Biden’s performance was inept. But Trump’s incessant lying would have been the other major takeaway from the debate if the moderators had done their jobs.
Biden was sick and showed up anyway. If he feels half as lousy as I do today (home with a summer cold)-I'm 20 years younger-kudos to the old man. If he canceled, he'd never hear the end of it, so he took a chance and showed up at 70% strength. CNN was the real enemy last night. EPIC FAIL CNN.
That debate elevated Trump and his lies. CNN is to blame for that. it was extremely painful to watch especially when Trump said the Democrats are killing babies after they’re being born. Talk about adding fuel to the fire. Now we sit back and watch it burn down.
Not the first time. Trump's Town Hall courtesy of Chris Licht was earlier this year. When Democracy dies the 4th estate will have held her hands behind her back while the Right Wing plunged the knife. Alas we never really knew her.....
Someone with CNN -- whether it had been the moderators, or their regular fact checker Daniel Dale, but somebody -- needed to be calling out Trump's lies in *real time.* The call-outs should have been in a crawl across the bottom of the screen. What CNN did was at best stenography (which has its place, but let's not confuse it with journalism) and at worst prostitution (with apologies to sex workers).
When Trump spewed his bald-faced lies like the one about post-birth abortions Tapper and Bash were obligated to point out that claim is bogus.They should have challengedTrump to point to any evidence.Ditto for claims like him having a lower deficit than Biden’s. How hard is it to say that the government data does not support your claim?
Not hard at all, but I'm reasonably sure the decision not to fact-check in real time was made several rungs further up the ladder than Tapper and Bash. In journalistic terms, I do not think it was a defensible position. Indeed, with one of the debaters being a known, serial liar, what CNN did (or failed to do) was journalistic malpractice.
Lies were half of it, maybe. Tfg didn’t answer the question; he moved to HIS talking points. I saw Bash once say something to the effect: you have more time, please answer the question : yes or no.
Why is everyone expecting corporate owned media to fact check the ex twice impeached, convicted rapist and felon when he and his cronies are the very ones to give 1.7 trillion dollars in tax breaks and are offering even more. The wealthy can afford another four years of horrible policies, draconian actions against the poor, migrant and people of color.
Actually the Business Roundtable which is made up of top CEOs were deeply disturbed by their recent meeting with Trump. They know the policies he is proposing, particularly his tariffs, will be wildly inflationary and seriously bad for our economy. They also know the World Bank was right when it recently revised its predictions for the global economy upward because the US economy is so strong it is carrying the rest of the world’s economy with it.
“World Bank: ‘Impressive’ US economy is powering the world”
If Trump wrecks the economy with his disastrous proposals corporate leaders know it will hurt the them and their businesses. Currently they are experiencing one of the best economies and the best stock market ever.
I expected better from Jake Tapper. Dana Bash has proven time and again that she is not up to the task. Even as a host, she is not strong and does not always appear to be in command of an interview. There are better at CNN, who would have called out the lies, etc. But, I guess that wasn’t what CNN leadership had in mind 🤨
This is why Trump spent the week before the debate repeatedly attacking Tapper, calling him "Fake Tapper", to both bully and pre-indemnify himself should Tapper have actually have behaved like a journalist.
Staff and consultants have been failing Biden and D’s.
1. Hire new staff and/or fire many of the consultants —those that did debate prep are part of the problem. If no changes are made, the poor advice and messaging will continue for all D’s. Did staff think Trump would not lie? Did campaign staff forget that CNN would not fact check live? Why did they agree to ban all notes? Did they remember to give Biden talking points for the trump lies (most were repeat lies) and 3 talking points for opening and closing?
2. Next, get Biden out in public the next several days. it may be the litmus test to determine if he can continue. We should take some breaths (as many have said) over the next days. In the meantime, Biden should get out in public and:
A. Move the public away from taste, flavors, sights and sounds from the debate;
B. After admitting it was a bad debate, publicly and visibly show he can recover; and
C, Talk about SCOTUS decisions (which his staff should already have plans and statements in place);
Without these, there is only one option; after a few days, if you cannot repair the damage. Speaking of consultants and the Party they should have had contingency plans in place for Biden not being the nominee (for whatever reasons-medical, personal, or declining skills). I do not have confidence in staff/consultants; that said, they have not choice.
The Biden team set up this debate (and also prevented any democratic process that might have allowed for a different party nominee to be selected) and so is responsible for its format, including the lack of real time fact-checking. I would also point out that in most debates it is the responsibility of the debaters to rebut their opponents, rather than rely on the judges to do so. Biden was clearly not up to this task either, much less to making the case for himself.
It has been taboo in mainstream media for the past 4 years to point out Biden’s obvious age-related decline. While this may have been well intentioned (protect us from fascist Trump!) it should be obvious now how both ineffective and unethical (further undermining trust in news) this thumb on the scale for Biden has been.
au contraire, NYT, WaPo, and WSJ have written dozens of articles apiece on Joe's age and purported decline. when the Hur Report came out the stories were stacked five thick at once over at the Post. and in seemingly unrelated articles they'd sometimes suddenly inject Joe's age, the fact that he's the oldest presidential candidate ever, and murmur about his possible deficits. all this on top of cable news and Sinclair-owned local stations...so if the Biden campaign was trying to shield him from such coverage and speculation, they failed spectacularly.
The results of this study were just published this week:
“Study: Top newspapers fixate on Biden's age
Over the past five months, five of the top US newspapers have published nearly 10 times as many articles focused just on Biden's age or mental acuity as focused on just Trump’s”
There is no good explanation for major media outlets giving 10 times the coverage to Biden’s age and mental state than Trump’s. Trump’s speeches have been seriously off the rails and on several occasions he has not only lost his train of thought but garbles his words and then drifted away without finishing his sentences.
The whole point of this post was the debate, which you haven’t addressed, and which the Biden team played a major role in setting up, including the ground rules that are now being characterized as a media failure to fact check during a debate (as opposed to a debater failure). So yes, the Biden team did fail spectacularly.
Did not Biden prep team know ahead of time there would be no notes or teleprompter? Did not Biden team know Trump would up its lies? Did not Biden team know in advance CNN would not fact track?
It was CNN, not the Biden team, who did not allow their anchors to fact check, a decision they are defending today. The moderators should have been allowed to at least challenge Trump to say where he got the evidence for insane claims like the one that Democrats support post-birth abortions. They should have challenged Trump by saying that no one has ever presented evidence for that claim and challenged Trump to justify it. That is not biased. Instead CNN says it’s not their job, it’s the job of the candidates to fact check each other. Apparently their job — as journalists ! — is just to give a platform for a “he said/she said” debate.
All it would take would is a single Supreme Court decision to uphold Trump's right to a 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc. term by declaring the 22nd Amendment unconstitutional; or by issuing an "emergency waiver".
Thanks ScharffingtonPost. No matter where you stand on Schmidt and others' campaign—whether Biden stays or goes—the Democratic Party structure will remain unchanged until November. The same consultants and staff will be in place, likely leading to the same mistakes and poor messaging. Those advocating for a new presidential candidate lack a plan for addressing these weaknesses and questions about VP Harris’s ability to step up, risking further division among anti-MAGA supporters.
Both Biden supporters and advocates for midstream changes should agree to continue to reinforce efforts on strengthening Federal and legislative campaigns.
The moderators said they would not be fact checkers. CNN should have required them to do so or chosen others or made another plan. Trump ranted on and in with lies and the moderators allowed it while cutting off Biden. It was appalling
Allowing Trump to deflect away from answering the question/s asked and allowing him to spew his unsubstantiated claims makes CNN complicit in the misinformaation and disinformation that Trump promulgates... worst moderation of a debate ever...
Biden had a great speech today in NC but I don’t trust most of the media to bother showing it. I have a feeling listening to all those lies be ignored by the moderators didn’t help Biden. He was probably furious but trying not to show it. I know I would be.
Biden was sick and showed up anyway. If he feels half as lousy as I do today (home with a summer cold)-I'm 20 years younger-kudos to the old man. If he canceled, he'd never hear the end of it, so he took a chance and showed up at 70% strength. CNN was the real enemy last night. EPIC FAIL CNN.
That debate elevated Trump and his lies. CNN is to blame for that. it was extremely painful to watch especially when Trump said the Democrats are killing babies after they’re being born. Talk about adding fuel to the fire. Now we sit back and watch it burn down.
Not the first time. Trump's Town Hall courtesy of Chris Licht was earlier this year. When Democracy dies the 4th estate will have held her hands behind her back while the Right Wing plunged the knife. Alas we never really knew her.....
They will have their hands cuffed behind their backs when Trump has them marched off to jail just like his idol Putin does to journalists.
Someone with CNN -- whether it had been the moderators, or their regular fact checker Daniel Dale, but somebody -- needed to be calling out Trump's lies in *real time.* The call-outs should have been in a crawl across the bottom of the screen. What CNN did was at best stenography (which has its place, but let's not confuse it with journalism) and at worst prostitution (with apologies to sex workers).
When Trump spewed his bald-faced lies like the one about post-birth abortions Tapper and Bash were obligated to point out that claim is bogus.They should have challengedTrump to point to any evidence.Ditto for claims like him having a lower deficit than Biden’s. How hard is it to say that the government data does not support your claim?
Not hard at all, but I'm reasonably sure the decision not to fact-check in real time was made several rungs further up the ladder than Tapper and Bash. In journalistic terms, I do not think it was a defensible position. Indeed, with one of the debaters being a known, serial liar, what CNN did (or failed to do) was journalistic malpractice.
Lies were half of it, maybe. Tfg didn’t answer the question; he moved to HIS talking points. I saw Bash once say something to the effect: you have more time, please answer the question : yes or no.
Why is everyone expecting corporate owned media to fact check the ex twice impeached, convicted rapist and felon when he and his cronies are the very ones to give 1.7 trillion dollars in tax breaks and are offering even more. The wealthy can afford another four years of horrible policies, draconian actions against the poor, migrant and people of color.
Actually the Business Roundtable which is made up of top CEOs were deeply disturbed by their recent meeting with Trump. They know the policies he is proposing, particularly his tariffs, will be wildly inflationary and seriously bad for our economy. They also know the World Bank was right when it recently revised its predictions for the global economy upward because the US economy is so strong it is carrying the rest of the world’s economy with it.
“World Bank: ‘Impressive’ US economy is powering the world”
https://thehill.com/business/4715951-world-bank-impressive-us-economy-is-powering-the-world/#:~:text=The%20World%20Bank%20upgraded%20its,growth%20predicted%20for%20the%20year.
If Trump wrecks the economy with his disastrous proposals corporate leaders know it will hurt the them and their businesses. Currently they are experiencing one of the best economies and the best stock market ever.
CNN has always been a whore for sensationalism. I was done with them during the first Gulf War and they've only gotten worse.
I expected better from Jake Tapper. Dana Bash has proven time and again that she is not up to the task. Even as a host, she is not strong and does not always appear to be in command of an interview. There are better at CNN, who would have called out the lies, etc. But, I guess that wasn’t what CNN leadership had in mind 🤨
This is why Trump spent the week before the debate repeatedly attacking Tapper, calling him "Fake Tapper", to both bully and pre-indemnify himself should Tapper have actually have behaved like a journalist.
Not all media’s fault.
Staff and consultants have been failing Biden and D’s.
1. Hire new staff and/or fire many of the consultants —those that did debate prep are part of the problem. If no changes are made, the poor advice and messaging will continue for all D’s. Did staff think Trump would not lie? Did campaign staff forget that CNN would not fact check live? Why did they agree to ban all notes? Did they remember to give Biden talking points for the trump lies (most were repeat lies) and 3 talking points for opening and closing?
2. Next, get Biden out in public the next several days. it may be the litmus test to determine if he can continue. We should take some breaths (as many have said) over the next days. In the meantime, Biden should get out in public and:
A. Move the public away from taste, flavors, sights and sounds from the debate;
B. After admitting it was a bad debate, publicly and visibly show he can recover; and
C, Talk about SCOTUS decisions (which his staff should already have plans and statements in place);
Without these, there is only one option; after a few days, if you cannot repair the damage. Speaking of consultants and the Party they should have had contingency plans in place for Biden not being the nominee (for whatever reasons-medical, personal, or declining skills). I do not have confidence in staff/consultants; that said, they have not choice.
https://youtu.be/OHJoewM3WfU?si=BmxiqKdIAt2vmmZm
The Biden team set up this debate (and also prevented any democratic process that might have allowed for a different party nominee to be selected) and so is responsible for its format, including the lack of real time fact-checking. I would also point out that in most debates it is the responsibility of the debaters to rebut their opponents, rather than rely on the judges to do so. Biden was clearly not up to this task either, much less to making the case for himself.
It has been taboo in mainstream media for the past 4 years to point out Biden’s obvious age-related decline. While this may have been well intentioned (protect us from fascist Trump!) it should be obvious now how both ineffective and unethical (further undermining trust in news) this thumb on the scale for Biden has been.
au contraire, NYT, WaPo, and WSJ have written dozens of articles apiece on Joe's age and purported decline. when the Hur Report came out the stories were stacked five thick at once over at the Post. and in seemingly unrelated articles they'd sometimes suddenly inject Joe's age, the fact that he's the oldest presidential candidate ever, and murmur about his possible deficits. all this on top of cable news and Sinclair-owned local stations...so if the Biden campaign was trying to shield him from such coverage and speculation, they failed spectacularly.
The results of this study were just published this week:
“Study: Top newspapers fixate on Biden's age
Over the past five months, five of the top US newspapers have published nearly 10 times as many articles focused just on Biden's age or mental acuity as focused on just Trump’s”
https://www.mediamatters.org/washington-post/top-newspapers-fixate-bidens-age
There is no good explanation for major media outlets giving 10 times the coverage to Biden’s age and mental state than Trump’s. Trump’s speeches have been seriously off the rails and on several occasions he has not only lost his train of thought but garbles his words and then drifted away without finishing his sentences.
The whole point of this post was the debate, which you haven’t addressed, and which the Biden team played a major role in setting up, including the ground rules that are now being characterized as a media failure to fact check during a debate (as opposed to a debater failure). So yes, the Biden team did fail spectacularly.
Did not Biden prep team know ahead of time there would be no notes or teleprompter? Did not Biden team know Trump would up its lies? Did not Biden team know in advance CNN would not fact track?
It was CNN, not the Biden team, who did not allow their anchors to fact check, a decision they are defending today. The moderators should have been allowed to at least challenge Trump to say where he got the evidence for insane claims like the one that Democrats support post-birth abortions. They should have challenged Trump by saying that no one has ever presented evidence for that claim and challenged Trump to justify it. That is not biased. Instead CNN says it’s not their job, it’s the job of the candidates to fact check each other. Apparently their job — as journalists ! — is just to give a platform for a “he said/she said” debate.
https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/cnn-defends-not-fact-checking-debate-trump-biden-1236056588/
Not even worth denying. As voters we are stuck in a crap time loop. There will be no winners in this upcoming election only losers.
Does anyone think if DT loses again he will just give up? He ran to stay out of jail. He will keep running to stay out of jail.
All it would take would is a single Supreme Court decision to uphold Trump's right to a 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc. term by declaring the 22nd Amendment unconstitutional; or by issuing an "emergency waiver".
Thanks ScharffingtonPost. No matter where you stand on Schmidt and others' campaign—whether Biden stays or goes—the Democratic Party structure will remain unchanged until November. The same consultants and staff will be in place, likely leading to the same mistakes and poor messaging. Those advocating for a new presidential candidate lack a plan for addressing these weaknesses and questions about VP Harris’s ability to step up, risking further division among anti-MAGA supporters.
Both Biden supporters and advocates for midstream changes should agree to continue to reinforce efforts on strengthening Federal and legislative campaigns.
The moderators said they would not be fact checkers. CNN should have required them to do so or chosen others or made another plan. Trump ranted on and in with lies and the moderators allowed it while cutting off Biden. It was appalling
Allowing Trump to deflect away from answering the question/s asked and allowing him to spew his unsubstantiated claims makes CNN complicit in the misinformaation and disinformation that Trump promulgates... worst moderation of a debate ever...
Biden had a great speech today in NC but I don’t trust most of the media to bother showing it. I have a feeling listening to all those lies be ignored by the moderators didn’t help Biden. He was probably furious but trying not to show it. I know I would be.