In an internal memo, CNN chief Jeff Zuckerman has announced the resignation of CNN's Candy Crowley:
In her 27 years at CNN, Candy Crowley has been one of the most important and impactful journalists on our air. Since she joined us in 1987, her assignments have taken her to all 50 states, covering a broad range of political stories, including presidential, congressional and gubernatorial races. Candy made her mark covering the presidential campaigns of Pat Buchanan, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Howard Dean, Bob Dole, Jesse Jackson, Edward Kennedy, John Kerry, Barack Obama, Ronald Reagan and Mitt Romney. And as we all remember, she made her mark yet again in 2012 when she became the first woman to moderate a presidential debate in 20 years.[...]
Thus, it is with mixed emotions, that I wanted to let you know that Candy has let us know that she has made the decision to move on, so she can embark on the next chapter of her already prolific career. As difficult as it is for us to imagine CNN without Candy, we know that she comes to this decision thoughtfully, and she has our full support. There will be more time in the weeks ahead for all of you who have been lucky enough to work with Candy to share your own thanks for all she has done. But for now, on behalf of everyone at CNN, I want to extend my sincere gratitude and appreciation.
Jeff
http://www.thewrap.com/...
And now, beneath the orange stargate, join me in the Way Back Machine for one of the finest moments in her career and American history, as she moderated the 2012 debate between President Barack Obama and venture political capitalist, Mitt Romney.
The October 17, 2012 issue of the New Yorker provides some context:
The episode began with a question for Obama from Kerry Ladka, one of the town-hall-style citizen-questioners in the audience. Ladka cited “reports that the State Department refused extra security” for the Benghazi consulate before the attack, and he asked, “Who was it that denied enhanced security and why?”
Obama started with an evidently rehearsed answer, referring to American diplomats in general: “I know these folks, and I know their families…. Nobody’s more concerned about their safety than I am.” He recited the advice he had given his national-security advisers after the attack. Then he turned attention away from his Administration’s possible failings and toward Romney: “Now, Governor Romney had a very different response. While we were still dealing with our diplomats being threatened, Governor Romney put out a press release trying to make political points. And that’s not how a commander-in-chief operates. You don’t turn national security into a political issue, certainly not right when it’s happening.”
In his reply, Romney rolled out his own talking point, a version of a ginned-up election season narrative Republicans have been marketing with surprising success in recent weeks. Essentially, their complaint is that the Obama Administration failed to accurately describe the Benghazi strike in public as a terrorist attack, rather than as violence that arose from a protest or a riot, because that would undermine the President’s claim that his counterterrorism policy had been a success. This is a pretty convoluted accusation on its face, and hard to follow. Romney veered toward accusing the White House of lying:
There were many days that passed before we knew whether this was a spontaneous demonstration or actually whether it was a terrorist attack. And there was no demonstration involved. It was a terrorist attack, and it took a long time for that to be told to the American people.
He also accused the President of ignoring the seriousness of the attack by flying off to campaign events in Las Vegas, as if Obama had chosen to party it up instead of attend to a national-security challenge. Obama responded with compact anger:
The day after the attack, Governor, I stood in the Rose Garden, and I told the American people and the world that we are going to find out exactly what happened, that this was an act of terror. And I also said that we’re going to hunt down those who committed this crime. And then a few days later, I was there greeting the caskets coming into Andrews Air Force Base and grieving with the families.
And the suggestion that anybody in my team … would play politics or mislead when we’ve lost four of our own, Governor, is offensive. That’s not what we do. That’s not what I do as president. That’s not what I do as commander-in-chief.
Romney might have recognized that he was out of his depth and changed the subject. Instead, believing incorrectly that he had caught Obama in a mistaken claim about what the President had said in the Rose Garden, Romney plunged ahead, producing the following stanza of debate transcript poetry:
ROMNEY: I think it’s interesting the President just said something, which is that on the day after the attack, he went into the Rose Garden and said that this was an act of terror. You said in the Rose Garden the day after the attack it was an act of terror? It was not a spontaneous demonstration?
OBAMA: Please proceed.
ROMNEY: Is that what you’re saying?
OBAMA: Please proceed, Governor.
ROMNEY: I—I—I want to make sure we get that for the record, because it took the President fourteen days before he called the attack in Benghazi an act of terror.
OBAMA: Get the transcript.
CROWLEY: It—he did in fact, sir…
OBAMA: Can you say it a little louder, Candy? (Laughter, applause.)…
ROMNEY: It took them a long time to say this was a terrorist act by a terrorist group—and to suggest—am I incorrect in that regard? On Sunday the—your—your—secretary—or—
http://www.newyorker.com/...
Thank you Candy Crowley. Good luck and godspeed.