Four years ago at the Trump-Clinton debate, Wallace complained that President Trump treated him (Wallace) as a “potted plant”. Four years later, Wallace, perhaps to assuage his bruised ego , Wallace attempted to avoid being sidelined, by stripping to his knickers and jumping into the wrestling ring to tangle clumsily and ineffectively with Trump and Biden, completely ignoring his role as moderator.
Chris Wallace.the typical, elite Ivy League-educated Washington DC swamp denizen, is the natural son of a great journalist, the late Mille Wallace. Chris made it clear on October 29, 2020. that having the surname of a great journalist is simply not enough. Wallace moderated and conducted the worst debate in modern-day political history, and will never live it down. If he simply shut up about his failure, he would have been better off, but in a childish temper tantrum he had the chutzpah to air his failure on TV where he blamed the candidates and President Trump for his malfeasance, bias and incompetence.
The man carries the name of a great journalist but that’s about all. Raised from the age of one year in the powerful, affluent family of stepfather-president, Bill Leonard of CBS News, Wallace attended elite. preparatory schools, Harvard University and then, as the step-son of the boss, was awarded the plum job of assistant to Water Cronkite, at a very early age. With Mike Wallace’s name and his stepfather’s TV news industry clout and connections Chris was greased up the corporate ladder into top echelons of that industry. With just average skills but excellent connections and a famous name he rose rapidly to the pinnacle of news anchoring and reporting with little effort.
But you either have it or you don't. And like many scions of the great, he showed his lack of mettle when the job got tough and the skills of his talented father were needed. At that point he completely fell apart as he squirmed and blustered while at the helm of the greatest event of the year, and the most watched debate in recent political history-the September 29, 2020 Trump-Biden debate. After that debacle, no one will ever ask Chris Wallace to moderate a debate again.
Wallace with all his elite prep-schooling and Harvard university training seems to have been dozing at his desk when the professor discussed the meaning of what the word “moderator” means. That person is a neutral arbiter who helps conduct a meaningful debate by keeping the candidate on time, treating them them equally permitting rebuttal, and pressing them to actually address and answer the questions posed by the moderator. Here Chris failed miserably.
Unfortunately, Chris made it clear from the beginning that he was not a neutral moderator of the debate. He seemed determined to insure that Trump would not treat him as a “potted plant“ again. That was a mistake. From the beginning, he showed his bias by pressing the President, interrupting him, and failing to press candidate Biden to address questions which were posed to him. And clearly Wallace did not followi up on Biden’s questions, while he vigorously pursued the President. Once it was apparent to the candidates that Wallace was not a neutral moderator the debate fell apart. Wallace began talking over both candidates attempting to gain some semblance of control, but to no effect.
When the President determined he was debating both Biden and Wallace, he was forced to defend himself. Given no opportunity to rebut Biden’s charges, the President had no alternative but to speak out, often over the voice of Wallace and Biden. At this point the “debate”went downhill fast and Chis revealed he did not have the skills of a Mike Wallace. The resulting melee was largely the result of his inability to maintain a neutral posture.
The night exposed the weaknesses of Wallace and both candidates. There were no winners.
Chris, you ain’t no Mile Wallace!
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