Democrats blame CNN moderators after Biden debate disaster

You can always tell who lost a presidential debate by seeing which party criticizes the moderators afterward. And in the wake of the first 2024 presidential debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, many progressives are focusing their attacks on CNN’s Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, criticizing the duo for failing to fact-check Trump in real time during the 90-minute face-off.

Thursday's showdown was marked by a performance by President Joe Biden that many called disastrous for his reelection chances, with CNN's post-debate panelists suggesting the president should consider withdrawing from the race.

But Biden's behavior also distracted viewers from Trump's many untruths, such as falsely claiming (by The GuardianTHE Washington Post And New Republic) that Democrats support postnatal abortion, that he had “the best environmental records ever,” that Nancy Pelosi declined an offer to deploy troops on January 6th (not in her purview, to begin with, but it was in his), that his tax cuts were the “largest in history” (essay four), that Biden called black Americans “superpredators” (no evidence of this), and that immigrants hurt Social Security and Medicare (having more workers actually helps pay into the fund).

Living room columnist Brain J. Karem wrote about X: “The biggest sin was the moderators' failure to moderate the debate. A complete abdication of journalistic responsibility.

Washington Post commentator Karen Attiah wrote“CNN’s moderation decisions undermine the credibility of our profession. CNN's format of not fact-checking, negative commentary, or follow-up was a mistake. The fact that the Biden campaign agreed to this was a mistake. This demonstrates Trump's strength and power. He can bend the media and Biden to play by his rules. »

Kate Smith, senior director of information for Planned Parenthood, wrote on X: “How come none of the moderators are fact checking on this post-natal abortion nonsense?? It was a real disaster. »

Former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann posted on X: “CNN's decision to abrogate its journalistic responsibilities by failing to fact-check Trump's lies is unforgivable.”

Nicolas Kristof, a New York Times columnist, wrote on X: “I wish CNN moderators would do more fact-checking, informing the public when things are flat-out false. I don't know how this helps a platform transmit lies disguised as facts.

Biden also told untruths on stage, such as falsely claiming that Trump had ruined the economy and that there were no jobs when he took office, and claiming that he had reduced border crossings by 40 percent.

Of course, countering untruths made by a candidate during a debate is primarily the responsibility of the rival candidate on stage. CNN’s debate format gave both candidates the opportunity to provide responses and rebuttals. And Biden repeatedly called Trump a liar. But perhaps the biggest problem was that Biden struggled to articulate a successful rebuttal.

On Friday morning, CNN responded to the circulating criticism with a spokesperson saying: The Hollywood Reporter“The role of moderators is to present candidates with issues important to American voters and to facilitate a debate, allowing candidates to make their point and challenge their opponent. It is up to the candidates to face each other in a debate. CNN provided robust fact-checking coverage in post-debate analysis on television and on our digital platforms during and after the conclusion of the debate.

Like lawyer and activist Olayemi Olurin written on X: “It is actually not the moderator's role to 'take over' from the candidate who is not doing a good enough job responding to or controlling their opponent in the debate. This is not impartial nor the role of a moderator, because then they would be out of the debate… It is a failure of CNN to not fact-check Trump's lies, but the problem is… if Joe Biden behaved as he is supposed to do in a debate, his answers would be fact-checking.

Additionally, CNN was widely criticized in 2015 when moderator Candy Crowley apparently came to Barack Obama's rescue to fact-check Mitt Romney at a pivotal moment in a debate, a famous CNN debate misstep that Tapper and Bash were probably trying to avoid. At the start of the debate, Tapper said, “Our job is to facilitate a debate between the two candidates tonight.” »

Earlier, CNN political director David Chalian said The Washington Post“The location of a presidential debate between these two candidates is not the ideal venue for a live fact-checking exercise. »

June 28, 10:20 a.m. Updated to include CNN's statement from Friday.