The Daily 202: Matt Lauer’s widely-panned performance shows the perils for debate moderators

The reviews are in, and last night’s biggest loser was Matt Lauer. No one is happy with the host of NBC’s “Today” show, who interviewed each presidential candidate back-to-back for 30 minutes during the network's “Commander-in-Chief Forum” in prime time.

The most galling moment came when Donald Trump repeated his demonstrably false claim that he was “totally against the war in Iraq,” and Lauer never pressed him on it.

Hillary Clinton’s campaign is angry that the NBC host devoted one-third of her time on stage to asking a series of follow-up questions about her email practices as secretary of state and then gave her little time to talk about pressing national security issues.

Trump’s allies, meanwhile, insist that he took it too easy on her. “Six Obvious Follow-Up Questions NBC’s Matt Lauer Failed to Ask Hillary Clinton” is the headline on Breitbart News (which is controlled by Trump campaign CEO Steve Bannon)....
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/daily-202/2016/09/08/daily-202-matt-lauer-s-widely-panned-performance-shows-the-perils-for-debate-moderators/57d0b6f1cd249a6fa9f82089/