June 28, 2024

BLAMING THE REFS: Dems Blame CNN Moderators After Biden Debate Disaster: “Unforgivable.”

You can always tell who lost a presidential debate by which party is slamming the moderators afterwards. And in the wake of Joe Biden and Donald Trump‘s first 2024 presidential debate, many progressives are focusing their fire on CNN‘s Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, calling out the duo for not fact-checking Trump in real time during the 90-minute face off.

Thursday’s clash featured a performance by President Joe Biden that many are calling disastrous for his reelection chances, with CNN’s own post-debate panelists suggesting the president should consider withdrawing from the race.

As Mark Steyn spotted this morning, Dana certainly tried to steer Biden in the right direction:

The moderators did their best. Here’s Dana Bash signaling to Joe the direction in which to point his head:

Was there anyone else on the stage? Not so’s you’d know from the headlines. Biden lost to himself. And considering that the object was to make the debate all about Trump that’s quite an accomplishment.

So what’s going on? Why did whoever’s running the show allow this to happen?

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As my former GB News colleague Neil Oliver observed long ago on The Mark Steyn Show, formulating a useful rule of contemporary politics:

This is happening because they want it to happen.

Why would that be? Well, maybe because they’ve decided it’s time to move on to the next plot twist. Never-Trumper Michael Brendan Dougherty at National Review:

Trump May Have Done Too Much Winning Tonight

Oh, no! They laid the trap and he walked right into it!

Right now, MSNBC and CNN post-debate panels are openly talking about options for pressuring Biden to withdraw, or party officials conspiring to replace him at the convention anyway …and the selection between Kamala Harris and Gavin Newsom would allow Democrats to feel like the party of the future again…

At NRO’s Corner, Mark Antonio Wright notes that there’s only man who can remove Brandon from the stage, his boss: Only Barack Obama Could Push Joe Biden Aside.

So if anything is going to happen to turn the great Democratic swap-out parlor game on Earth II into something approaching reality, it will necessitate Barack Obama’s publicly and forcefully calling on Joe Biden, his former veep, to step aside.

Obama is the only Democrat with the stature and the coalition-wide credibility to give cover to all the rest of them. If there is going to be a groundswell of public and private pressure on Biden to withdraw, it’s going to have to start with Obama.

Democrats can dream — but it’s not going to happen. Obama is no more interested than Newsom in rolling the dice on a party civil war that could be blamed on him. And no combination of Hakeem Jeffries, Chuck Schumer, or Nancy Pelosi has the heft.

If this story making the rounds is true, it could indicate why Barry is hesitant to make the call: Why Michelle Obama hasn’t campaigned for Biden and has been ‘frustrated’ with his family over messy drama that resurfaced during Hunter’s trial.

Michelle Obama has steered clear of campaigning for Joe Biden over her private frustration with how the family treated friend Kathleen Buhle during her messy divorce from Hunter Biden, a new report claims.

The former first lady, one of the most popular figures in the Democratic party, hasn’t posted about the 81-year-old president’s re-election bid.

Buhle and Hunter split in 2017 and details of the divorce resurfaced when she testified at his recent federal gun trial in Delaware.

Axios reported that Michelle told others that her friend had been wronged by the Biden family who have blamed Buhle for some of the lurid details of Hunter’s behavior becoming public.

But hey, this is all academic, right? Joe insists he’ll be at the next debate in September! Biden vows to return for second debate against Trump after disastrous performance.

Posted at 2:22 pm by Ed Driscoll