CNN's Candy Crowley's going to be a HORRIBLE Debate Moderator

My sense watching Crowley every Sunday is that she's a weak anchor and interviewer.  Can't believe the Debate Commission chose her...because she's not familiar with the issues, and can't ask a pointed question.   And isn't aggressive enough or sure enough of herself to reel back  interviewees who just dismiss her questions and go back to talking points.

She actually talked about that on CNN's Reliable Sources...a show about the media.  She's aware of those issues...and sounded so much like she knows her weaknesses.

Tacky dry run Sunday morning on CNN.  She interviewed both main surrogates to the two candidates she will moderate this week.... kind of a dry run.   Which seemed like a horrible booking, as if she was doing a dress rehearsal with the SURROGATES for Tuesday's main event.     Sadly both of them ran circles around her and showed she was over her head.   It was disappointing.   No wonder CNN's lost its place as the premiere cable news channel.

By contrast: 

NEW YORK—By DAVID BAUDER AP Television Writer

 ABC's Martha Raddatz took a forceful approach to moderating Thursday's vice presidential debate, winning many positive reviews from instant pundits on social media but some complaints from Republicans. 

Her performance was a clear contrast to PBS' Jim Lehrer's work in last week's debate between President Barack Obama and Republican rival Mitt Romney. Lehrer let the presidential candidates talk almost freely, while Raddatz sought to be more specific and keep things under control.

Raddatz, a foreign policy correspondent at ABC News since 1999, was moderating her first vice presidential or presidential debate.

She stopped one exchange on the economy just at the point when Vice President Joe Biden and GOP candidate Paul Ryan had descended into bickering.

"I want to move on to Medicare and entitlements," she said. "I think we've gone over this quite enough."


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Former Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter died on Sunday from complications of non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, according to the AP.
He was 82.

A longtime moderate Republican, Specter made headlines in 2009 when he announced that he was switching to the Democratic Party. He left office in 2011 after being defeated in the Democratic primary.
In 2005, Specter announced that he was being treated for non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. He recovered, but the illness resurfaced in 2008 and again in 2012. He was hospitalized in August.


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50 years ago...Cuban Missile Crisis

Wikipedia on the 1962 crisis

This week marks the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis, a time when the world stood at the brink of Armageddon for 13 days. Those 13 days spanned from October 16 to 28, 1962, but that crisis had its beginning on October 14, 1962, when a United States Air Force U-2 spy plane captured photographic proof of the existence of Soviet missile bases under construction in Cuba while on a photo reconnaissance mission.

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