Fox News’ Howard Kurtz Calls Out CNN, Anderson Cooper Over Softball Questions at Biden Town Hall
Fox News’ MediaBuzz host Howard Kurtz criticized CNN’s Anderson Cooper for giving 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden softball questions during the CNN town hall last week.
“Anderson Cooper moderated a CNN town hall with Joe Biden and let’s just say he didn’t exactly grill the former vice president,” said Kurtz on his show, Sunday, before playing a compilation of questions Cooper, including, “How are you preparing for debate?” “I’m wondering what you expect the days and weeks after the election to to look like,” “There are a lot of people who worry about a breakdown of law and order in this country, are you one of them?” and “Do you think it’s still possible to reach across the aisle?”
Kurtz then added, “Anderson Cooper asked only a couple skeptical questions by my count,” and asked, “Given the way that President Trump is aggressively questioned in interviews, at press conferences, at the ABC town hall with George Stephanopoulos, doesn’t this reinforce the impression that the media kind of go easy on Joe Biden?”
Wilson Center President and former Democratic congresswoman Jane Harman responded, “Well, what I thought was interesting about that town hall which I watched was the interaction between Biden and the audience sitting in front of their cars in a sort of outdoor format where it was social distanced and complying with health guidance, which I think is a good thing.”
Harman also said that Biden had a good rapport with the audience members who asked questions, as opposed to town halls where Trump has faced tough questioning, though said she thought Biden “was treated fairly and it was his best performance that I’ve seen.”
“He was really passionate, he really connected with the audience and on issues like Scranton versus Wall Street, he was just superb,” she claimed.
Kurtz replied, “It’s in part because of the questioners selected by CNN. 3 were Republicans, 13 were Democrats, so I wonder if these softer interviews really help Biden prepare for what are going to be the tough fall debates beginning with Chris Wallace in a couple of weeks.”
Harman responded, “I’m a member of the Presidential Debates Commission and I’m likely to be in Cleveland. The moderator, in case you missed it, is Fox’s own Chris Wallace and I think that will be a very interesting faceoff, and I don’t know how it’s going to go.”
“Their styles couldn’t be more different. Trump is all swagger and Biden is all compassion character and substance,” she concluded. “It’s very different, and we will see what voters want.”
Watch above, via Fox News.
