Candy Crowley ran out of time...will Planet Earth?

Sometimes we don't realize what's important in the news until years after the fact. This is a small example, but a couple of years ago more was made out of Ronald Reagan ripping the solar panels off the White House roof than when it actually happened in the mid-1980s. So I wonder if textbooks 50 years from now will express amazement that in the critical U.S. presidential election of 2012, there was no debate question about climate change. This after the world matched its hottest September ever.

Last night's debate moderator Candy Crowley said she meant to ask about global warming, gosh darn it, but there just wasn't the time:

Candy Crowley of CNN, the debate moderator, indicated afterward that she had a climate change question ready but was unable to get to it. Much of the debate time was taken up by the candidates interrupting each other, as well as Crowley

Oh well. I'm sure those adorable polar bears up on those broken sheets of ice can wait four more years for their answer. Actually, it's not all Crowley's fault. As many noted, both President Obama and Mitt Romney spent several minutes slugging it our over who was "Mr. Coal" (which I thought was a song by Buffalo Springfield) and who was drilling for more oil and natural gas -- but not a word about the warming planet:

The liberal Chris Hayes of MSNBC, during the network's post-debate analysis, likened the climate-free energy portion to discussing smoking without discussing cancer.

So....shame on everybody. However, I will note there is one final change for a real conversation about the most important issue that's not being talked about. The final debate in Florida on Monday is supposed to be about foreign policy and national security. But is there a greater threat to our national security than climate change?