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A Look at the Debate Reprobates in the Press Following the First Meeting of the Candidates

Brad Slager
Brad Slager  |  Sep 11, 2024
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.

DNC PR Firm – ABC NEWS

  • The FEC is still calculating the value of the in-kind donation from ABC News.

The best way to describe the presidential debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris is that the moderators were the centerpiece. David Muir and Linsey Davis were beyond biased during this sham of a performance. They repeatedly fact-checked Donald Trump while never once correcting one of the numerous falsehoods delivered by Harris. At one stage of the debate, it appeared Trump was debating Muir, as Harris could just sit back in silence and let them do the work on her behalf.

This was a degrading performance by the ABC journalists.

Body Checking the Fact-Checkers – CNN

  • We’ll just assume she told no lies, therefore, there is no need to check her comments.

You could practically feel CNN’s Daniel Dale crushing his second can of diet Red Bull and cracking his fingers as last night’s debate geared up, and you could practically hear his chair wheels squeaking as he pushed away from the desk when it was time to pore over the statements from Kamala Harris.

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In his trademarked fashion, Dale was over-caffeinated in his assessment of Trump’s dozens of alleged lies. He declared Harris might have told one fib. ONE. Seriously.

Dammit, Dale, there were two flagrant quotes she delivered that would have earned a 15-yard penalty flag: She claimed Trump promised a “bloodbath” if not elected, and she repeated the long-debunked “very fine people” canard! On top of that, there are a number of items she was heard mewling from the podium deserving of corrections:

She insisted the 2025 Project is Trump’s playbook (he has constantly disavowed this) / She says no babies are killed after birth (in Minnesota Walz altered the abortion law on reporting when infants would survive attempted abortion proceedures) / IVF treatments are banned (where?!) / She would never confiscate guns (ignore her call for a MANDATORY gun buyback program) / She said in 2020 she was not opposed to fracking (she promised to end it when directly asked) / She never supported gender-altering surgery for illegals (she attested to this in a written questionnaire) / Police died on January 6 (not at all true) / Trump left us the worst unemployment since the Great Depression (statistically untrue) / Trump wants to ban abortion nationwide (he has never prosed this) / She said we have no soldiers in war zones (There are troops stantioned in many)

Holy crap, Daniel – is it that difficult to even pretend to be even-handed and to do your job?

Legalized Press-titution – MSNBC

  • Nicolle’s back must feel much better since she stopped carrying all of that pretense of objectivity around.

In the not-at-all-surprising glowing post-debate coverage at MSNBC, Nicolle raved about the performance of the moderators. Apparently, she feels their job is not to “moderate” but to modulate and contort.

Reporting on the Mirror – CNN

  • In case anyone wonders if Brian has changed his manner of media analysis…

Checking in with the newly-reinstalled media analyst Brian Stelter to get his hot take on the disreputable performances of Muir and Davis, Brian had little to offer but praise. Of course. Objectively calling out their slanted approach and uneven application of fact-checking was not a consideration.

This tepid, neutered assessment from Brian is the closest he offered to a critique of the performance by the ABC News moderators.

However, Brian did have the time to post or retweet at least six times about the Taylor Swift endorsement of Kamala.

Demo-lition Project – CNN

  • The most trusted name in the basement…

The ratings for the debate came in and while it was no surprise that ABC, as the host network would win out…it was also no surprise that of the other networks granted the feed of the debate that CNN was well out of the running.

Anti-Social Media – THE ONION

  • Speaking of the basement, this take from The Onion stands as the worst of the night.

Ben Collins delivers the “humor” at his new career.