Powerline reports on a memo from CNN's Mark Whitaker that seeks to explain why President Obama got to speak for four minutes more than Mitt Romney in the Hofstra presidential debate the other night. Says the memo, "On why Obama got more time to speak, it should be noted that Candy and her commission producers tried to keep it even but that Obama went on longer largely because he speaks more slowly. We're going to do a word count to see whether, as in Denver, Romney actually got more words in even if he talked for a shorter period of time."
FutureOfCapitalism did its own word count and found Mr. Romney spoke 8,116 words to President Obama's 7,556 words. As Powerline's Paul Mirengoff notes, however, "The rules established time limits, not word limits." He goes on, "CNN's explanation of 'why Obama got more time speak' is an admission that Crowley intentionally gave Obama extra time because she thought he hadn't said enough. It's also an admission that it doesn't know whether, objectively, Romney said more than Obama in the same amount of time. CNN hadn't done a word count when it made the claim, and Crowley certainly hadn't performed one when she gave Obama more time than Romney."
