A disgrace to journalism

Yes, Joe Biden had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad debate. Instead of quieting critics who insist he is too old and feeble to handle the job which requires decision-making, not talking, he only gave those critics sound bites to make their point.

But Biden’s performance was nowhere near as disgraceful as that of the CNN moderators, who simply ticked off pre-written questions from their lists, posed no followups and allowed Donald Trump to spew lies for 90 minutes.

That’s stenography, not journalism.

It hardly matters that CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale went on the air after the debacle, er, debate, to point out nine Biden and 30 Trump combinations of mistakes and outright lies. The damage was done.

After pointing out Biden falsehoods involved the unemployment rate, the number of illegal border crossings under his administration, and Trump wanting to get rid of Social Security, Dale switched gears:

“The Trump list, it is way, way longer. So deep breath, he said. Some Democratic states allow people to execute babies after birth, an egregious lie that is illegal in every state. He said everybody, even Democrats who wanted Roe v Wade, overturn Roe, supported by two thirds of Americans, even more Democrats. He said every legal scholar who wanted roe overturn abortion returned to the states. Legal scholars have told me directly this is not true. He said the U.S. currently has the biggest budget deficit ever. No, that happened under Trump in 2020.

He said the U.S. currently has a record trade deficit with China. That also happened under Trump in 2018. He said Biden personally gets a lot of money from China. Zero evidence of this. He said there were no terror attacks during his presidency. In fact, there were multiple attacks. He said Iran didn’t fund Hamas, Hezbollah or other terror groups under his presidency. Iran, in fact, did. He said Biden wants to quadruple people’s taxes. That is pure fiction. He said the U.S. has provided way more aid to Ukraine than Europe had. It’s actually the opposite. He said the U.S. has provided about $200 billion in Ukraine aid. It’s closer to 110 billion. He said 18 or 19 million people have crossed the border under Biden.”

That’s closing the barn door after the horses bolted, ran down Main Street and pooped on the feet of unlucky pedestrians.

Boston College historian Heather Cox Richardson said there’s an equestrian-like technique to describe Trump’s modus operandi that’s particularly effective on debate opponents who struggle with stuttering: the Gish gallop:

“The Gish gallop is a rhetorical technique in which a person in a debate attempts to overwhelm their opponent by providing an excessive number of arguments with no regard for the accuracy or strength of those arguments. Gish galloping prioritizes the quantity of the galloper's arguments at the expense of their quality.”

In less formal terms, it’s known as flooding the zone with s—t.

Perhaps even more egregious is the way moderators Jake Tapper and Dana Bash let the twice-impeached, four times indicted, convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records to influence the 2016 election, found civilly liable for fraud and sexual assault, skate on two of the most significant questions.

When asked about those convictions, Trump offered his usual attacks on the judicial system before pivoting to Hunter Biden’s conviction on gun charges. And the fact he faces another trial later this year.

True, but the younger Biden is not running for president. And Trump is facing three more trials, two of which he has successfully delayed thanks to a corrupt Supreme Court and a judge he appointed who is either incompetent or corrupt.

Then there was his traditional rambling lie about accepting the results of the 2024 election if they are “fair.” This from a man who contested both the election he won and the one he lost — both at the ballot box and in 62 failed lawsuits.

And Trump’s response to the insurrection he stands accused of aiding and abetting was pure, unadulterated gobbledygook, claiming he offered to send in troops but was rejected:

“Nancy Pelosi — if you just watched the news from two days ago — on tape to her daughter who’s a documentary filmmaker, they say, but she’s saying, “Oh, no, it’s my responsibility. I was responsible for this.’ Because I offered her 10,000 soldiers or National Guard, and she turned them down.” 

Journalists would have asked follow up questions challenging those lies. Particularly when they are based on selectively doctored tapes.

As usual, post-game analysis has focused on Biden’s performance, which started out disastrously before he gained some toehold. But he will be judged by a cold-induced raspy voice outing for which he was over-coached.

And Trump, if the past is prologue, will skate in the media analysis because we have come to accept his lies as normal.

The ultimate loser in last night’s monstrosity? The American people.