Attack #3: Asking what the Romney/Ryan team would do, but not Obama/Biden, about Iran.
How will you do it so quickly? Look, you both saw Benjamin Netanyahu hold up that picture of a bomb with the red line and talking about the red line being in spring. So can you solve this — if the Romney-Ryan ticket is elected, can you solve this in two months before spring and avoid nuclear –
Attack #4: Asking Ryan specific questions on unemployment, while letting Biden avoid them.
Raddatz asked when each team expected to get unemployment below 6%, but then, after Biden was evasive, kept asking Ryan: “When could you get it below 6 percent?”
Attack #6: Attacking Ryan–and only Ryan–for past legislative stances,
While discussing Medicare, Biden brought up Social Security for a moment. Ryan responded, and then Raddatz suddenly turned to Ryan and accused, “You were one of the few lawmakers to stand with President Bush when he was seeking to partially privatize Social Security.”
Attack #7: Accusing Ryan of not offering “specifics”–and interrupting him:
“You have refused yet again to offer specifics on how you pay for that 20 percent across-the-board tax cut. Do you actually have the specifics, or are you still working on it, and that’s why you won’t tell voters?” After Ryan tried to explain, she cut him off, barking, “Do you have the specifics? Do you have the math? Do you know exactly what you’re doing?” She followed by interrupting him again, “No specifics, yeah.”
Attack #8: Falsely accusing Ryan of wanting to add to the defense budget.
Ryan tried over and over to explain that he and Romney weren’t increasing the defense budget, just not cutting it, but Raddatz was deaf to him. Thus:
Raddatz: And you’re going — and you’re going to increase the defense budget.
Ryan: Think about it this way.
Raddatz: And you’re going to increase the defense budget.
Attack #9: Asking Ryan, not Biden, about the implications of his stance on abortion.
Instead of asking Biden why his administration favors abortion-on-demand, Raddatz turned on Ryan:
I want to go back to the abortion question here. If the Romney-Ryan ticket is elected, should those who believe that abortion should remain legal be worried?
It’s sickening to think that the Republicans have to fight their opponents as well as the moderators in these debates. Those who were suspicious of Raddatz before the debate were absolutely correct.
It is a testament to Ryan’s success that he managed to maintain his composure and win a two-to-one battle, according to most polls.
A list from Doug Ross @ Journal:
Law and Justice
- First President to Violate the War Powers Act (Unilaterally Executing American Military Operations in Libya Without Informing Congress In the Required Time Period – Source: Huffington Post)
- First President to Triple the Number of Warrantless Wiretaps of U.S. Citizens (Source: ACLU)
- First President to Sign into Law a Bill That Permits the Government to “Hold Anyone Suspected of Being Associated With Terrorism Indefinitely, Without Any Form of Due Process. No Indictment. No Judge or Jury. No Evidence. No Trial. Just an Indefinite Jail Sentence” (NDAA Bill – Source: Business Insider)
- First President to Have His Attorney General Held in Criminal Contempt of Congress For His Efforts to Cover Up Operation Fast and Furious, That Killed Over 300 Individuals (Source: Politico)
- First President to claim Executive Privilege to shield a sitting Attorney General from a Contempt of Congress finding for perjury and withholding evidence from lawful subpoenas (Source: Business Insider)
- First President to Issue Unlawful “Recess-Appointments” Over a Long Weekend — While the U.S. Senate Remained in Session (against the advice of his own Justice Department – Source: Heritage Foundation)
- First President to Fire an Inspector General of Americorps for Catching One of His Friends in a Corruption Case (Source: Gawker)
- First President to “Order a Secret Amnesty Program that Stopped the Deportations of Illegal Immigrants Across the U.S., Including Those With Criminal Convictions” (Source: DHS documents uncovered by Judicial Watch)
- First President to Sue States for Enforcing Voter ID Requirements, Which Were Previously Ruled Legal by the U.S. Supreme Court (Source: CNN)
- First President to Encourage Racial Discrimination and Intimidation at Polling Places (the New Black Panthers voter intimidation case, Source: Investors Business Daily)
- First President to Refuse to Comply With a House Oversight Committee Subpoena (Source: Heritage Foundation)
- First President to Arbitrarily Declare an Existing Law Unconstitutional and Refuse to Enforce It (Defense of Marriage Act – Source: ABC News)
- First President to Demand a Company Hand Over $20 Billion to One of His Political Appointees (BP Oil Spill Relief Fund – Source: Fox News)
- First President to Have a Law Signed By an ‘Auto-pen’ Without Being “Present” (Source: The New York Times)
- First President to Have His Administration Fund an Organization Tied to the Cop-Killing Terrorist Group, the Weather Underground (Source: National Review)
Scandals
- First President to publicly announce an enemies list (consisting of his opponents campaign contributors; and to use the instrumentalities of government to punish those on the list – Source: Heritage Foundation)
- First President to Attempt to Block Legally-Required 60-Day Layoff Notices by Government Contractors Due to His Own Cuts to Defense Spending — Because The Notices Would Occur Before the Election. (Source: National Journal)
- First President to Intentionally Disable Credit Card Security Measures (in order to allow over-the-limit donations, foreign contributions and other illegal fundraising measures – Source: Power Line)
- First President to send 80 percent of a $16 billion program (green energy) to his campaign bundlers and contributors, leaving only 20% to those who did not contribute. (Source: Washington Examiner)
- First President to Propose an Executive Order Demanding Companies Disclose Their Political Contributions to Bid on Government Contracts (Source: Wall Street Journal)
- First President to issue an Executive Order implementing a “Racial Justice System”, a system that tries to achieve “racially equivalent outcomes” for crimes (Source: Daily Caller)
- First President to Send Millions in Taxpayer Dollars to His Wife’s Former Employer (Source: White House Dossier)
Economy
- First President to Preside Over a Cut to the Credit Rating of the United States Government (Source: Reuters)
- First President to Bypass Congress and Implement the DREAM Act Through Executive Fiat (Source: Christian Science Monitor)
- First President to Move America Past the Dependency Tipping Point, In Which 51% of Households Now Pay No Income Taxes (Source: Center for Individual Freedom)
- First President to Increase Food Stamp Spending By More Than 100% in Less Than Four Years (Source: Sen. Jeff Sessions)
- First President to Spend a Trillion Dollars on ‘Shovel-Ready’ Jobs — and Later Admit There Was No Such Thing as Shovel-Ready Jobs (Source: President Obama during an early meeting of his ‘Jobs Council’)
- First President to Threaten Insurance Companies After They Publicly Spoke out on How Obamacare Helped Cause their Rate Increases (Source: The Hill)
- First President to Abrogate Bankruptcy Law to Turn Over Control of Companies to His Union Supporters (Source: Wall Street Journal)
- First President to Propose Budgets So Unreasonable That Not a Single Representative From Either Party Would Cast a Vote in Favor (Sources: The Hill, Open Market)
- First President Whose Economic Policies Have the Number of Americans on Disability Exceed the Population of New York (Source: CNS News)
- First President to Sign a Law Requiring All Americans to Purchase a Product From a Third Party (Source: Wall Street Journal)
- First President to Sue States For Enforcing Immigration Laws Passed by Congress (Source: The Arizona Republic newspaper)
- First President to See America Lose Its Status as the World’s Largest Economy (Source: Peterson Institute)
- First President to redistribute $26.5 billion of the taxpayers’ funds to his union supporters in the UAW (Source: Heritage Foundation)
- First President to Threaten an Auto Company (Ford) After It Publicly Mocked Bailouts of GM and Chrysler (Source: Detroit News)
- First President to Attempt to Bully a Major Manufacturing Company Into Not Opening a Factory in a Right-to-Work State (Boeing’s facility in South Carolina – Source: Wall Street Journal)