CNN Hails 'Home Run Derby of Speeches' at DNC

The Democratic Convention produced a "home run derby of speeches," insisted CNN's John King early Friday morning on Piers Morgan Tonight. This came after CNN hailed Michelle Obama's DNC speech as "probably a grand slam" and Bill Clinton's DNC address as "one of the great modern political speeches I have ever heard."

"But over all, Democrats have to leave this town pretty happy. Still a close election, but Democrats have to leave happy. They had three very good nights, a home run derby of speeches," hyped King. [Video below the break. Audio here.]

"There are things you can nitpick," he added, as though Obama's failure to mention his own stimulus bill and his near-absent defense of ObamaCare in his case for re-election was a trifling matter for critics to "nitpick" over. King added the speech was "very smart, strategically."

The night before, CNN slobbered over former President Clinton's DNC speech and Piers Morgan was at it again on Friday, lauding the speech and begging for Clinton to return to the presidency.

"[A]re we going to look for a repealing of the 22nd Amendment? Is there any way we could get Bill back? And if you can't have him, can we have him in Britain to be Prime Minister?" Morgan asked. "He clearly did incredibly competently," he said of the speech, adding the fact-checkers have "hardly got him on anything."

And instead of asking if Obama's own comparison to FDR was a valid one, CNN simply gave a thumbs-up to the President. "Quite smart, I thought. FDR, long painful road to recovery, was the clear message," sounded Morgan.

Political analyst Gloria Borger noted the President's appearance of "humility" for quoting Lincoln. "And the Lincoln quote shows a sort of sense of humility about the office, which is I think what you need to do when you're President of the United States," she said.

Wolf Blitzer was impressed by President Obama's oratory skill, even after conservatives like Charles Krauthammer panned the speech. "But the folks obviously, at least inside this building, and I suspect around the country, were thrilled at what the President had to say. Anderson, he clearly still has that oratorical skill that he's always had over these many years," said Blitzer.

A transcript of the segment, which aired on September 7 on Piers Morgan Tonight at 12:01 a.m. EDT, is as follows:

[12:01]

JOHN KING: This was a more workmanlike speech trying to make a case, but it was very smart, strategically. Now, will his new promises be believed? That's an open question. He's an incumbent president, he's made some mistakes, but I think he's smart to acknowledge his mistakes, he used the word "failings." (...) So I think he had a smart speech that was directed at both his strategic and his tactical concerns. And you add the whole convention up, I think Democrats had some missteps about the platform, maybe they will reverberate down the road. But over all, Democrats have to leave this town pretty happy. Still a close election, but Democrats have to leave happy. They had three very good nights, a home run derby of speeches.

PIERS MORGAN: I would go along with that. I think to me, it was nowhere near as rousing, emotional, passionate as Bill Clinton's speech last night, but then there are very few speakers in history who could manage that kind of rhetoric. And he probably placed it quite deliberately, I think Barack Obama, slightly less in the messaniac [sic] nature of some of his early speeches.

I was struck by two things. One, comparing himself to FDR. Quite smart, I thought. FDR, long painful road to recovery, was the clear message. And also quoting Lincoln, a great quote. "I've been driven to my knees many times by the overwhelming conviction I had no place else to go." Two pretty good presidents to compare yourself to.

GLORIA BORGER: Yeah it is. And the Lincoln quote shows a sort of sense of humility about the office, which is I think what you need to do when you're President of the United States.

(...)

JOHN KING: There are things you can nitpick. Political reporters would say the President didn't give a full-throated embrace of ObamaCare, didn't mention it specifically, didn't mention somebody's struggled. Didn't use the word "stimulus" or "Recovery Act," mentioned some of the plus  – so some people will say he's running from some of his accomplishments. People will legitimately say why not more specifics. But the overarching arc here is the Democrats had three very good nights of produced television. They leave here with energy. They came in with a slight advantage.

MORGAN: Gloria, I mean the reason I think Bill Clinton was so effective, they've been trying to fact-check him all day long. They've hardly called him out on –

BORGER: He fact-checks himself. Right?

MORGAN: Actually that is not even a joke. It is a serious thing. He clearly did incredibly competently. They've hardly got him on anything.

(...)

MORGAN: What about my gut feeling, which is when I was watching Bill Clinton – and no offense, because I know it's all about Barack Obama – but are we going to look for a repealing of the 22nd Amendment? Is there any way we could get Bill back? And if you can't have him, can we have him in Britain to be Prime Minister?

KING: He would very much like that, and if you would help him do that, he'd also repeal any other amendment so that you could be his vice president, Piers.