Hamas Is Not A Humanitarian Organization

In order to gain support of the population, Hamas does engage in charitable endeavors. The organization works in the way that the Mafia works in America–they do favors and collect on them. They also set up charities to raise money and to provide cover for their terrorist activities. Hamas also has a provision in its charter that calls for the total destruction of Israel. So why do I mention this?

The Washington Examiner posted an article today about a recent statement by former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi:

Hamas “is a humanitarian organization,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi told CNN’s Candy Crowley on Sunday in a discussion of how the U.S. should handle the Islamist extremist group’s conflict with Israel.

How does she know? The Qataris “have told me over and over again.”

Here’s a lesson for Pelosi, D-Calif., on why the word of the Qataris should not inform her thoughts on U.S. policy:

The article reminds us that Hamas is the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood and has been on the U.S. State Department‘s list of foreign terrorist organizations since 1997. The article also points out that Qatar is a major sponsor of Hamas–financially and ideologically.

As a member of the House of Representatives, Representative Pelosi should be better informed.

What Would Happen To The Presidential Debates If The Playing Field Were Level

The purpose of this article is not to bring up the Candy Crowley incident again. Ms. Crowley made a mistake that had major political ramifications. That is unfortunate, but every one of us has at some time said things we regretted. If you haven’t, I congratulate you, but I have to admit that my foot occasionally finds its way into my mouth. The mainstream media has played more of a role in presidential politics than they should when they have moderated debates. When George Stepanopoulos asked Mitt Romney about birth control early in 2012, he paved the way for the charges that the Republicans were waging a ‘war on women.’ So what would happen if the debate platform were taken out of the hands of the mainstream media?

DaTechGuy posted a story today about the recent statement by Reince Priebus that if NBC and CNN move forward on their documentary on Hillary Clinton, he will deny those networks access to Republican presidential debates. Those networks realize the part the debates play in skewing the picture Americans have of the candidates. Having the mainstream media moderate the debates as well as report the news probably adds at least 10 points to the approval ratings of Democrat candidates.

Yesterday Breitbart.com commented:

And if past is prologue, CNN and NBC hosting GOP primary debates is a much more effective way to put Clinton in the White House than a Hillary miniseries and documentary. 

The left understand that CNN and NBC are at their most effective at winning elections for Democrats when they hide behind a phony shield of objectivity. For good reason, the left is concerned these Hillary projects might weaken that shield.

DaTechGuy comments:

The problem becomes if you pull out of these debates or keep these people from moderating them then the MSM storyline becomes: “GOP candidates duck real journalists.” and that would be the meme on every single network and their excuse to duck out of coverage.

However the Hillary Movies solve this problem admirably. It provides an excuse, a justification, well of COURSE we can’t have our debates with the people from CNN or NBC. as Renice put it:

It will be extremely interesting to see how this all turns out.

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The CNN Memo About Tuesday Night’s Presidential Debate

The actual CNN staff memo as it appeared in the Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday:

Let’s start with a big round of applause for Candy Crowley for a superb job under the most difficult circumstances imaginable. She and her team had to select and sequence questions in a matter of hours, and then she had to deal with the tricky format, the nervous questioners, the aggressive debaters, all while shutting out the pre-debate attempts to spin and intimidate her. She pulled it off masterfully.

The reviews on Candy’s performance have been overwhelmingly positive but Romney supporters are going after her on two points, no doubt because their man did not have as good a night as he had in Denver. On the legitimacy of Candy fact-checking Romney on Obama‘s Rose Garden statement, it should be stressed that she was just stating a point of fact: Obama did talk about an act (or acts) of terror, no matter what you think he meant by that at the time. On why Obama got more time to speak, it should be noted that Candy and her commission producers tried to keep it even but that Obama went on longer largely because he speaks more slowly. We’re going to do a word count to see whether, as in Denver, Romney actually got more words in even if he talked for a shorter period of time.

There is absolutely nothing I can add to this.

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Exactly What Is The Role Of A Moderator?

This story is based on two sources–a Mediaite article posted last night and a Breitbart.com article posted this morning.

Mediaite reports some comments made by Candy Crowley this morning:

“I heard the president speak at the time. I, sort of, reread a lot of stuff about Libya because I knew we’d probably get a Libya question so I kind of wanted to be up on it,” said Crowley. “I knew that the president had said, you know, these acts of terror won’t stand. Or, whatever the whole quote was.”

“Right after that I did turn around and say, but you’re totally correct that they spent two weeks telling us this was about a tape and that that there was this riot outside the Benghazi consulate which there wasn’t,” Crowley added.

“He was right in the main, I just think he picked the wrong word,” Crowley concluded. She went on to say that her instinct forced her to correct Romney even though his “thrust” was correct.

Where were the corrections to the many falsehoods Obama told–domestic energy production, job creation, the budget deficit, etc.?

Breitbart reports:

Crowley made Lehrer look like an amateur. She interrupted Obama nine times, (although four of those were when he wouldn’t respect the time limit when discussing assault weapons; he went over his time limit all night long), but when it came to Mitt Romney, she was utterly beyond the pale.

Crowley interrupted Romney 28 times. 28 times. Her desperation to keep Romney from scoring points was so patently obvious that it wasn’t really a surprise when she had her infamous moment: the moment when she interrupted and falsely claimed Romney was incorrect in accusing Obama of refusing to call the Benghazi attack an act of terror.

The article at Breitbart cites a number of incidents where Ms. Crowley did not act as a moderator, but took sides. It is unfortunate that the sponsors of the debates cannot find moderators who do not favor one candidate. I think of all the debates, Jim Lehrer has done the best job of all–he let the candidates state their cases without interference.

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