On one side was the scowl. On the other side: Kamala Harris, David Muir, and Linsey Davis.
The scowl – Donald Trump – won. Not so much as a result of back-and-forth exchanges between Harris and President Donald Trump, but more a result of ABC’s heavy handed bias.
Last night wasn’t a good look for ABC, and, as a result, not a good look for Harris.
Before the evening began, you got a sense that folks thought, “Jake Tapper and Dana Bash set the bar for this year’s debates! Yippee! Gone are the days of Candy Crowley browbeating poor Mitt Romney.”
Ok, perhaps only a handful of optimists were thinking that. Still, that initial debate between Trump and the Democrat nominee who actually chalked up a few primary wins was a pleasant surprise.
All Tapper and Bash did was moderate that debate like, well, moderators. They posed questions and listened as the candidates answered, shut the candidates up when their time was done, and wrapped it up with a “that’s all folks” at the end. In this day and age, such behavior was as shocking as it was refreshing.
However, the crack ABC duo preferred the Candy Crowley approach. And even though, as the debate began, Trump’s answers were “fact checked” live, most believed this would be the case for Harris’ responses as warranted, as well.
But as the evening lurched forward, the fact checks became increasingly one-sided against the scowl. Indeed, Muir repeatedly went even further, actually challenging Trump, ala Candy Crowley, while the Vice President stood quiet.
No where was this more pronounced than when Muir went after Trump regarding late term abortions. It was Muir, not Harris, who told Trump that no state permitted full term abortions. The dance here is one of semantics, because there are nine states and the District of Columbia that have zero restrictions on abortions and on how late the baby can be aborted.
But problem here wasn’t Trump’s response. The problem was ABC’s moderators. The idea was, ostensibly, to give Americans a chance to learn who these two are and what they’re cooking up.
Instead, Muir and Davis’ constant interjections to correct or berate Trump served only to inflame the viewers and make Trump a sympathetic character. By the end of the evening, social networks were lit up by conservatives crying foul.
If Harris’ response fell short, Muir or Davis quickly added either context or answered the question outright. It became obvious in short order that we weren’t watching a debate. We were witnessing something akin to a YouTube video where a gang beats up an individual and rather than stop it, bystanders record it, post it online and hope it goes viral.
Of course, Democrats will argue the opposite was the case. However, they will be hard pressed to find an occasion where either of the ABC team called Harris out and eagerly fact checked her answer to a question.
And speaking of questions, Harris wasn’t asked to come up with much, though the possibilities were endless:
“Madam Vice President, what are you thoughts on becoming the Democrat nominee by fiat? Not a single vote was cast for you in a primary, nor was there a challenge to you during the Democratic National Convention.
“Ms. Harris, if you’re going to fix the problems with the economy and inflation once you’re elected, what have you been doing over the past 3 ¾ years?
“Kamala, do you believe boys need tampons in their grade school restrooms?”
“Tomorrow (today) is the 23rd anniversary of September 11, 2001, where a handful of terrorists murdered nearly 3,000 innocent people. Do you still believe January 6 was the worst day in American history since the Civil War?
“Whether you were the Border Czar, the Border Queen, whatever you’d prefer, do think that 10 million illegal immigrants crossing into the United States on your watch warrants a ‘great job, Kamala?’”
Just spit balling here, but it’s quite possible those were the types of questions viewers were hoping to get answers to.
Ultimately, the big winner from last night’s “debate” was CNN. Americans know the difference between a fair debate and the ambush they witnessed last night. We deserved better.
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Comments
2024-09-11T15:05-0400 | Comment by: William
Take a deep breath and rethink your assessment. It is too biased. Trump got 5 minutes more than Harris, his mic was turned on whenever he interrupted, and was only fact checked when he made outrageous statements like eating dogs and still not admitting that he lost in 2020. The moderators did not do a good job but they were hardly biased in favor of Harris in my opinion. Your proposed questions for her show that you really don't understand the role of the VP which is primarily to go where they are told and what for the president to die. You should ask yourself whether the point of your article is to score points or inform?