As Republicans campaign by attacking Democrats on inflation, CNN Inside Politics host John King requested on Friday that people “give the Democrats some grace” because “governing is hard.”
King’s comments came after he played an ad attacking Sen. Mark Kelly on the issue, “It is much easier to be the opposition party… give the Democrats some grace. Governing is hard, especially when you have tiny margins. But—but that’s the challenge for Democrats, they need to get on the same page because the Republicans are just going to hammer with that.”
Capitol Hill reporter Melanie Zanona agreed. After noting that Democrats in swing races are facing inflation that is worse than the national average, she lamented, “Republicans are really seizing on this. They have spent twice as much on campaign ads as Democrats have, really hammering Democrats over this issue and when you ask Republicans, ‘well, what is your plan inflation,’ they don’t really have a specific answer, but privately they say ‘we don't need to, we can just continuously beat Democrats over the head with this.’”
The ad King played showed the narrator criticizing Kelly for reckless spending, so presumably that would be one GOP plan, but King ignored that and continued to portray the inflation issue as just part of a typical Washington blame game, “And so you have the conversation in Washington which makes it really important to get out in the country especially in campaign year. CNN’s Ryan Young is in Davenport, Iowa, just listen to this trucker.”
The trucker in question was a man named Gavin Disney who declared, “Everybody in D.C. needs to wake up and just think of, like, us, the small town guys. Like you said, the trucking industry, at one point in time, everything in this tent was on a truck at some point, so they need to stop thinking of themselves and just start thinking of the smaller guys. I mean, small guys get you everything you need.”
After the clip, King put heavy focus on the word “everybody,” as another way to let Democrats off the hook, “Now, the gentleman said everybody in D.C., everybody in D.C, that’s Gavin Disney there.”
Unfortunately, from King’s perspective, such pleas won’t help Democrats, “He says everybody, but the problem for the Democrats is they’re in charge.”
The Associated Press’s Seung Min Kim concurred, “I think sentiments like the gentleman there show why you have seen all of these polls recently that show the wrong track/right track for the direction of the country being so high when it comes to the wrong track and that’s never be good for the party in power despite what they’re doing.”
For CNN, the party in power passing a massive spending bill has no bearing on the state of the economy. Such logic, though, is only applied when that party wears blue.
This segment was sponsored by ClearChoice.
Here is a transcript for the July 15 show:
CNN Inside Politics with John King
7/15/2022
12:35 PM ET
JOHN KING: It is much easier to be the opposition party. Don’t you--
MELANIE ZANONA: Oh yeah!
KING: --Give the Democrats—give the Democrats-- some grace. Governing is hard, especially when you have tiny margins. But—but that’s the challenge for Democrats, they need to get on the same page because—
ZANONA: Yeah.
KING: -- the Republicans are just going to hammer with that.
ZANONA: Well, we should also point out in some vulnerable Democrats in these tough races in these tough races are facing inflation numbers that are even higher than the national average. In Phoenix, Arizona, for example, the average was up 12% over the last year and so this has been dominating conversations among vulnerable Republicans—Democrats and Republicans are really seizing on this. They have spent twice as much on campaign ads as Democrats have, really hammering Democrats over this issue and when you ask Republicans, “well, what is your plan inflation,” they don’t really have a specific answer, but privately they say “we don't need to, we can just continuously beat Democrats over the head with this.”
KING: And so you have the conversation in Washington which makes it really important to get out in the country especially in campaign year. CNN’s Ryan Young is in Davenport, Iowa, just listen to this trucker.
GAVIN DISNEY: Everybody in D.C. needs to wake up and just think of, like, us, the small town guys. Like you said, the trucking industry, at one point in time, everything in this tent was on a truck at some point, so they need to stop thinking of themselves and just start thinking of the smaller guys. I mean, small guys get you everything you need.
KING: Now, the gentleman said everybody in D.C., everybody in D.C, that’s Gavin Disney there. He says everybody, but the problem for the Democrats is they’re in charge.
SEUNG MIN KIM: Right, right, they’re in charge, but because of various issues such as, you know, a few certain senators, who don’t want to get onboard with the broader party’s agenda they really are, kind of, in this position where they feel like they can't do anything even though they have all levers of power and I think sentiments like the gentleman there show why you have seen all of these polls recently that show the wrong track/right track for the direction of the country being so high when it comes to the wrong track and that’s never be good for the party in power despite what they’re doing.
