Posted on 08/05/2020 8:30:55 AM PDT by Kaslin
CNN's media unit emails out a nightly newsletter titled "Reliable Sources." The newsletter is not always reliable, since it has a slippery grasp on what its own network is putting on television and online.
On Aug. 3, Oliver Darcy led the newsletter discussing what he described as an "imaginary controversy": the notion that Joe Biden might skip the presidential debates. Darcy quoted Biden national press secretary T.J. Ducklo's spin. "Donald Trump and his allies at Fox News have decided an imaginary controversy about debates will be their latest attempt to distract Americans," Ducklo told Darcy. Under the header "Where it originated from," Darcy added, "Yes, there have been some NYT opinion pieces and brief chatter about why Biden should skip the debates. Personally, I've never taken the suggestions too seriously."
On Twitter, Darcy's colleague Brian Stelter agreed: "It is mostly a right-wing media tempest, fueled by hour after hour of Fox commentary (not reporting), far removed from campaign reality."
Both of these men seemed supremely oblivious to the fact that CNN.com published an opinion piece by CNN political analyst Joe Lockhart in which he argued Biden should skip the debates ... and CNN booked a subsequent weekend interview with Lockhart on its "Smerconish" show. Host Michael Smerconish didn't lecture his guest about being in danger of fueling a right-wing media tempest.
So who's "removed from campaign reality"? Omri Ceren retorted on Twitter: "In fairness to Stelter and Darcy, unclear if they're intentionally lying here. Could simply be that like everyone else they never tune into CNN."
Lockhart -- as well as New York Times columnists Thomas Friedman and Elizabeth Drew -- expressed the firm belief that Trump should be disqualified from debates. His truth mangling and "extreme narcissism" make debate unhelpful and unnecessary. His audacity is an unfair advantage.
No one should believe Biden will actually skip the debates. Liberals are far too arrogant about how Democrats will brilliantly wipe the floor with Republicans every time -- no matter who the Republican is. And for Trump, that goes triple.
All these opinionators are offering is pre-debate spin, suggesting Trump's patter is so abhorrent that he's unworthy of any televised pedestal. This underlines why CNN and MSNBC now ignore or talk over Trump press conferences and speeches. At this point, we might expect they'll talk over the president's big convention speech.
Liberals prefer Biden cocooning in safer venues, like occasional puffball press conferences with his compliant campaign press corps. When Stelter interviewed Ducklo on his "Reliable Sources" program on Aug. 2, he mildly suggested Biden "owes the public" more access to the press but added, "I think what your candidate is doing is he's dodging Trump's punches with silence, which is probably an effective campaign strategy."
All this media acceptance of Biden's basement strategy masks their terror over the possibility of another Trump win. On July 26, MSNBC host Joshua Johnson interviewed Democratic National Committee boss Tom Perez and revealed Democrats' inner panic. "I cannot tell you how many people I know who are Joe Biden supporters who feel like they're on the verge of a stroke all the time at the possibility of four more years of Donald Trump, particularly with any gaffe that Joe Biden makes," Johnson said. "If he says something that comes out sideways, it's like you can feel everybody's heart kind of squeak shut."
This is especially true of the debates, which will have massive national audiences, and where gaffes might be immediately exploited and magnified by the president. Don't believe the media swagger about Biden having this race in the bag. They're terrified that Democrats nominated the Gaffe Machine.
C’MON MAAAAAN!
You’re a bunch of junkies!
BREAKING: Joe Biden will not travel to Milwaukee to accept Democratic presidential nomination - AP— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) August 5, 2020
The bar is being set so low for Biden. Every day they are saying he is incoherent and suffering from dementia that is actively getting worse as each day goes by.
So basically, all Biden will have to do is show up and not stumble over his words. The lamestream media will do the rest of the heavy lifting and declare him the victor.
I saw a video of Basementman this morning and he said that he has not taken a cognitive test. I guess he forgot that previously he said he was “tested all the time”. Then he said that he was “forward looking” to debating Trump. He went on to stumble over the word “fitness” after several tries he finally got it right. That was in just a 2 minute video.
No way, he's not that good of an actor.
As heard on the radio.
Biteme is skipping the convention because of Covid.
I think its the dementia.
he is very prolific in his sandbagging. Here is a 46 minute sampling. Apart from the confused incoherence, what comes across to me is just what a mean, nasty, smarmy, smug, snarky bully he is. Perhaps less likeble than Hillary.
https://www.louderwithcrowder.com/joe-biden-talking-nonsense
(ok so ya gotta cut and paste. sue me.)
There’s something much more serious than Biden not being able to debate Trump effectively: he can’t participate in debates among his staffers who are to present both sides of issues to him for decisions, something that presidents do most days in office.
We lose November,that's it.
We lose November,that’s it.
In a nutshell.
I still cannot figure out the logic of how/why the democrats chose Biden. They had a weak field with some pretty radical candidates, but I still cannot puzzle out the how/why. I think many of them wanted to avoid Bernie, but now that they did we have Bernie version 2.0 in Biden who has essentially adopted the same radical platform.
Questions of competency aside -
Political history indicated that Biden would tack to the center for the general election, but he is not. Who controls him? The signs of his decline were obvious to anyone prior to his selection so why? If Bernie was such a threat to them (remember - they also feather their own nest like the republicrats) why are the powers that selected him not fighting against the adoption of socialists policies?
The apparent strategy of this election makes no sense to me.
Either the democrats know something we don’t or they are truly the gang who can’t shoot straight.
They know something. They have set in motion the mechanism to steel the election with the Mail in ballots and Ballot Harvesting, 2016 was the dress rehearsal.
Saw something today about Biden not speaking live at their convention.
Ain’t that the tell!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.