and here, now, is tonight's moderator, candy crowley. >> crowley: good evening from hofstra university in hempstead, new york. i'm candy crowley from cnn's state of the union. we are here for the second presidential debate at town hall sponsored by the commission on presidential debates. the gallup organization chose 82 miualomncttedded voters from the new york area. their questions will drive the night. my goal is to give the conversation direction and to ensure questions get answered the questions are known to me and my team only. neither the commission nor the candidates have seen them. i hope to get to as many questions as possible. because i am the optimistic sort, i'm sure the candidates will oblige by keeping their answers concise and on point. each candidate has as much as two minutes to respond to a common question, and there will be a two-minute follow-up. the audience here in the hall has agreed to be polite and atent tive. no cheering or booing or outbursts of any sort. we will set aside that agreement just this once to welcome president barack obama and governor mitt romne

thank you. >> crowley: mr. president, two minutes here because we are then going to go to our last question. >> we need to create jobs here. and both governor romney and i agree, actually, that we should lower our corporate tax rate. it's too high. but there's a difference in terms of how we would do it. i want to close loopholes that allow companies to deduct expenses when they move to china. that allow them to profit offshore and not have to get tax sod they have tax advantages offshore. all those changes in our tax code would make a difference. now, governor romney actually wants to expand those tax breaks. one of his big ideas when it comes to corporate tax reform would be to say "if you invest overseas you make profits overseas you don't have to pay u.s. taxes." but of course if you're a small business or a mom-and-pop business or a big business starting up here you've got to pay even the reduced rate that governor romney is talking about. and it's estimated that that will create 800,000 new jobs. the prob

crowley: thanks, governor. crowley: thanks, governor. they have been hit hard over the last decade. over the last 15, over the last 20 years. so four years ago i stood on a stage just like this one. actually it was a town hall, and i said i would cut taxes for middle- class families, and that's what i've done, by $3,600.00. i said i would cut taxes for small businesses, who are the drivers and engines of growth. and we've cut them 18 times. and i want to continue those tax cuts for middle-class families, and for small business. but what i've also said is, if we're serious about reducing the deficit, if this is genuinely a moral obligation to the next generation, then in addition to some tough spending cuts, we've also got to make sure that the wealthy do a little bit more. so what i've said is, your first $250,000.00 worth of income, no change. and that means 98% of american families, 97% of small businesses, they will not see a tax increase. i'm ready to sign that bill right now. the only reason it's not happening is because governor ro

crowley: mr. president, let me get -- let me get the governor in on this. and governor, let's -- before we get into a -- romney: i -- crowley: vast array of who says -- what study says what, if it shouldn't add up. if somehow when you get in there, there isn't enough tax revenue coming in. if somehow the numbers don't add up, would you be willing to look again at a 20% -- romney: well of course they add up. i -- i was -- i was someone who ran businesses for 25 years, and balanced the budget. i ran the olympics and balanced the budget. i ran the -- the state of massachusetts as a governor, to the extent any governor does, and balanced the budget all four years. when we're talking about math that doesn't add up, how about $4 trillion of deficits over the last four years, $5 trillion? that's math that doesn't add up. we have -- we have a president talking about someone's plan in a way that's completely foreign to what my real plan is. romney: and then we have his own record, which is we have four con

so not surprisingly, crowley followed the raddatz model.emptation for schieffer, see if you can resist it. >> they do it to themselves. media like to report on each other. we get all these pre-stories of who the moderator is and what do they think. we build up these reporters as part of the story and we get into trouble. >> everybody is talking about candy crowley is jumping on the libya question, but fact of the matter, president and mitt romney, neither one of them answered the question that the citizen put out there. why did we not have better security at our diplomatic facility in benghazi. >> you have to give american people some credit. the rules of the debate, it seems nerdy to talks about the rules but they mean something. two campaigns agreed on this. it's scandalous, the co-chairman of the debate commission. it was a deal. next debate who knows what will happen. >> moderator should say, answer the question. >> right. >> what is amazing the spirit the debate is not about the economy, it's about foreign policy. which is normally con

candy crowley is a veteran journalist. she did a terrific job.ndy crowley. i wish she had read the transcript. mitt romney got it wrong. i think it underscores how badly he handled the whole topic. >> you and others say candy was wrong. >> i'm a fan of candy. i've written that before. i think she's a good interviewer here. she blew it on her substance and on her role as moderator. on the judge it with us not whether he sad acts of terror but whether he specifically identified this act as terrorism. he did not. >> he. >> excuse me. let me finish. >> he described the film at the beginning of his speechlt he spoke very movingly about the victims and then in the lakt twoing ates -- >> not in the same paragraph with benghazi. never said it was a ben zba city attack and fehr her to take sides. my interpretation may be wrong, i'll grant you that. but for her to take sides and intervene went well beyond and it was in the context of a debate. she gave mitt romney -- >> on this point, what's been lost in all the chatter is that candy said the transcript wo

the big topic today is candy crowley. trying to qualify for correction of mitt romney.k the president s before he called the attack in benghazi. >> he did, in fact, sir. megyn: candy crowley went on tv after the debate and offered an explanation of what happened there. >> he was right in the main point. i just think that he picked the wrong word. >> there has been a lot of pushback on her. while the president did use the word act of terror, there is the question of contacts and whether he or anyone else was on the record as describing it as a terrorist attack in the wake of public statements. that was about a spontaneous protest and whether the matter should have been weighed in by a moderator on such an dicey issue. coming up, we will speak to political experts on whether candy crowley change the debate with the key issue and wasn't appropriate for her to do what she did. this is a fiery panel. you need to watch this one today. plus, new questions are being raised after the president suggested that he called the attack i

and i'm sure the president or candy crowley will say mr.what about the fact that your 12 million job claim has been ruled to be a complete lie? >> eliot: it is only the follow up question that actually pierces the talking point. until you can be confronted it is like cross examination. you have to force either candidate to say, wait a minute the numbers simply don't add up. and candy can do that. >> john: a few weeks ago david gregory caught a world of grief, but if you looked on twitter it was completely decided. >> jennifer: he must have done a good job then. >> john: so me it says he did a good job if he alienated both sides that much. >> eliot: does the president utter the phase 47%? >> jennifer: absolutely. >> eliot: how does he use it to characterize an entire world view that mitt romney unfortunately has embodied. >> jennifer: i think he characterizes it by showing that this is what the man says behind closed doors. therefore, that's the real mitt romney. what he is saying to you all to please you tonight is not the mitt romney becau

lou: crowley, acknowledged that she was wrong. the president, silent on one of the most important issues in the benghazi attacks, declining to say, in response to a question by the audience, just who refused the request for more security in benghazi. president went on to deny governor romney's asertion of drilling in waters and land. we begin with all these subjects with an all-star cast of journalists, experts and analysts. mcfarland is joining us, and ed rollins and juan williams and tucker carlson, and doug schoan with us. new reports of militants showing strength in benghazi before the attack on u.s. consulate. the terrorists held a conference in june, which was attended by the bulk of al qaeda network in libya. that according to a pentagon research report. joining me now fox news national security analyst, kt mcfarland. first, let's deal with if we may, that debate. the president making the straightforward statement, that he declared it to be a terrorist attack the day after benghazi, i have to tell you, the press has been mu

we'll talk with the debate moderator, our very own candy crowley. now, that's what i call a test drive. silverado! the most dependable, longest lasting, full-size pickups on the road. so, what do you think? [ engine revs ] i'll take it. [ male announcer ] it's chevy truck month. now during chevy truck month, get 0% apr financing for 60 months or trade up to get the 2012 chevy silverado all-star edition with a total value of $8,000. hurry in before they're all gone! with odor free aspercreme. powerful medicine relieves pain fast, with no odor. so all you notice is relief. aspercreme. >>> america chooses a president in 23 days, but before that we have two more presidential debates, the next one tuesday night at hofstra university in new york moderate bid our own candy crowley. i talked with candy and asked her how this might influence the tone of the debate. >> i think it will in this way, it is very hard to be overheated when answering a question from a nice young woman, a nice old man, whatever, who asks a town hall question, which generally begins

and presumably no weight on the moderator herself, candy crowley. we've reached out to cnn for their take. this is all happening today as we speak. >> andrea, i try to keep my analysis within kind of, you know, within bounds and not get too worked up one way or the other, but this is ridiculous. candy crowley, we all know, is very respected, was chosen for her kind of deep experience and knowledge covering politics. the idea that she would not be able to ask follow-up questions, the audience will obviously ask the questions, that she would not be able to follow up, maybe hold president obama or mitt romney to more -- a more specific answer, a more detailed answer, actually answering the question rather than getting off on talking points. it's absolutely ridiculous. this is moderators matter. if you needed any evidence of that, go back and watch the vice presidential debate and the way in which martha raddatz didn't make herself the third debater, but added herself in at moments where her knowledge and her expertise were of value to push the candidat

we're going to hear from what michael crowley's favorite question later in the show.re going to be back with you in a few minutes up next, karl rove. did either candidate inch closer to the finish line? also, governor romney gaining ground with the women, coming up. 6. >> nlt last four years women lost 580,000 jobs. the net of what happened in four years. i know what it takes and i know what a working economy looks like. an economy is not a real strong economy. >> women get good work by getting a stronger economy supporting women in the work force. [ male announcer ] if you had a dollar, for every dollar car insurance companies say they'll save you by switching, you'd have like, a ton of dollars. but how're they saving you those dollars? a lot of companies might answer "um" or "no comment." then there's esurance. born online, raised by technology and majors in efficiency. so whatever they save, you save. hassle, time, paperwork, hair-tearing out, and yes, especially dollars. esurance. now backed by allstate. click or call. new pink lemonade now b5-hour energy?ate. 5-h

service is not candy crowley because barack obama 1. -- conservatives knocked candy crowley because of barack obama won. martha raddatz escape unscathed mostly. i learned a lot from the first debate. i learned what mitt romney believed, that he was willing to tailor positions for the general electric, that barack obama did not show up and was not engaged. the reason i did was because similar give them the time to do it. -- jim lehrer gave them the time to do it. i think candy crowley did a good job, i think martha rdatz did a good job. i don't know the formula for a good debate. >> it seems that there are two choices here. you can have a moderator who holds their feet to the fire a bit and ask serious questions and is not let them michael around, and martha raddatz was the best example of that. if you are not going to do that, just let them talk to each other and have a bus to go up for time. >> what about the town hall format? >> no, i think i.t. is completely phony. have an impossible standard -- leave them alone, except every once in awhile where they sasay something egregiously fal

we're going to hear from what michael crowley's favorite question later in the show. we're going to be back with you in a few minutes up next, karl rove. did either candidate inch closer to the finish line? also, governor romney gaining ground with the women, coming up. 6. >> nlt last four years women lost 580,000 jobs. the net of what happened in four years. i know what it takes and i know what a working economy looks like. an economy is not a real strong economy. >> women get good work by getting a stronger economy supporting women in the work force. dad vo: ok, time for bed, kiddo. lights out. ♪ (sirens) (train horn) ♪ vo: wherever our trains go, the economy comes to life. norfolk southern. one line, infinite possibilities. music is a universal language. but when i was in an accident... i was worried the health care system spoke a language all its own with unitedhealthcare, i got help that fit my life. information on my phone. connection to doctors who get where i'm from. and tools to estimate what my care may cost. so i never missed a beat. we're more than 78,000

. >> sean: not only was the president wrong, so was the moderator candy crowley. she's already admitted it. >> right after that, i did turn around and say you're totally correct, but they spent two weeks telling us this was about a tape, that there was a riot outside the banghazi consulate. he was right in the main, i just think he picked the wrong word. >> sean: crowley failed to fact check the president, so we correct the record. yes, it is true the president did utter the words in the rose garden "acts of terror" the day after the banghazi assaults, however he did so only after he referenced 9/11 2001. and if he really intended to call banghazi an act of terror

first, let me show you the moderator, candy crowley correcting him. take a listen. >> i think it's interesting the president just said something which is that on the day after the attack he went in the rose garden and said that this was an act of terror. >> that's what i said. >> you said in the rose garden the day after the attack it was an act of terror. it was not a spontaneous demonstration. >> please proceed, governor. >> i want to make sure we get that for the record because it took the president 14 days before he called the attack in benghazi an act of terror. >> get the transcript. >> he did, in fact, governor romney. >> can you say that louder, candy. >> he did call it an act of terror. >> ana marie, we have the tape where he did clearly call it that and i'm sure this is going to be central in monday night's debate on foreign policy. i'm sure that romney's going to try to clean up his big mistake there. and i'm sure benghazi is going to be a big issue monday night. >> well, and i kind of hope it is because i think the president still has a lo

of course, candy crowley was not wrong.his didn't stop tucker carlson from taking it one step further. >> and she threw the president a lifeline. there's no question, she inserted herself again and again into this debate. they should just eliminate moderators overall. every one of them wants to insert him or herself into this, they can't help it, they're tv people. >> that's right, just get rid of moderators. free for all, whatever. although, particularly, if your guy is losing. here's laura ingraham. she had another suggestion. this is a bright one. she tweeted, "should we ditch the town hall debate format in 2016? if so, why? if not, why not?" and i thought to myself, god forbid if we actually have a taxpayer ask a question to someone who wants to be the leader of the free world. joining me now is karen finney, msnbc political analyst and former communications director of the dnc. let's talk about candy crowley. did she go overboard? i want to say that she, by profession, has been a reporter. and so her instincts took ove

candy crowley is moderating debate. dan, let's start with you if we can. does the campaign think this is taking the pressure off the white house? will the timing of the clinton statement add to the controversy? do voters care about this issue? >> reporter: well it just might add to the controversy, because, yes, i mean, critics will look at the timing of all of this over the last several days, the white house has been making the case that there is sort of this separation between what the white house knows about on these issues and what the state department is in charge of. jay carney making it clear, at the end of last week, the decisions on security issues, security matters, consulates and embassies around the world that falls under the portfolio of the state department and it's something that the white house would not know about in terms of every move. and so this sort of backs that up. for the critics going after the obama administration saying that they've dropped the ball on libya, i don't think that's going to take care of this. as you pointed out a

i say someone who likes candy crowley personally.he through the president a lifeline, there is no question. she inserted herself again and again in the debate. this is not a joke. not a time to play cable pundit during the middle of the debate. at most decisive moment in the debate threw out something fundamentally dishonest. the obama administration for two full weeks made the case aggressively in public again and again and again this was not an organized terror act. this was response to the youtube video. there is no dispute about that she tried to make the opposite case on the stage last night and really hurt romney in the process. i think total outrage what she did last night. martha: alan. >> what did she say that wasn't true? she wasn't giving opinion. president did say in the rose garden the day after the attacks no act of terror will ever stop the united states. he used the word, this obsession republicans have with using the word terror if the administration afraid to use it for fear they will be blamed of having a terror on

crowley did not make that clear.ow, that controversy came up when i talked with katie couric today. >> ms. crowley with all due respect blue -- blew it it what the president said in the rose garden is that americans will never give into terrorism. it was a general statement. did he not label the benghazi attack terrorism. >> i think it's sort of subject to interpretation in terms of what he said. >> that's fair, you can interpret it that way. however, here's where that argument falls down. is that the president sent his ache lights out to say it was generated by that crazy tape. and you had ambassador rice say it you had his press secretary say it, mr. obama's press secretary jay carney said it. so it doesn't really add up in the body of what happened. >> bill: we will show you more of that couric interview later in the program. so, summing up, president obama regains some momentum but did not diminish his opponent. who has established himself as the president's equal on policy. with the third debate looming next mon

conservatives knocked candy crowley because barack obama 1. -- won. martha raddatz has basically escaped unscathed from criticism. i am interested in what i can learn from these debates. i learned a lot in the first debate. i learned what mitt romney believed, what he was willing to tailor his position for the general electorate, that barack obama did not show up and was not engaged. the reason i did that was because jim lehrer gave them the time to do it. i think candy crowley did a good job. i think martha raddatz did a good job. i don't know the formula for an ideal debate. >> is that the formula, stay out of it? >> it seems that there are two courses. even have a moderator who holds their feet to the fire a bit and asks them serious questions and does not let them che wiggle around. martha raddatz was the best example of that. if you are not going to do that, just let them talk to each other and have the buzzer for time. >> what about the town hall format? >> i think it is completely phony. i have an impossible standard, which is that you leave th

and they can sit there and can attack candy crowley all they want.he reality is what the president said and what romney attacked the president about was wrong. >> here's megyn kelly on fox news. let's watch this. here it is. >> declaring something an act of terror does not necessarily mean you're declaring it a terror attack. any act that's going to kill our ambassador in the fashion could be described as an act of terror. that's not necessarily the same as declaring it a terrorist attack. >> well, we're word smithing in my opinion. i think the president was very clear. you don't buy that. >> i don't. here's why, i was in the white house on 9/11. i think terrorism is not a partisan issue. >> sure. >> i think this is a very, very serious issue that we're dealing with. i think the american people weren't leveled with by this administration. i think the president would have been very smart to have come out and said immediately this was an act of terror, this was an act of terrorism -- >> they didn't have all the information. they have said they didn't h

let's start with romney's attacks over the libya tragedy you just saw the clip of candy crowley. correcting romney after claim that it took fourteen days for president obama to acknowledge that this attack was a terrorist attack when in reality president obama said it the day after while romney was still attacking the president for apologizing because some cable went out of the egyptian quack quack quack. in fact it took romney nine days to recognize that this was an act of terrorism so was this huge misfire on romney's part richard it definitely was a misfire is part of think it was any chance for him to turn this debate around and to really put an end to the obama campaign it was that libya answer he botched it so badly that there was no returning from after that libya answer to this whole debate went downhill from there. i think you know he's used to telling his mates but he wasn't used to being corrected by the truth from the moderator and i think it's been a lot of republican argumentation about how the moderator with the moderator was wrong but i beg to differ the moderator

>> i'm not picking on candy crowley. >> you did pick on candy crowley. did. >> i like candy and i think she's fair. but the statement that she made when she chimed in and said that's right, mr. president, you did say that, were misleading. that may have thrown governor romney off his game just for a second. but, look, you talk about sparks flying. they were flying in the first debate, rolling in one direct n direction, direct current if you will. in this debate sparks went back and forth. we had had an alternating current. president obama did better than the first time but he could hardly have done worse. but mitt romney did excellent in this debate. and i think he was the winner of both debates. >> so just one last question about candy crowley. you did say she aided and abetted. so, do you take it back or do you still think that? >> i don't take it back. i'm not saying she deliberately did that. i don't think candy would do that. i do think she's fair and i watch her show every sunday morning. and i like her. i don't know her personally. but i like her.

let's talk about candy crowley let's not talk about what obama said let's not talk about what romney said because both of them are going to be destructive to the romney throne for a woman who promised already not to follow the rules and her role as a moderator she went into that moment and she decided at this moment i'm going for the seiu see your ass here is still you're still saying you're not you're validating my theory which is that if they want to talk about candy mark i agree with both to some degree this was a softball pitch this was his home run pitch this is the one mike. yes as they prepared a lot for there's no doubt that he said that president obama said it was an act of terror the day after the question was was he trying to say it was an act of terror and disease attributed to act of terrorism when i think of terrorists in this context i'm thinking of a planned operation this sort of thing i think the real controversy here is not whether he said was an act of terror but was it a committed by the people we would consider terrorists or was this some act of terror spontaneo