On Tuesday’s morning news shows, ABC and CBS dredged up a five-year-old gaffe from former Governor of Texas Rick Perry in an effort to delegitimize Donald Trump’s pick for head of the Department of Energy. ABC in particular seemed to go out of it’s way to make Perry appear ridiculous, playing an especially embarrassing clip from Perry’s time on Dancing With the Stars. The malicious reporting is just the latest in a trend of the networks bashing Trump cabinet picks.
Correspondent Tom Llamas began Good Morning America’s report on the Perry pick by highlighting a derogatory comment Perry made about Trump during the primaries.
LLAMAS:[P]erry, who once compared Trump to cancer…
Llamas also noted that Perry, “famously forgot he wanted to abolish the energy department,” referring to a gaffe during the 2012 election’s primaries, where Perry appeared to have an embarrassing brainfreeze moment.
ABC also played a clip of Perry on the reality television show, Dancing With the Stars, dancing hip-hop with Vanilla Ice.
Over on CBS This Morning, correspondent Nancy Cordes also drug up the gaffe from 2011. In her report, she stated the “The two-time Presidential candidate once proposed eliminating the Energy Department, though it famously slipped his mind at a 2011 debate.”
Continually reminding viewers of Republicans’ past mistakes, real or imagined, is a favorite pastime for the networks. When Rick Perry was indicted in 2014 for abuse of power after allegedly trying to strongarm a political rival, the networks couldn’t get enough of the gossip, devoting almost a half hour to the story in just two days. When Perry was cleared of any wrongdoing earlier this year, the networks were mute.
Continually reminding viewers of Republicans’ past mistakes, real or imagined, is a favorite pastime for the networks. When Rick Perry was indicted in 2014 for abuse of power after allegedly trying to strongarm a political rival, the networks couldn’t get enough of the gossip, devoting almost a half hour to the story in just two days. When Perry was cleared of any wrongdoing earlier this year, the networks were mute.
