Was CNN Unfair in Delaware Senate Debate with Christine O'Donnell?

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Yesterday I made note that I thought the CNN panel was unfair in how they coddled Chris Coons while not treating Christine O'Donnell the same.  Apparently I was not the only one to notice the treatment.  Here is what another website had to say about the coverage.

American Thinker

October 14, 2010

Delaware debate moderator tells Coons, 'Go for it'
Mark J. Fitzgibbons

Nancy Karibjanian, member of the Delaware media and a University of Delaware supplemental faculty member, was co-moderator of the O'Donnell-Coons debate on CNN.

Not long into the debate, Karibjanian zeroed in on O'Donnell's financial and education controversies.

KARIBJANIAN: Let's open the discussion on correcting some of the financial issues here by talking about some of your own personal financial problems. And most people know about it by now, including an IRS lien that was for about $12,000 in taxes and penalties from '05. There was the '08 mortgage default judgment on your home. You just received your bachelors degree, as you said, because it took a decade to pay off the tuition.

Despite Karibjanian's factual inaccuracies, that's fair game for a U.S. Senate candidate. But then comes the impropriety.

KARIBJANIAN: The question, then is, how can voters rely upon your thoughts on how to manage the deficit if you're having such personal financial issues of your own?

O'DONNELL: Well, first of all, that IRS tax lien, the IRS already admitted that it was a computer error and my opponent should not be bringing that up, because as I've gone up and down the campaign trail, I've discovered there are thousands of Delawareans who have faced the same thing. An IRS mistake has caused them greatly, which is all the more reason why we need to reform the IRS, not put them in control of our health care.

Second of all, you mentioned education. I don't have a trust fund. I didn't come from a privileged, sheltered background as my opponent says he did...

KARIBJANIAN: Let's stay to the issue of paying bills...

ODONNELL: I am. I paid for my own college education. I also have a graduate fellowship in constitutional government from the Claremont Institute. I know how hard it is to earn and keep a dollar. And one of the reasons why the Delawareans should be able to trust me is because when I did in this economy, I worked for nonprofit groups. Nonprofit groups were the first to have been hurt. When I fell upon difficult times, I made the sacrifices needed to set things right. I sold my house. And I sold a lot of my possessions in order to pay of my personal debt and to become in a stronger position.

I have worked hard in order to get to the position that I am. So I can relate to the thousands of Delaware families that are suffering right now. And I'm stronger for it. I made it through to the other side. And that's where -- leadership doesn't count in whether or not you fall, it counts in whether or not you've gotten up and that's what I've done.

Karibjanian then turned to Coons like a lawyer to her own witness.

KARIBJANIAN: Let's just remember we're in the discussion portion so if you have anything you want to address on things that have been said on this topic thus far, go for it.

COONS: Well Nancy, I frankly think . . .

I suspect most people outside Delware, as I, had never heard of Nancy Karibjanian before last night. She may be a lovely person. My first impression, though, is that she's a ruling class troll who should never moderate another debate.
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Delaware Debate - Another CNN Fiasco - O'Donnell didn't bring her broom but sure did cast a spell.

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Like many others I tuned in out of curiosity to watch the CNN debate between Republican Christine O'Donnell and Democrat Chris Coons. The lead up to the debate on CNN and MSNBC had me waiting for the witch to appear on a broom and cast a spell on her opponent. Pre-debate liberal hype left me wondering how long it would take before the undertaker appeared to haul away a shattered O'Donnell.

At first I wondered if the panel was really as stacked against O'Donnell as it appeared. While Coons carefully spouted the Obama party line, O'Donnell keep trying to focus the often bizarre questions on the issues rather than the idiotic.

The moderators, CNN's Wolf Blitzer and longtime Delaware news anchor Nancy Karibjanian of Delaware First Media, seemed to be pressing O'Donnell and interrupting her far more than they did Coons as if CNN had a vested interest in proving their latest poll showing O'Donnell far behind was the gospel truth.

The more O'Donnell spared with the moderators the more they cut her off and before long it was a contest whether the moderators or the Democrat would lose their cool first. It was obvious Karibjanian was of the liberal elitists who seem to hate Sarah Palin and Nancy was out to prove O'Donnell a dunce as if it would make Palin less as well.

But I agree with the New York Times, normally a liberal bastion, who wrote of the debate the following.

But the Republican Senate candidate, Christine O’Donnell, used the 90-minute debate to present a different image to the country than the ones captured on comedy show videos from her youth.

On a range of issues, Ms. O’Donnell offered answers familiar to conservatives.

Ms. O’Donnell’s opponent, Democrat Chris Coons, sought to rebut Ms. O’Donnell, but appeared frustrated, repeatedly telling the moderators that “there’s so much there.”

What really makes me wonder about CNN besides the obvious bias against O'Donnell was how they cut off the debate midway through just when O'Donnell was beginning to dominate the debate and leave Coons flustered. It seems his canned and well rehearsed responses were not holding up to the withering attacks from O'Donnell.

Now long before the debate CNN knew there was a chance the last miners would be rescued. CNN could easily have run the debate in it's entirety on CNN Headline news and still not interrupted the debate. Why stop it just when O'Donnell was clearly starting to dominate? It was as if someone in the production booth suddenly came to the realization O'Donnell had cast a spell and she was starting to win points with the audience. Pull the plug and protect the liberals.

I believe O'Donnell clearly connected with the public mood and her feisty debate with the moderators, not the Democrat, was just becoming good theater.

If it is true O'Donnell is not a viable candidate then why in the world is President Obama, his wife Michelle and Vice President Biden all coming to Delaware to raise money and campaign for Coons, the Obama mouthpiece? With Democrats in trouble all across the country why waste all their time on a race already in the bag?

Maybe there is more going on in Delaware than we have been told.
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