As Joe Biden swept several more Democratic primaries Tuesday night, CNN anchor Jake Tapper warned of “getting real 2004 vibes,” referring to the failed presidential campaign of John Kerry. Tapper particularly lamented how Democratic voters were behaving like “a bunch of Rachel Maddows and Chris Hayess” by trying to decide on the most electable nominee.
“To be completely frank, I’m getting real 2004 vibes tonight...Democrats want to defeat an incumbent Republican so badly...that they decide which one is electable...and they decide, okay, it’s John Kerry, or in this case it’s Joe Biden,” Tapper declared early in the 10:00 p.m. ET hour, after Biden won primary contests in Mississippi, Missouri, and Michigan.
Tapper fretted that such a “huge coalescing” around Biden, as well as an effort to “end the primary process as soon as possible” and “coronate” him with the nomination, could ultimately weaken the former Vice President’s candidacy in the general election.
The Lead host recalled how George W. Bush’s reelection campaign “feared Howard Dean more” in 2004, since the former Vermont governor “was drawing much bigger crowds than John Kerry was able to.”
Tapper worried that voters were acting more like liberal pundits on a rival cable channel:
But the point is that when you have the Democratic electorate deciding hat they are all a bunch of Rachel Maddows and Chris Hayess and the like, that they’re just, you know, progressive pundits and they’re going to pick out who is the best one, maybe they don’t necessarily always know what they’re doing.
Wonder why Tapper didn’t call Democratic voters “a bunch of Chris Cuomos and Don Lemons”?
Here is a transcript of the March 10 commentary:
10:12 PM ET
(...)
JAKE TAPPER: To be completely frank, I’m getting real 2004 vibes tonight. Which is, Democrats want to defeat an incumbent Republican so badly, Democratic voters I mean, that they decide which one is electable and – they decide which one is electable and they decide, okay, it’s John Kerry, or in this case it’s Joe Biden. There’s a huge coalescing around that person, they want to end the primary process as soon as possible, and then basically they coronate this person.
Now, what did we learn in the last few weeks? Mark McKinnon, former George W. Bush adviser, told me that actually they feared Howard Dean more. Because Howard Dean, even though he was less predictable, there was a starker difference between Howard Dean and George W. Bush and he was drawing much bigger crowds than John Kerry was able to. And Howard Dean – we had him on the Sunday show – and Howard Dean said, “Now you tell me.”
But the point is that when you have the Democratic electorate deciding hat they are all a bunch of Rachel Maddows and Chris Hayess and the like, that they’re just, you know, progressive pundits and they’re going to pick out who is the best one, maybe they don’t necessarily always know what they’re doing.
(...)
