Submitted for your consideration...

[SensEye]

I don't really think CNN were soft balling Trump. They just gave him a platform. Sure it was a bit of a ratings grab, but Trump is the most likely Republican nominee so it's kind of unfair to just try to suppress him. I suspect FOX would happily provide the same opportunity to Biden, but his handlers would never allow it. His dementia is far too severe to allow him exposure to a hostile moderator even if the crowd was pro Democrat.

The complaints mostly strike me as people who just don't want to hear Trump because they never want to hear anything that might offend them. Not that they don't have the right to get offended, but like superstition, cancel culture ain't the way.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

In my observation they're getting blowback for soft balling a fascist and being simply surprised that fascists are gonna fasc. Its essentially the plot of Grizzly man but with cnn thinking they could count on a bear to not be a bear then being seemingly surprised when the bear does what it was always going to do. I dont think as many leftists think cnn represents the left in any real way the whole centrist angle seems more like a fishhook in practice, so while I agree with the importance of knowing what exactly Peter Vollmer is, I'm less inclined to think any one source is gonna be all or even most of the sauce of all the ins and outs, but then it went exactly like everyone knew it would the only people seemingly surprised...were the fine politeish folks at cnn. It's show biz, it puts butts in seats and fills audience for the commercial sponsors to offer hope while the talking heads offer only confusion surprise and soft worded fear. news is a rabbit hole and that's funny for a whole other thing, but I digress. But then I enjoy a bit of caberettheres so little thats actually in trump that he's easy to project whatever you need into him and he'll fit that for a while, but never forget favors are for you to do for him.

The blowback I'm seeing seems justified given that they did this for purely mercenary reasons. It is far from the first time a media outlet has done this with Trump for sake of the ratings, but the media outlets often counteracted this by acting horrified. They would enable him with one arm while providing righteous indignation with the other as the profits roll in

I'm glad that the righteous indignation isn't shielding these folks from what they did this time.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

I don't really think CNN were soft balling Trump. They just gave him a platform. Sure it was a bit of a ratings grab, but Trump is the most likely Republican nominee so it's kind of unfair to just try to suppress him. I suspect FOX would happily provide the same opportunity to Biden, but his handlers would never allow it. His dementia is far too severe to allow him exposure to a hostile moderator even if the crowd was pro Democrat.

The complaints mostly strike me as people who just don't want to hear Trump because they never want to hear anything that might offend them. Not that they don't have the right to get offended, but like superstition, cancel culture ain't the way.

CNN makes lots of money from stunts like while presenting themselves as the the neutral fourth estate, the good guys. But there's no way I'd ever see anything like this for candidates like Bernie Sanders or anyone in the squad. You'd get a lot of questions like " Senator, Why do you want to make everyone poor?" I've watched debates, these people definitely pick favorites.

It tells me a lot about who people at CNN are comfortable with, which tells me who they really are.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

I just see media outlets as gatekeepers, not associations of neutral independent profressionals, and you can learn a lot from who they see fit to gatekeep.

Facts, the truth, nobody's cared about these things for decades.

 

[SensEye]

Well, yes, CNN is no different than any other media network. But still, 'mainstream' media is still the main information path for the average citizen. Even if you could find a not for profit, non ideological platform (on social media I suppose, but without funding to provide moderation, even those degenerate into a shit show), not enough people would tune into it such that you would end up with a well informed public.

So given that, I would say CNN did the right thing, even if they did it for primarily ratings reasons. I'd like to think a properly centrist mainstream media outlet would draw even better ratings, but given the media landscape today, it seems confirming your audience bias is the way to go. Heck, CNN is probably only considering moving more to the center because plan A led them to the ratings dumpster.

PS> I'd be fine with CNN (or any media outlet) giving some other political notables town hall style like air time too. But you have to draw the line somewhere. I don't want to see every loud mouth politician getting involved. I suspect the Biden camp would decline even a friendly town hall, maybe Harris could take a shot, see if she could avoid her typical word salad nonsense when given direct questions. I'd happily listen to some of the other potential Republican candidates. I'd like to hear want a non Trump or Trump imitator (i.e. not DeSantis or Haley or that ilk) would have to say on the issues.

It would be a real benefit if somebody sensible could go on one of these types of show, impress a wide spectrum of voters, get name recognition, and then oust one of tweedledee or tweedledum from the frontrunner position (I leave assigning which is Trump and with is Biden as an exercise for the reader).

 

[Virtual ghost]

In my observation they're getting blowback for soft balling a fascist and being simply surprised that fascists are gonna fasc. Its essentially the plot of Grizzly man but with cnn thinking they could count on a bear to not be a bear then being seemingly surprised when the bear does what it was always going to do. I dont think as many leftists think cnn represents the left in any real way the whole centrist angle seems more like a fishhook in practice, so while I agree with the importance of knowing what exactly Peter Vollmer is, I'm less inclined to think any one source is gonna be all or even most of the sauce of all the ins and outs, but then it went exactly like everyone knew it would the only people seemingly surprised...were the fine politeish folks at cnn. It's show biz, it puts butts in seats and fills audience for the commercial sponsors to offer hope while the talking heads offer only confusion surprise and soft worded fear. news is a rabbit hole and that's funny for a whole other thing, but I digress. But then I enjoy a bit of caberettheres so little thats actually in trump that he's easy to project whatever you need into him and he'll fit that for a while, but never forget favors are for you to do for him.

To be honest I think that liberal media messed this up the most they could have. CNN did what they did but the blowback was a complete disaster if you read it between the lines. Since the scale of the blowback was so large that in a sense they have kinda proven that Trump is right and it was indeed kinda rigged. It really is not on the media to ignore top politicians and say stuff like "You can't let him speak!" on ALL channels in the prime time. Thus this kinda really made a complete underdog out of Trump ... and it is all on tape and some on the right already have it in a loop. Plus we both know how much American culture likes rude underdogs. It would have really been better that they all just ignored what happened on CNN.

 

[The Cat]

 

[The Cat]

 

[The Cat]

"Governor DeSantis will be the first presidential candidate in history to announce their presidential campaign using the celebration of queer existence, the fight for civil rights and dignity to show the most radical conservatives in America he is the choice over former president Donald Trump."
​

 

[The Cat]

 

[The Cat]

 

[The Cat]

 

[SensEye]

Hmm. I think the same thing could be said about Biden. He's not as clearly demented as Feinstein, but same kettle of fish. I can't for the life of me understand why the Democrats (as in the power brokers of party) are so behind him. Survey after survey shows that Biden is not popular with his own voters and even with the rank and file elected Democrats in his party.

Yet there is no move to replace him as leader for the next election? I can see no good reason not to, many good reasons for doing so, and only nefarious reasons for keeping him around.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Hmm. I think the same thing could be said about Biden. He's not as clearly demented as Feinstein, but same kettle of fish. I can't for the life of me understand why the Democrats (as in the power brokers of party) are so behind him. Survey after survey shows that Biden is not popular with his own voters and even with the rank and file elected Democrats in his party.

Yet there is no move to replace him as leader for the next election? I can see no good reason not to, many good reasons for doing so, and only nefarious reasons for keeping him around.

I'm guessing it's because he did beat Trump (who also seems "out of it" at times); I'm pleasantly surprised that it happened and still can't figure it out. I think people thought the exact same things about Biden in in 2020 and it didn't hurt him in the general at all.

Now the primary was a different matter. I'm not discussing that beyond saying that I actually posted a speculative strategy of Biden's path to victory which ended up being the exact thing that happened. It's probably based on mere superstition, but I've since made a decision not to comment too much on current political races.

Given that it looks like Trump will be running again, I think Biden is actually a pragmatic choice.

 

[SensEye]

Given that it looks like Trump will be running again, I think Biden is actually a pragmatic choice.

While I admit I can't think of any good alternatives to Biden (Bernie is too left wing, Harris too unlikeable, none of the other 2018 candidates had much appeal). However, given they have 2 years (and had 4) one would think the Dems could find somebody palatable to pick up the baton.

I think Trump is the only possible Republican nominee that Biden can beat. Even DeSantis (basically Trump lite) would smash Biden in the general (I believe anyway). It's sad to think Biden fans are actually rooting for Trump just because he is the only guy their man can beat (maybe). OTOH, I think any any respectable middle of the road Democrat would destroy Trump. Biden might squeak it out. And you know another close loss by Trump will start another election fraud circus.

 

[The Cat]

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

While I admit I can't think of any good alternatives to Biden (Bernie is too left wing, Harris too unlikeable, none of the other 2018 candidates had much appeal). However, given they have 2 years (and had 4) one would think the Dems could find somebody palatable to pick up the baton.

I think Trump is the only possible Republican nominee that Biden can beat. Even DeSantis (basically Trump lite) would smash Biden in the general (I believe anyway). It's sad to think Biden fans are actually rooting for Trump just because he is the only guy their man can beat (maybe). OTOH, I think any any respectable middle of the road Democrat would destroy Trump. Biden might squeak it out. And you know another close loss by Trump will start another election fraud circus.

Hillary was a respectable middle of the road Democrat that didn't beat Trump.

Now that I know how it turned out, I wish I paid more attention in the general in 2020, to be able to create a good comparison and figure out what happened. I saw more of the 2016 campaign than I wanted and every time I saw something from the Hillary campaign it gave me a sinking feeling (which I then ignored because "experts" said it was in the bag).

 

[ceecee]

While I admit I can't think of any good alternatives to Biden (Bernie is too left wing, Harris too unlikeable, none of the other 2018 candidates had much appeal). However, given they have 2 years (and had 4) one would think the Dems could find somebody palatable to pick up the baton.

I think Trump is the only possible Republican nominee that Biden can beat. Even DeSantis (basically Trump lite) would smash Biden in the general (I believe anyway). It's sad to think Biden fans are actually rooting for Trump just because he is the only guy their man can beat (maybe). OTOH, I think any any respectable middle of the road Democrat would destroy Trump. Biden might squeak it out. And you know another close loss by Trump will start another election fraud circus.

It's one thing to be an all out authoritarian/fash in Florida. It's another to try to put it on the country. He also has no charisma whatsoever - Trump has lots. Trump also has incredibly violent and gullible supporters that like to cry about imaginary grievances. People are also finally discovering that the GOP is not a coalition party - it doesn't matter if it's a Republican mayor in a small town or a US Senator. The platform is identical.

 

[ceecee]

Well, yes, CNN is no different than any other media network. But still, 'mainstream' media is still the main information path for the average citizen. Even if you could find a not for profit, non ideological platform (on social media I suppose, but without funding to provide moderation, even those degenerate into a shit show), not enough people would tune into it such that you would end up with a well informed public.

So given that, I would say CNN did the right thing, even if they did it for primarily ratings reasons. I'd like to think a properly centrist mainstream media outlet would draw even better ratings, but given the media landscape today, it seems confirming your audience bias is the way to go. Heck, CNN is probably only considering moving more to the center because plan A led them to the ratings dumpster.

PS> I'd be fine with CNN (or any media outlet) giving some other political notables town hall style like air time too. But you have to draw the line somewhere. I don't want to see every loud mouth politician getting involved. I suspect the Biden camp would decline even a friendly town hall, maybe Harris could take a shot, see if she could avoid her typical word salad nonsense when given direct questions. I'd happily listen to some of the other potential Republican candidates. I'd like to hear want a non Trump or Trump imitator (i.e. not DeSantis or Haley or that ilk) would have to say on the issues.

It would be a real benefit if somebody sensible could go on one of these types of show, impress a wide spectrum of voters, get name recognition, and then oust one of tweedledee or tweedledum from the frontrunner position (I leave assigning which is Trump and with is Biden as an exercise for the reader).

They did do it for ratings. The new head of CNN has said as much, it's also why they have fired nearly all their long time staff. They want Tucker lite. They think the $$ is in right wing politics and it probably is. Sensible doesn't get ratings or ad dollars so there is no point in it. The best people can do is look for independent investigative journalism to stay informed. But as far as moderate politics and politicians - that ain't gonna work. The GOP has pulled things so far right, you need progressives and more left leaning to bring it back to center.

 

[The Cat]