CNN in Love: Bash Buys Cori Bush's Savior Shtick

August 8th, 2021 7:27 PM

Fresh off of her comments to CBSN about needing private security as she calls for the defunding of police to leave her constituents unprotected from violent offenders, Squad member and Congresswoman Cori Bush (D-MO) was welcomed like a conquering hero Sunday morning on CNN's State of the Union as co-host Dana Bush bought into Bush's savior shtick.

Teasing the segment, Bash said that with her recent sit-in on the Capitol steps, Bush had thrown "millions of struggling Americans a potential lifeline."  And Bash praised Bush for "forcing action."

The CNN host was effusive in her praise as she began her questioning of Bush by throwing her, if not a lifeline, then a super-slow pitch softball, asking how her children feel about her advocacy (click "expand"):

For her, it's personal. This week, for several days, and nights, Democratic Congresswoman Cori Bush, who once lived in a car with her two children, slept on the steps of the Capitol, pushing Congress and the President to help keep millions of Americans from facing eviction. And it forced something you don't see here in Washington very often: action. 

She joins me live now from St. Louis. Thank you so much, Congresswoman, for joining me. You've talked a lot over the last week about how personal a fight this was for you, being evicted three times yourself, including while you were raising two young children. And I'm going to ask you about some of the details of what happened. But before, I can't help but wonder, given the fact that you raised those kids, now they're grown up, what did they think of your efforts?

 

 

Bash was also very understanding about Bush's defense of spending big on personal security while calling for the police to be defunded, saying she wanted to "emphasize" that she knew that Bush had received death threats.

And picking up on something Bush had said, Bash asked whether her defending personal security for herself while calling for police to be defunded was a communication problem. 

But what of the countless people across America whose lives are also threatened by criminals? Bash never pressed Bush on the double-standard hypocrisy of her position: protection for me but not for thee.

By defunding the police, the "work" Bush liked to talk about doing wouldn't save lives—it would cost them!

CNN's Dana Bash buying into Rep. Cori Bush's savior shtick was sponsored in part by T-Mobile, Ensure, Flex Seal, and Coventry Direct. Their contact information is linked.

Here's the relevant transcript. Click "expand" to read (emphasis mine).

CNN's State of the Union
08/08/21
9:27 am EDT

DANA BASH: A sit-in on the steps of the Capitol gets the President's attention and throws millions of struggling Americans a potential lifeline. How did Congresswoman Cori Bush get the White House to act? She joins me next. 

(....)

BASH: Welcome back to State of the Union. For her, it's personal. This week, for several days, and nights, Democratic Congresswoman Cori Bush, who once lived in a car with her two children, slept on the steps of the Capitol, pushing Congress and the President to help keep millions of Americans from facing eviction. And it forced something you don't see here in Washington very often: action. 

She joins me live now from St. Louis. Thank you so much, Congresswoman, for joining me. You've talked a lot over the last week about how personal a fight this was for you, being evicted three times yourself, including while you were raising two young children. And I'm going to ask you about some of the details of what happened. But before, I can't help but wonder, given the fact that you raised those kids, now they're grown up, what did they think of your efforts?

CORI BUSH: To them, it's, like, this is what mom does. Mom, you know, mom fights for everyone. And they've seen me do this, whether sleeping out on the streets to help in my own community, you know, to -- to raise awareness of what's happening to our unhoused community members, to fighting for justice for Michael Brown, you know, whose -- who, the anniversary of his death is tomorrow. 

And so my children have seen this over and over again. And they stand with me. You know, they've been radicalized, too. So, they're -- this is who they want to see their mother, you know, this is who they know.

(....)

9:36 a.m. Eastern

BASH: Congresswoman, I want to ask about the criticism that you're facing about comments you made in an interview this past week. I want our viewers to listen.

BUSH [on CBSN, 08/03/21]: I'm going to make sure I have security, because I know I have had attempts on my life. And I have too much work to do. There are too many people that need help right now for me to allow that. So if I end up spending $200,000, if I spend $10 more on it, you know what? I get to be here to do the work. So, suck it up. And defunding the police has to happen. We need to defund the police.

BASH: So, I know you've seen that Republicans are pointing to the fact that you said you have your own security. But almost in the same breath advocating for defunding the police. Now, I do want to emphasize, I understand you have security protection because you have received multiple death threats. But the clip that I just played is being used in attack ads against not you -- not just you, but other Democrats. So could those comments wind up being harmful to your fellow Democrats politically speaking?

BUSH: I think what we have to look at is the fact that I made it to Congress in -- in 2020. I was elected to Congress. And we are still fighting this same fight. We're still fighting to save black lives. That was not -- that work was not done before I got here. This is the reason why I ran, was to save lives, to save my son's life. It was because Michael Brown, who we're fighting for, still trying to get justice for. It's because he didn't get justice and Vonderrit Myers didn't get justice, and Kajieme Powell didn't get just and so many others.

That is why. And because that was not -- that was not fixed before I got here, to then come at me and say you're the reason we have these problems. No, the reason we have these problems is because those that were in power and could have fixed this problem before now didn't and it cost lives. 

(....)

9:39 a.m. Eastern

BUSH: As my colleagues, you know, I absolutely empathize. I empathize. But you know what? The same thing that the Republicans would do, which is figure out how to work with this, on a comms basis, that's what we have to do. My job is to save lives. The lives in my community.

(....)

9:39 a.m. Eastern

BASH: And I hear what you are saying, but I also heard you say you think it's a comms problem. Is it that? Because --

BUSH: No. I'm saying we can also -- that's another way that you can tackle this. You have to tackle it from more than one place. We have to work on what we want to say. What is our message? But then we also have to understand if -- we have to save lives, too.