Tapper and Bash are trending on twitter and it does my heart good

[senseandsensibility]

They are absolutely getting clobbered. Really great takedowns by Keith Olbermann
and Dan Rather.

I don't think the no fact-checking thing was part of the agreeent. At least I didn't see it in the reporting at the time. It was announced later. But it must be nice to collect million dollar salaries while reading mediocre questions like good little robots with no responsibility to fact check for follow through. Where do I sign up for that gig?

[Joinfortmill]

1. CNN SUCKS, BIGLY!!!!!!!!!!

[senseandsensibility]

2. Tell us how you really feel!

Seriously, right there with you, my friend.

[Mme. Defarge]

11. It is dead to me.

[spooky3]

3. Dems should insist on fact checking as a condition of any future debate. Nt

[senseandsensibility]

4. Real time fact checking!

Why do these talking heads have their exalted positions if the can't do it? It is not fair to Joe to have to present his case AND fact check while all cheato has to do is lie.

[FloridaBlues]

5. Totally agree and answer in 120 seconds his own comments

[UpInArms]

6. This 👆🏼

Joe’s role was to present his ideas for debate, not spend his time fact checking a liar. His time was limited, the moderators’ was not.

[senseandsensibility]

9. Good point about the time

And even if they missed a few of the lies, it would be better than just sitting there like potted plants.

[BidenRocks]

27. Remember Joe Isuzu?

Fact check in real commercial time.
He's lying!
Those were funny.

[ProfessorGAC]

38. Said The Same Yesterday

CNN is trying to pass the buck to Biden as "the opponent".
But, if he did that, he wouldn't have been able to answer their questions, because countering lies is all he'd have time for.
It's one thing to present a counter argument, it's another to counter an argument based wholly on lies.
CNN is at fault here & no amount if shifting blame will change that.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

22. Doesn't have to be fact-checking, just insist on an answer and call out blatant lies.

[MotownPgh]

52. Why are we debating someone charged

with stealing sensitive government documents? It's giving trump legitimacy. I'll never understand it.

[jrthin]

7. I hope these two pompous asses get dragged through the mud. They deserve it!

[liberalla]

19. That would make me happy!

[brush]

8. Absolutely. Even how they framed their questions was slanted to disadvantage Joe, IMO.

It started with the first question even when Tapper asked Joe: "What do you say to voters who say they are worst off under your admin than under trump's admin? four years ago"

Really, come on. Any moron can remember that with covid raging, refridgerator trucks on the streets storing dead bodies, many out of work because businesses were shut down because of the pandemic...like I said, any moron can see that's a slanted question. /And that's the first question asked.

How bad transparent can they get with questions geared against Joe?

[MOMFUDSKI]

10. CNN's numbers were already in the toilet.

The piss-poor handling of the debate will cause same toilet to be flushed. They went to the right. Big mistake

[JoseBalow]

12. This is how to fact-check drumpf...

(0:08)

[Raven123]

18. That's the scene I pictured every time TFG spoke

[sheshe2]

28. Love it!

[awesomerwb1]

13. I have the utmost respect for Rather

He's a great person. Olberman on the other hand, I find insufferable. Ever since the days where he was the sports guy on channel 5(7?) in LA I have avoided him.

Stop watching CNN people. Stop watching Andrea M., Tur, etc on MSNBC. Just STOP.

[AllaN01Bear]

26. ktla 5 los angles.

[Bumbles]

32. I agree about Katie Tur and Andrea Mitchell. I don't know why Andrea's still around.

[dchill]

35. Chris Jansing plays a pretty good game of whatabout...

...also too.

[Bumbles]

47. Not wanting to be mean or petty, just giving advice.

Chris should ditch the make-up.

[William769]

14. K&R

[nycbos]

15. Helpful reminder about Twitter

https://newsletters.theatlantic.com/deep-shtetl/61e06b2c55e52500217add01/your-bubble-is-not-the-culture-lin-manuel-miranda-harry-potter/

[3825-87867]

16. Important point to remember about slamming TV

After you post about their reporting or whatever, make sure you tell them you DID NOT WATCH the commercials.
If you watch them, CNN et al could care less about your bitching,

Just a thought.

[liberalla]

20. That's a good suggestion. Thanks.

[flashman13]

17. I'm going to go to bat for Tapper and Bash - sort of. They were instructed by CNN management

not to fact check Trump or hit him with follow ups. Like good minions they did what they were told. The right thing to do would have been to resign and walk off the set. I don't think they would have had trouble finding new jobs.

Why did management set them up to be the fall guys (persons, whatever)? Because CNN and all of the other MSM outlets are terrified of Trump if he is reelected.They are hedging their bets. They think if they make nice to him now he won't shut down their organizations and cart people off to the camps when he gains power. How stupid can you get? If they were to consult a few history books they would learn that the dictator always makes good on their promises and take down their detractors and critics. If you have watched the Handmaids Tale you will remember when June/Offred is hiding in the basement of the closed down newspaper building and finds the wall riddled with bullet hole and covered in blood stains. You might call it the last stand of the free press. That is the reality of dictatorship.

[liberalla]

23. Maybe after this backlash they won't agree to these conditions again! And maybe other "journalists" will

steer clear and refuse to accept similar conditions and/or requirements!

I can hope!

[NoRethugFriends]

49. maybe they should be bashed for being good minions

[tavernier]

21. They were just following orders.

Ring any bells?

I really want to know what school teaches a journalist to listen to a presidential nominee telling the country one lie after another, and refuse to contradict him with the truth or a hint of caution to the public?

But there are those here who disagree and think it is fine.

[senseandsensibility]

29. I actually have a minor in journalism from a well regarded journalism dept

so I can tell you that no reputable journalism training does that.

[sheshe2]

33. All True...

Also a candidate that is a convicted felon.

I know some say that they were just following orders for the debate, however they never seem to pushback on their own shows either. They have no spine.

[dchill]

37. And I'm just following odors.

[Bev54]

24. The no fact checking seems to be a last minute decision and who made that decision is the question

CNN just cannot help but hitting themselves in the face constantly. They are all terrified of Trump, that is evident, not just CNN but most MSM. The cowardice of the US media is astounding to me. Thankfully there are a lot of really good independent journalists, they really need to be put forward. It would take a miracle for them to be put out front and center but should be highlighted here far more than they are. I have stopped watching most of the cable news except for a couple of programs on MSNBC and none on CNN. I read a lot more independents because nobody is actually getting the news on cable, they are getting surface fluff and very important issues are not even covered.

[moose65]

39. And isn't it funny....

MAGA types still rail against CNN as an agent of the so-called “liberal media.” Blows my mind.

[LAS14]

48. It was announced from the very beginning. I thought it was dumb at the time. nt

[Cha]

25. I was hoping that

Was It!

Mahalo S&S🕯️🕊️💙🌊

[wolfie001]

30. They should have stopped the debate after every lie Dump told

And then cut into it and examined it and then provide Joe with a rebuttal. That would've been much more informative.

[SocialDemocrat61]

31. Remember

Three years ago Tapper slammed President Biden everyday over the withdrawal from Afghanistan. He loved slamming Obama too. He’s been a RW hack since his ABC days.

Bash routinely praised Trump including on January 6 for his hostage video. Years before that she stepped down as a trustee of Jewish Women International because of its abortion-rights advocacy.

Never trusted either of them.

[senseandsensibility]

34. I do remember

And that was the beginning of the decline in Biden's polls.

[elleng]

36. It was in the reporting that I recall.

Sorry they're getting slammed for doing their job(s,) even if their job(s) were mistaken.

[Xavier Breath]

46. I recall hearing about it beforehand as well.

My impression of what was reported was that they were not going to fact check Trump unless he said something so outrageous/obvious that it necessitated correcting. Apparently, to their way of thinking anyway, nothing he said throughout the evening ever managed to meet that threshold.

[elleng]

50. Thanks, and as it turned out, almost everything he said met that threshold.

[Seinan Sensei]

40. They're getting a million-bucks to read questions?

Hell, I'll read BOTH their questions for half that amount.

[senseandsensibility]

41. Lol

And they have help writing them as well. Sweet gig.

[WarGamer]

42. it might have been part of the deal... Trump acted like he was ready to LIE LIE LIE.

[Rebl2]

45. Good

Never watch cnn and haven’t in years. Glad tapper and bash are being called out for THEIR poor performance.

[senseandsensibility]

53. Yes, where are the standards for journalism?

Does it not exist anymore?

[Silent Type]

51. I can't believe we are trying to blame this on everyone who doesn't deserve the blame. I tried to

rationalize the debate based upon colds, medication reaction, tiredness, too much information, etc.

It ain’t working.

[Sea A Chell]

54. I propose a revised debate format with real-time fact-checking

For dealing with someone who spews lies like Trump, the old format just doesn't cut it. I think the debate sponsor should announce that the moderators will fact-check in real time. I think the moderators should allow one minute for an answer. Then the moderators will have up to one minute to fact-check what was just said. If no fact-checking is required, then the candidate can use the extra minute. This rewards those telling the truth. By pausing after every answer for potential fact-checking, this would provide facts when they're needed. And knowing he'd be fact-checked in real time might dissuade a liar from even accepting a debate in the first place. It shouldn't be the opponent's job to fact-check a liar like Trump, who has used Steve Bannon's "flood the zone with sh*t" strategy to run over the media. Enough is enough.

[senseandsensibility]

55. Welcome to DU!

You made some very good points!

[Nixie]

56. That wasn't a "debate." It was a one-sided QAnon orgy of disinformation that is being legitimized

and carried mainstream now by the likes of news outlets like CNN. Nothing Trump said was legitimate discourse in the context of a debate. It was all conspiracies, intentional disinformation and distortion, outright lies, verbal abuse. As has been brought up here, "informational warfare" which is a great term for what we saw, although it is not information in the true sense. It was just plain verbal abuse. A lot of people are taken aback by a barrage of verbal abuse. That's what looked to be the case with Biden. He's an old-fashioned politician with gentlemanly good manners, and to be barraged with nothing but lies is not something easy to prep for.

These "debates" are getting to be very unnecessary and maybe need to be completely overhauled. Something like cutting the mic's if the questions are not answered directly.

Tapper and Bash acted very meekly, as I saw it, probably so that trump wouldn't attack them. Everyone has to act that way around him.

But if nastiness and lies are the new norm, then Biden could say ultra personal things, too. Asking why Trump's own wife wasn't there to support him -- did she not want to hear about his sex with a porn star? Where is all the money his daughter and her husband got from Saudi Arabia. Why was there a Russian jet parked next to trump's plane? What did Trump say to Putin in their private meeting. Why would you tell American's to inject bleach? Yikes, if it's just a shitshow, then don't worry about prep. Just insult away.

[senseandsensibility]

57. I'd love to see some of the Dems

leaking to the press about Joe stepping down taking your attitude instead. I mean sometimes I feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone.

[Nixie]

58. It really is all very strange. I saw a conspiracy article that this early

debate was planned before our convention to see how Biden did against Trump so this replacement dialogue could start in time for the convention. I agree it's all very odd.