CNN reporter roasted for saying it’s OK to go easier on Biden because Trump’s lies are ‘unprecedented’
CNN’s fact-checkers and media reporters are bending over backwards to explain why they refused to fact-check falsehoods coming from Democrat nominee Joe Biden. Their reason? President Donald Trump is an “unprecedented” liar.
In a Friday morning newsletter, the network’s Oliver Darcy insisted it was “absurd” to treat Trump and Biden the same, and said CNN was perfectly justified in giving Biden softball questions at his Pennsylvania town hall on Thursday, because Trump “has no allegiance to truth.”
Meanwhile, CNN fact checker Daniel Dale insisted on Twitter that while Biden may have made “some false and misleading claims,” his “assertions of fact have been largely factual,” while Trump is “incessantly and egregiously dishonest.”
In tonight's CNN newsletter of hate, Oliver Darcy defends Biden getting softball questions and not getting fact-checked because he's not the President and he's not AN UNPRECEDENTED liar like Trump.This isn't journalism. This is propaganda. pic.twitter.com/TaTujEK5WS
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) September 18, 2020
“This isn't journalism. This is propaganda,” fumed journalist Curtis Houck.
Countering Dale’s argument that “there's just no equivalence” between Trump and Biden, Greg Price pointed out three claims made by the former vice-president that are, at the very least, questionable.
One of them – that he was the first in his family to go to college – goes all the way back to Biden’s 1988 presidential run, when he plagiarized it from British politician Neil Kinnock.
Biden claimed last night that Trump was responsible for every single covid-19 death, once again lied about his position on fracking, and claimed he was the first in his family to go to college, which is one of the lies that sunk his 1988 presidential campaign. https://t.co/deC1MGPVGE
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) September 18, 2020
Time and again, however, reporters fawning over Biden refused to fact-check the Kinnock ripoff.
What Biden says here is not true. Lying about being the first to go to college was a significant part of the Kinnock plagiarism scandal. Don't expect reporters to know everything, but this lie is a pretty significant chapter in Biden's political career, and it's not praiseworthy. pic.twitter.com/LwFVc6w43t
— Mark Hemingway (@Heminator) September 18, 2020
While the social media discussion of the issue quickly devolved into partisan name-calling, a handful of voices quietly pointed out that Darcy and Dale’s coverage is more like a cover-up on behalf of Biden.
What?! So, because @oliverdarcy doesn't like the President, he thinks it's just fine to ignore a BLATANT lie from the challenger? If Joe Biden isn't an "unprecedented" liar (though well-documented), he is certainly building a nice portfolio, with CNN's slavish assistance.
— Indie Voyce (@IndieVoyce) September 18, 2020
Pundit Stephen L. Miller even noted that CNN president Jeff Zucker broke his own rules about getting involved in politics to back the Senate campaign of Kamala Harris, now Biden’s running mate.
There's also another reason, @oliverdarcypic.twitter.com/xaGLC7QpUJ
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) September 18, 2020
Harris was aggressively promoted by mainstream media as the 'front-runner' among the Democrats until she dropped out of the race due to lack of funds before the first primary. After Biden picked her as someone who can take over from him “on day one,” the sycophantic reportage continued, as shown by the recent fawning media coverage of her Timberland boots.
CNN’s nemesis, the satirical site Babylon Bee, weighed in on the controversy by posting a political retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’.
Biden Forgets To Put On Clothes, Media Praises His Majestic Outfit https://t.co/WRgRQl7SO3
— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) September 18, 2020
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