Why does Jim Lehrer keep trying to stop them from debating? Gentlemen, please, this debate is no place for debating! — Bill Maher (@billmaher) 
 
 Seems to be bipartisan consensus on this. RT @ jpodhoretz: Jim Lehrer may be the worst moderator in the history of moderation. — Joseph Weisental (@TheStalwart) 
 
 FACT-CHECK - Obama makes baseless claim that Jim Lehrer did a good job moderating. — Ari Melber (@AriMelber) 
 
 Jim Lehrer did a much better job with the first debate he moderated: Lincoln vs. Douglas. — Todd Jones (@Todd_Jones) 
 
 "Gentlemen, PLEASE..." -- Jim Lehrer, at 3:12 a.m., as Romney begins his recounting of the plot of PRACTICAL MAGIC # debate — Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) 
 
 Somewhere, Bill Clinton is shouting answers to all of Jim Lehrer’s questions at his television — Onion Politics (@onionpolitics) 
 
 Worst drinking game ever: Drink every time Jim Lehrer asks a question — Louis Klarevas (@Klarevas) 
 
 # debates Jim Henson's company is doing a great job moving Jim Lehrer around. — Tyler Hurst (@tdhurst) 
 
 One thing these two candidates CAN agree on: Jim Lehrer should only speak when spoken to. — Jeff Yerger (@jyergs) ||||| The loser of Wednesday night’s debate, according to many pundits and political commentators? 
 
 Moderator Jim Lehrer. 
 
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 reset Media piles on moderator Lehrer 
 
 Lehrer, the executive editor of "PBS Newshour," sat behind the desk for the 12th time in the history of televised presidential debates on Wednesday night — and drew some of the most blistering reviews of his career. The consensus: Lehrer did not control the debate, failed to enforce the time limits, did not press the candidates enough and generally was steamrolled by the presidential candidates, Mitt Romney in particular. 
 
 (Also on POLITICO: Lehrer: The master of moderation) 
 
 Chris Wallace of "Fox News Sunday" criticized Lehrer for seeming to “lose some control” of the candidates, and questioned whether his questions sometimes helped President Barack Obama. 
 
 “Jim Lehrer, a man for whom I have tremendous esteem, seemed to lose control of the debate, occasionally,” Wallace said. “He seemed to just simply throw something out there to keep the conversation going, sometimes it seemed to be helping Obama, like saying, ‘Well, gee, so you are for a balanced approach of tax cuts and spending — tax increases and spending cuts,’ and that really seemed to lose some control.” 
 
 On MSNBC, Chris Matthews knocked Lehrer for not being aggressive, saying, “I thought the moderator did not moderate.” 
 
 (PHOTOS: Presidential debate moderators) 
 
 “He didn’t follow up,” Matthews said. “Today, moderators are expected to be aggressive, they’re going to ask a question, they throw it out there, they don’t just say a topic. They ask a question.” 
 
 Also on MSNBC, The Huffington Post’s Howard Fineman blasted Lehrer as “practically useless.” 
 
 “Jim Lehrer was practically useless as the moderator,” Fineman said. “It was criminal negligence not to follow up on the question — ‘Mr. Romney, specifically what tax loopholes or deductions do you want to get rid of?’ He didn’t ask it.” 
 
 (PHOTOS: Scenes from Denver debate) 
 
 CNN contributor James Carville said Lehrer “let those guys freelance and go back and forth,” and MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow noted that “Lehrer — to the extent that he tried to assert himself — got rolled over by Romney again and again and again.” 
 
 Before the debate, NBC’s Ted Koppel defended Lehrer’s role as debate moderator, telling POLITICO that “the pressing in a debate needs to come from the adversary: It’s up to the candidates to say to one another, ‘I heard Jim’s question and you’re not answering it.’ This is not about whether we want Jim Lehrer to be president.”
– The Denver debate wasn't President Obama's finest moment, but many pundits say there was a bigger loser: PBS' Jim Lehrer. The 78-year-old moderator struggled to enforce time limits and seemed to let the candidates—especially Mitt Romney—take control, Politico reports. Fox's Chris Wallace accused Lehrer of failing to control the debate and of asking questions that helped Obama, while MSNBC's Chris Matthews said, "I thought the moderator did not moderate." The "Poor Jim" tag trended on Twitter soon after the debate began and a "Silent Jim Lehrer" account gained thousands of followers, New York reports. After the debate, an Obama spokeswoman suggested Lehrer had failed to control Romney. "I sometimes wondered if we even needed a moderator because we had Mitt Romney," she said. "We should rethink that for the next debate." A Romney adviser fired back, "You know you've lost the debate when you start blaming the moderator for a poor performance." This was the 12th presidential debate Lehrer has moderated, but moderators have increasingly come under attack; days earlier, he said he was outraged by suggestions that he was an uninspired choice.