Sen. Ted Cruz slammed Chris Wallace for his debate performance as moderator and called for new rules for debates where both liberal and conservative moderators are present.
“Everyone agrees Tuesday’s debate was a train wreck. A major contributing fact was the moderator Chris Wallace, a registered Democrat, repeatedly interrupting to try to help Joe Biden. The next debate is set to be moderated by a former intern to…Joe Biden. (And Ted Kennedy.),” Cruz said on Twitter Thursday.
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“This is NUTS. And no Republican should allow this bias to continue in future elections.”
2/x This is NUTS. And no Republican should allow this bias to continue in future elections.
I propose 2 simple, fair rules for future debates:
(1) GOP primary debates should be moderated by people who actually vote in a GOP primary. (Not Dem journalists who want GOP to lose.)
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) October 1, 2020
He then proposed two new rules for future debates: “(1) GOP primary debates should be moderated by people who actually vote in a GOP primary. (Not Dem journalists who want GOP to lose.) (2) General election debates should be moderated by an equal number of GOP and Dems.”
He said that the populace should “stop pretending obvious bias doesn’t exist. Instead, equalize & counter-balance it.”
The Texas Republican then gave examples of moderation teams that would work in future debates, such as having Rush Limbaugh and Rachel Maddow moderate, Mark Levin and Chris Hayes, or Ben Shapiro and Chris Cuomo.
“Both sides would take incoming & the debates would be real and substantive,” he concluded.
4/x Or Rush Limbaugh & Rachel Maddow.
Or Ben Shapiro & Chris Cuomo.
Both sides would take incoming & the debates would be real and substantive.
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) October 1, 2020
Tuesday night’s first presidential debate of 2020 was widely panned, partially due to Wallace not holding control and for interrupting the candidates, most notably Trump.
Fox News colleagues were among Wallace’s critics, including Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade.
“Why is @JoeBiden allowed to interrupt? @realDonaldTrump is not,” Kilmeade tweeted, in addition to other tweets criticizing the moderation of the debate.
Fox News contributor Andrew McCarthy also took aim at Wallace for not pressuring Biden to answer the questions presented, adding that though he loves Wallace, he should “get out of the way.”
Biden doesn’t support the Green New Deal.
Oh, Wallace got that out of him?
No, Trump did.
Oh, well, did Wallace clarify what’s parts of Green New Deal Biden is against?
No, needed to move on …
— Andy McCarthy (@AndrewCMcCarthy) September 30, 2020
The next presidential debate will be held on Oct. 15 and will be moderated by C-SPAN political editor Steve Scully.
The third and final presidential debate will be held on Oct. 22 and will be moderated by NBC News White House correspondent Kristen Welker.
