In the wake of Democrat Doug Jones winning the Alabama Senate race the previous night, many in the liberal media were celebrating Wednesday as analysts predicted dire days for the GOP in the near future. The same was true for CBS Evening News where they spent the first 7 minutes and 36 seconds (over three different segments) touting the result and hyping Democratic divination of future elections.
“And good evening. It's the Alabama election with an impact across the country. Doug Jones is heading to the U.S. Senate,” announced anchor Jeff Glor as the show came on the air. “When Jones takes office next month, the Republican advantage in the Senate will shrink to just one seat, 51 to 49. That will make it more difficult for President Trump to get his agenda passed.”
The first segment was narrated by reporter Manuel Bojorquez, who declared that “Alabama voters rolled back the political tides yesterday.” He highlighted the efforts of the Jones campaign in the days leading up to the election: “Jones was able to energize a traditionally weak Democratic network here … He was buoyed by millions in outside money and outspent Moore on campaign ads by 5-1.”
“His campaign says supporter knocked on 300,000 doors and made more than a million phone calls. And Jones had multiple campaign appearances a day while Moore shied away from cameras, dogged by allegations of sexual misconduct with teenage girls,” Bojorquez added.
Bojorquez was followed up by Congressional Correspondent Nancy Cordes who showed off how exuberant the Democrats were. “Jubilant Democrats said a win in deep red Alabama shows they can easily pick up seats in Arizona and Nevada next fall and retake control of the Senate,” she noted after playing a clip of a happy Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) speaking at a press conference. “Pennsylvania's Bob Casey said the GOP’s on the ropes.”
There wasn’t much acknowledgment that the reason Republican candidate Roy Moore lost was because he had sexual misconduct accusations against him, said America was great during slavery, and argued that the county would be better off if over half of the constitutional amendments didn’t exist. “But Republicans like Iowa's Chuck Grassley insisted last night's loss had to do with one flawed candidate, nothing more,” Cordes seemed to halfheartedly note.
Only in the third segment did someone from CBS warn to not read too much into the results of the Alabama election. “Well, we don't want to go too far in over-reading the result in Alabama. As one Republican put it to me today: ‘We don't expect to have anybody accused of assaulting underage people in any of these other races,’” stated Face the Nation anchor John Dickerson.
CBS's excitement for a Jones victory was sponsored by Trulicity, Nexium, Ancestry DNA, and Wonderful Pistachios.
Relevant portions of the transcript below:
CBS Evening News
December 13, 2017
6:31:20 PM EasternJEFF GLOR: And good evening. It's the Alabama election with an impact across the country. Doug Jones is heading to the U.S. Senate. He narrowly defeated Republican Roy Moore by about one and a half points. Moore still hasn't conceded. When Jones takes office next month, the Republican advantage in the Senate will shrink to just one seat, 51 to 49. That will make it more difficult for President Trump to get his agenda passed. Still, he phoned Jones to offer his congratulations and Mr. Trump took some consolation in reminding folks that he once predicted correctly that Moore couldn't win. We begin tonight with Manuel Bojorquez in Alabama.
[Cuts to video]
MANUEL BOJORQUEZ: Alabama voters rolled back the political tides yesterday.
(…)
BOJORQUEZ: Jones was able to energize a traditionally weak democratic network here.
(…)
BOJORQUEZ: He was buoy by millions in outside money and outspent Moore on campaign ads by 5-1.
(…)
BOJORQUEZ: His campaign says supporter knocked on 300,000 doors and made more than a million phone calls. And Jones had multiple campaign appearances a day while Moore shied away from cameras, dogged by allegations of sexual misconduct with teenage girls.
(…)
6:34:17 PM Eastern
NANCY CORDES: Republicans were so relieved today you'd think they picked up a seat.
(…)
CORDES: Jubilant Democrats said a win in deep red Alabama shows they can easily pick up seats in Arizona and Nevada next fall and retake control of the Senate. Pennsylvania's Bob Casey said the GOP’s on the ropes.
(…)
CORDES: But Republicans like Iowa's Chuck Grassley insisted last night's loss had to do with one flawed candidate, nothing more.
(…)
