, Columnist
Let the Debates Begin, No Referee Required
Don't make the moderators do the fact-checking. The truth will come out in due course.
What a difference a year makes.
Photographer: Scott OlsonThis article is for subscribers only.
Should presidential-debate moderators do double duty as fact-checkers, too? With the first showdown between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump coming up next Monday at Hofstra University in New York, this argument is hot again.
Ari Fleischer, who was a press secretary for George W. Bush, argues that it’s the job of the other candidates, not the moderators, to correct any whoppers one of the debaters might tell. Others disagree with him, believing that the job is analogous to what a boxing referee does -- policing violations of the rules, which in the political arena means sticking to something resembling the truth.