Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/594117
GregStevens,Publisher Chip Thompson, Editor EDITORIALBOARD How to have your say: Letters must be signed and provide the writer's home street address and home phone number. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and no more than two double-spaced pages or 500words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section will be published. Email: editor@ redbluffdailynews.com Fax: 530-527-9251 Mail to: P.O. Box 220, 545 Diamond Ave., Red Bluff, CA 96080 Facebook: Leave comments at FACEBOOK.COM/ RBDAILYNEWS Twitter: Follow and send tweets to @REDBLUFFNEWS Donald Trump did not dominate the debate stage in his usual way. Ben Carson may have put a few people to sleep. Former GOP heavyweight hopeful Jeb Bush was badly bloodied by the counter punches of Kid Rubio. DonaldTrumpdidnotdom- inate the debate stage in his usual way. Ben Carson may have put a few people to sleep. Former GOP heavyweight hopeful Jeb Bush was badly bloodied by the counter punches of Kid Rubio. Mike Huckabee and Carly Fiorina were lost in the crowd and held scoreless all night. John Kasich yelled too much and Rand Paul contin- ued his slow disappearing act. But the biggest losers at CNBC's Republican debate Wednesday night — in an em- barrassing landslide — were not running for president. They were CNBC and its three argumentative, biased and incompetent "first-string" moderators. On Thursday morning the Drudge Report nailed it in four words when it put the headline "Shame of the Na- tion" under a photo of Becky Quick, Carl Quintanilla and John Harwood. The trio of alleged journal- ists and the entire debate was so pathetic CNBC's corporate parent Comcast should qui- etly pull the plug on its failing business cable channel at mid- night tonight, change its call letters and start showing info- mercials for Snuggies 24/7. No one would notice CNBC was gone for weeks. Except for second-string- ers Rick Santelli and Jim Cra- mer, the moderators' questions were often dumb and snarky, starting with the first doozy of the night by John Harwood. He snidely listed some of Donald Trump's notorious campaign promises before asking, "Let's be honest. Is this a comic-book version of a pres- idential campaign?" In addition to their bad and apparently often factu- ally challenged questions, the moderators couldn't manage the flow of the debate or con- trol the debaters. They often seemed more interested in enforcing time limits than asking follow-up questions. And they quickly jumped from one issue to an- other after hearing from only one or two candidates. Making it even worse, they couldn't tell when the debate was actually producing real information about the candi- dates' plans for reforming So- cial Security or taxes. The liberal bias of CNBC's moderators was no surprise. It was a micro-example of the political bias practiced by the mainstream national news media for the last 50 years. Harwood's dislike of Repub- licans and conservatism was so obvious everyone on stage, in the audience and in living rooms across America could smell it. Ted Cruz, Trump, Huck- abee, Fiorina and Carson took advantage of the mod- erators' blatant leftward tilt. They racked up easy points by slamming and shaming them, CNBC and the mainstream lib- eral media in general. The big co-winners of the night for the GOP were clearly Cruz and Chris Christie. They both never swung and missed and hit several home runs. Rubio was close behind, thanks to how easily he wiped the floor with Jeb Bush after Jeb went after Marco for his poor attendance record in the Senate. After Rubio came Trump and then the rest. The Don- ald did himself no harm by be- ing a kinder, gentler candidate and being nice to all of his fel- low Republicans except ex- Ohio Governor Kasich. Like his co-winner Christie, Cruz had his best debate yet. If before you had trouble lik- ing Cruz, after last night you had to love him. He earned his biggest cheers with a spontaneous rant criticizing the moder- ators for their gotcha ques- tions and for trying to get the candidates to fight with each other while ignoring serious issues. CNBC set a new low for tele- vised political debates incom- petence and biased moder- ators. But at least it did one thing right Wednesday night. It did for Republicans what they have not been able to do for themselves so far this pri- mary season. It actually uni- fied the Republican Party, on and off the stage. MichaelReaganisthesonof President Ronald Reagan, a political consultant, and the author of "The New Reagan Revolution" (St. Martin's Press). Send comments to Reagan@ caglecartoons.com. Follow @reaganworld on Twitter. Michael Reagan Primary losers were debate moderators Cartoonist's take During the Vietnam War, medics would enter a field of fire in search of the wounded, and when they discovered a sol- dier alive and in pain from his wounds, they would give him a shot of mor- phine. They then wrote the initials "AM"on his hel- met. This alerted those evac- uating the soldier that he was indeed alive, and that he had been given a shot of morphine. In doing so the patient would not accidentally be given a sec- ond shot which might prove fa- tal to him. War is indeed hell, and every life saved mitigated the horrors. ••• Breaking news: Santa Clara, Tuesday, Oct. 27 — Anthrax Scare At Levi stadium. San Francisco 49ers foot- ball practice was delayed nearly two hours today after a player reported finding an unknown white powdery substance on the field. Coach Jim Tomsula immediately suspended prac- tice while police and federal in- vestigators were called to in- vestigate. After a complete analysis, FBI forensic experts determined that the white sub- stance, unknown to the players, was the goal line. Practice was resumed after special agents decided the team was unlikely to encounter the substance again. ••• A quick look at the new Walmart complex going up on Mill Street behind and west of the present store is a real eye opener. It is huge and will take longer to navigate than the present digs. On the one hand it has taken many years to come to fruition. On the other, in view of the latest stock drop of the company, one wonders if their timing is right. Walmart is, of course, the world's larg- est retailer. However, it just suffered its steepest plunge in stock market value in 27 years and it has been losing market share to Amazon. Sources say the company made some impor- tant decisions regarding infla- tion recently. It predicted more inflation when, in reality, the country has been experienc- ing less, or in some cases, none. Note the price of gasoline this year, which has been affecting the global economy as well. ••• Those who fancy themselves fans of "Walden" — today prob- ably more revered than read — by Henry David Thoreau, may be disappointed to read in a new book about the fellow by Kathryn Schulz that he was "self obsessed, narcissistic, fa- natical about self-control and adamant that he required noth- ing beyond himself to under- stand and thrive in the world." In short he was sanctimonious and a hypocrite. One more idol found to have feet of clay? ••• One of the minor disappoint- ments for the elderly is not rec- ognizing people mentioned in the police logs. It is one thing to know only a few of the ce- lebrity birthdays found on page two of the Daily News, but it can be vexing not to know any locals mentioned in police logs. In my day, if you didn't know the names of those in the slam- mer, at least you knew the names of their parents, and could cluck your tongue in dis- approval. I was personally never in jail, but my folks were often appre- hensive about that possibility because I was such a youthful scofflaw, which reminds me of a classic family anecdote. A well dressed man appeared at my folk's house at 635 Rio St. I was 10 or 12 at the time. The man said to my mother, "Is the father of Robert Minch at home?" She invited him in and summoned father out of the bathroom. When we were all assembled in the front room, the first words out the man's mouth was, "Does the name 'Americana' mean anything to you?" The guy was selling ency- clopedias. I let out a laugh of re- lief, my father let out an exple- tive and stalked out of the room leaving my mother to usher the fellow out the front door, and I felt I had dodged a bullet. ••• Headline in the news: "UN agency links hot dogs and other processed meats to can- cer." This pronouncement was of course vehemently denied by the American Meat industry. I am glad not to be in the wholesale meat business these days. ••• After reading the Tuesday "The way I see it" column, one can more readily understand the saying "Everything is jaundice to the jaundice eye." Such bash- ing of Obama and Hillary re- garding the Benghazi hearings. For starters, "What a brazen liar Hillary is," and "Hillary's breath- taking mendacity." Although I'd like to see a woman President, she may have too much Clinton baggage to make it to the White House. However, I thought she gave as good as she got during 11 hours of testimony. ••• When I witnessed many peo- ple downtown with a pleth- ora of red balloons about to be launched last Monday, I wondered where the little red globes would land, and what harm they might do. Then I read Lisa Mitchell's comment in which she expressed concern about their landing in her goat pasture. It is said that the road to hell is paved with good in- tentions, but I am fond of goats and hope they don't choke on the deflated balloons. There are so many concerns in life, and so little time in which to address them. ••• A blonde was speeding down the highway in her little red sports car when she was pulled over by a woman police officer, also blonde. The officer asked, "May I see your driver's license please?" The driver fumbled around in her purse and in frustration blurted out, "I know it's here somewhere…what does it look like?" The woman officer replied, "Well, it is a small rectangular card with your picture on it." Finally the driver found a lit- tle hand mirror about that size, saw her reflection in the mir- ror and handed it over to the blonde officer who looked at it, saw her own uniform reflected in the mirror, then handed it back to the driver and said "OK, you can go. I didn't know you were an officer." Robert Minch is a lifelong resident of Red Bluff, former columnist for the Corning Daily Observer and Meat Industry magazine and author of the "The Knocking Pen." He can be reached at rminchandmurray@ hotmail.com. I say Something else I did not know In addition to their bad and apparently often factually challenged questions, the moderators couldn't manage the flow of the debate or control the debaters. Sounding off A look at what readers are saying in comments on our website and on social media. I'm so glad they were able to do this. Those dispatchers deserve it. Sarah Ann Rowen: On the new dispatch center installed at the sheriff's department. These two are very dear friends of my mom Maxine McLeod and she talks about them all the time. My mom is 92and lives alone they use to drive out to Paskenta and spend the day with her all the time. What great people, congratulations. Mike McLeod: On the 62nd anniversary announcement of John and Lucille Robison. Robert Minch President Barack Obama: The White House 1600Pennsylvania Ave. Washington, D.C. 20500 Comments: 202-456-1111 Switchboard: 202-456-1414 Fax: 202-456-2461 president@whitehouse.gov U.S. Senate Dianne Feinstein: Hart Senate Office Building Room 331 Washington, D.C. 20510 Phone: 202-224-3841 Fax: 202-228-3954 One Post St., Suite 2450 San Francisco, CA 94104 415-393-0707 Fax: 415-393-0710 Website: feinstein.senate.gov Let them know How to contact public officials from Washington, D.C., Humboldt and Del Norte counties and North Coast communities. OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Friday, October 30, 2015 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A4