Brian Williams was a Disgrace Silencing Ron Paul, Rick Santorum

By Roy A. Barnes | Yahoo! Contributor Network – Tue, Jan 24, 2012

COMMENTARY | The four remaining GOP presidential candidates debated in Tampa, Fla., on Monday night on NBC, moderated by the "NBC Nightly News" grandstanding anchor Brian Williams. This spectacle was mostly a dialogue between former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. During the first part of the debate, Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum were basically left out. BuzzFeed reported Paul and Santorum spoke less than five minutes for the first one-third of the program.

This program was a massive disgrace. Williams should be ashamed of himself for generally excluding Santorum and Paul. If these debates aren't going to strive to give equal time to the participants, why do the organizers even bother to invite those who they are going to disrespect?

According to The Hill, during the first 40 minutes, Paul only got to speak once and Santorum got to talk twice. Watching the first part of the debate made me feel very uncomfortable because I kept thinking about how Paul and Santorum must've been feeling being left out and having to stand and listen to long blocks of dialogue between Romney and Gingrich. They traded barbs over things like the former's charge of the latter being involved in "influence peddling," as reported by ABC News.

This debate lasted just less than 100 minutes, as reported by USA Today but when factoring in the irritating commercial breaks, it was even less. This debate was a wasted opportunity, but Santorum and Paul didn't protest, acting very polite despite being disrespected by Williams.

Yet the establishment media has been signaling the GOP race is down to two candidates, for on Sunday, the host of "Face the Nation," Bob Schieffer, called for a one-hour debate between justGingrich and Romney, according to HuffPost Media.

I am tired of debate moderators who do not strive to let everyone have as close to equal time as possible. The establishment TV media continues to try to influence how the public will vote, especially when they deny equal time to all the debate candidates.

The public shouldn't take the bait, but instead be discerning and be informed outside of prime time, because an informed citizen is the biggest deterrent against the biased, scheming talking heads on TV like Williams.