Former New York Gov. George Pataki is part of a chorus of conservative pundits today criticizing debate moderator Candy Crowley’s fact check injection in last night’s debate over whether the president initially referred to the attack in Libya as an “act of terror.”

Appearing on Fox News earlier today, Pataki said Crowley was wrong in her intrepretation of what President Obama said in the Rose Garden news conference immediately following the attack.

“I was very disappointed in Candy Crowley because not only did she inject herself in the midst of the hottest part of a presidential debate perhaps of all the debates we’ve had since they’ve started out decades ago, but that she was flat out wrong,” Pataki said. “The president did not say the next day that the attack in Bengahzi was act of terror.”

Here’s what Obama said on Sept. 12:

“No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation, alter that character or eclipse the light of the values that we stand for. Today we mourn for more Americans who represent the very best of the United States of America. We will not waver in our commitment to see that justice is done for this terrible act. And make no mistake, justice will be done.”

Mitt Romney claimed in the debate that the president did not refer to the incident as a terror attack, leading Crowley to jump in and referee the discussion by correcting him while also noting it took a while for the administration to fully explain what had happened.

Crowley entering the fray directly came after Jim Lehrer’s moderation of the first debate was criticized because he did not manage the conversation actively enough. Crowley today is defending her decision to jump in.

Conservatives, meanwhile, insist that Obama’s comments in the Rose Garden weren’t actually calling the incident a terror attack. This is another one of those moments where we can’t even agree on basic reality and facts of this campaign and reporters, frequently criticized for being bystanders, are in a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t situation if they try to point out the key facts.

The more important note here is that the initial question from the town hall audience member was not about this “terror” term of art (I mean, what’s the difference? Obama called the specific moment an “attack” and you’d be crazy to think it wasn’t terrifying) but about security at our foreign embassy. Neither candidate answered that question.

 

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