After getting dragged during the 2018 midterms for her schoolgirl-like fawning for “rock star” Democratic Senate candidate Robert O’Rourke, ABC’s Paula Faris was at it again during Thursday’s World News Tonight where she looked at O’Rourke with doe eyes and asked: “Can hope, change, and unity beat Trump?”
“Hope, change, and unity?” The liberal media really want this failed candidate to be another Barack Obama.
Faris’s gushing was obvious right from the start. “He's sat down with Oprah, posed for Vanity Fair. But today, for the first time ever, Beto O’Rourke came here to Iowa to talk to voters,” she boasted as if those were actual accomplishments.
After touting how O’Rourke was “swarmed by cameras”, she beamed about how he “burst on to the national scene last year with his vigorous challenge to Republican Senator Ted Cruz. Electrifying massive crowds. Sharing his life on Instagram, at times, perhaps, oversharing.”
With obvious enthusiasm, Faris opined about how “his supporters are confident his energy can lift him even higher” and his “vow” to “run a positive campaign.” That’s when she shared her gooey question: “Can hope, change, and unity beat Trump? Or do you have to be a street fighter?”
As for those who were critical of the O’Rourke, she simply described them as his “doubters”.
Meanwhile, on CBS Evening News, political correspondent Ed O’Keefe began his report by gushing about how “O’Rourke kept a small footprint on his first day on the presidential campaign trail, even driving his own car.”
After quipping about how people in Iowa were still learning his name, O’Keefe noted they were still learning his policies such “universal healthcare, a pathway for citizenship for undocumented immigrants, and universal background checks for gun buyers.”
Despite playing a soundbite of an interview O’Rourke did with CBS This Morning co-host Gayle King where she questioned his lack of experience, O’Keefe was still in good spirits:
A recent poll of Iowa Democrats put O’Rourke in fifth place behind former Vice President Joe Biden, who is expected to join the race next month, and three senators. That's a decent start for the 46-year-old who lost a Senate race last year. But it's the fact that he lost by only three points in ruby red Texas, and how he did it, that has won him fans nationwide and worries other Democratic campaigns.
“He traveled with a small team, never hired consultants, and raised a record $80 million. His popularity stems in part from his constant use of social media, even during a dental cleaning,” O’Keefe boasted.
In contrast, White House correspondent Kristen Welker focused during her NBC Nightly News report on the “critics [who] question O’Rourke’s readiness for the job.”
“He had few accomplishments during six years in Congress and has struggled on policy questions,” she added. “Asked recently about a major immigration issue, what to do about people who overstay their Visas, O’Rourke telling The Washington Post, ‘I don't know.’”
The transcripts are below, click "expand" to read:
ABC’s World News Tonight
March 14, 2019
6:44:04 p.m. EasternDAVID MUIR: In the meantime, we turn to the race for 2020, tonight. Former Texas Congressman Beto O’Rourke, announcing he is in. And tonight, right here, our interview with him. And President Trump's response. ABC's Paula Farris is in Iowa.
[Cuts to video]
PAULA FARIS: He's sat down with Oprah, posed for Vanity Fair. But today, for the first time ever, Beto O’Rourke came here to Iowa to talk to voters.
ROBERT O’ROURKE: Hey, everybody. What's up?
FARIS: The former Congressman, swarmed with cameras. Just hours earlier, he'd announced his presidential campaign, his wife, Amy, by his side.
O’ROURKE This is a defining moment of truth for this country, and for every single one of us.
FARRIS: O’Rourke burst on to the national scene last year with his vigorous challenge to Senator Ted Cruz. Electrifying massive crowds. Sharing his life on Instagram, at times, perhaps, oversharing.
O’ROURKE: So, I'm here at the dentist.
FARIS: Still, his supporters are confident his energy can lift him even higher.
(…)
FARIS: O’Rourke has vowed to run a positive campaign. Can hope, change, and unity beat Trump? Or do you have to be a street fighter?
(…)
FARIS: At the White House, the President already taking aim.
DONALD TRUMP: Well, I think he has a lot of hand movement. I've never seen so much hand movement. I said: Is he crazy? Or is that just the way he acts?
FARIS: Among Democrats, O’Rourke has his doubters, as well. He did lose that Senate race, after all. His six years in Congress, largely unremarkable. I asked what sets him apart from the pack.
O’ROURKE: I want to be able to bring people together. We've had a history of being able to do that in El Paso, and in Texas. Ensuring the party affiliation or geography or race, doesn't separate us.
(…)
CBS Evening News
March 14, 2019
6:33:40 p.m. EasternJEFF GLOR: Beto O’Rourke jumped into the race for president today. The former Congressman from Texas is a proven fund-raiser with a broad following on social media. O’Rourke is the 13th Democrat to officially join the 2020 campaign. Gayle King sat down with him in Iowa, and Ed O’Keefe was there for his announcement.
[Cuts to video]
ED O’KEEFE: Like he did in Texas, Beto O’Rourke kept a small footprint on his first day on the presidential campaign trail, even driving his own car. Why did you choose to start in this corner of the state?
ROBERT O’ROURKE: This is a very important part of America that isn't listened to often enough.
(…)
O’KEEFE: Along with his name, voters are still learning what the former three-term congressman from El Paso stands for, including universal healthcare, a pathway for citizenship for undocumented immigrants, and universal background checks for gun buyers.
CBS This Morning cohost Gayle King spoke with O’Rourke for his first TV sit-down interview since announcing his candidacy.
GAYLE KING: People said we had a candidate who didn't have vast political experience, and maybe now this time we need somebody in the White House who has, you know, been around the block a few times, who has greater experience than yourself.
(…)
O’KEEFE: A recent poll of Iowa Democrats put O’Rourke in fifth place behind former Vice President Joe Biden, who is expected to join the race next month, and three senators. That's a decent start for the 46-year-old who lost a Senate race last year. But it's the fact that he lost by only three points in ruby red Texas, and how he did it, that has won him fans nationwide and worries other Democratic campaigns.
He traveled with a small team, never hired consultants, and raised a record $80 million. His popularity stems in part from his constant use of social media, even during a dental cleaning.
(…)
[Cuts back to live]
O’KEEFE: In a new cover story for Vanity Fair magazine O’Rourke expresses extreme confidence in his chances saying, quote, "I am born to do this.” At this Iowa coffee shop today, we met a man who showed up to see the Congressman because he put up a good fight in that Texas senate race. But, he said he's just beginning to shop for a presidential candidate. So are most Democrats.
