Wednesday morning, all three networks displayed their allegiance to the Democrat party by continuing to completely ignore a huge scandal that broke yesterday about how Jill and Joe Biden met. Even as the former second lady appeared on ABC, NBC and CBS’s morning shows for interviews following her husband's nomination last night, the journalists used the opportunity to schmooze with Biden and throw softball questions instead of asking about her ex-husband's claims she cheated on him with then-Senator Joe Biden.
George Stephanopoulos was practically giddy to be talking to Biden on ABC’s Good Morning America. Acting like a friend more than a journalist he repeatedly teased her:
“We all got a kick out of that celebration last night. Which grandkids were in charge of the confetti and balloons?” he said, grinning. Afterwards the GMA anchor complimented Biden on her “right cross punch.” He even egged her on to punch the president for his “rough and personal” attacks against her husband (click "expand"):
STEPHANOPOULOS: We learned a lot about you in that video last night as well including the time you punched a bully in the face to defend your sister.
BIDEN: Yeah.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Have there been times during the campaign when you felt like doing that?
BIDEN: [Laughs] Not really, no.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But it is getting pretty rough --
BIDEN: I think my punching days are over.
STEPHANOPOULOS: I don’t know, it seemed like you had a pretty good right cross in the video. It is getting pretty rough and personal on the campaign trail right now. The president and his campaign have made direct attacks including a brand-new ad campaign on your husband's mental faculties. How do you respond to that?
Gayle King on CBS was also sympathetic about Biden facing scrutiny. She asked about how Biden “got past” the “unfair attacks” from the primary debates to choose Kamala Harris as his VP, before inviting Biden to shoot down Trump’s questions about her husband’s mental acuity:
“President Trump has questioned Joe Biden's mental fitness and cognitive skills. What do you want us to know about that?” King posed.
The CBS anchor got more friendly to close the interview. She teased Biden about being the kind of grandmother who pranks her grandkids and wakes up early to exercise. “What do you want us to know about you, Jill Biden, as a grandmother? I love that!” she fawned.
Savannah Guthrie on NBC's Today was also concerned Joe Biden was facing too much scrutiny (certainly not from the media!). She whined, "Politics is tough. You’re not a stranger to it." Guthrie teed up Biden to decry how unfair questioning her husband's cognitive abilities was, even though Guthrie herself had no problem asking these questions about Trump:
And you know how hard it can be. You’ve got to have a thick skin. The President’s campaign this week released an ad just really attacking your husband’s cognitive abilities, suggesting that he’s lost a step or two in the last few years. As far as you’re concerned, is that a fair attack? Is that something that should be debated as part of the campaign?
Guthrie even praised Jill Biden as “fiercely loyal,” an eye-popping compliment to pay someone whose ex-husband accused her of cheating on him:
“Well, fierce is a word that could be described for you. You are said to be fiercely loyal,” she gushed.
Guthrie was also the only journalist to float the Democrat conspiracy about Trump trying to rig the election, asking repeatedly if she was "worried" and "concerned" about the Post Office and the "fairness of the election."
Biden's latest scandal coverup was paid for by Dove and Walgreens. You can tell NBC, ABC and CBS's advertisers how you feel about this here.
Here are the questions from all three networks:
CBS This Morning:
8/19/20
7:07:27 AM EST-7:13:49 AM EST
GAYLE KING: I want to talk about last night because, listen, the Biden family has had two presidential campaigns that didn't work out. Joe Biden was vice president, and now you all are in striking distance of the white house. What does this moment mean to you and your family?
(...)
KING: You say that with such confidence. Why?
(...)
KING: You gave very touching analogies last night about the family tragedies and uniting a family and now uniting a country. Michelle Obama said the other day that Donald Trump is not in the man who can meet this moment. What did you make of her speech as you were watching it? As you know, she said out loud to everyone "I hate politics." But it was a very political, very heartfelt speech. What were you thinking as you were watching it?
(...)
KING: You're in such a unique position, Dr. Biden, because, listen, it's well-known how much you love teaching, how much you love your career, how much your students love you. We're in such a very vulnerable place in this country about kids going back to school. Whether it's safe to go, should they go, the president says it's time. What are your thoughts as we sit here and decide what is right for America's children?
(...)
KING: You know, in the tape last night, you said when Joe Biden became vice president you had to step it up. You had to kick it up a notch. If you become first lady of this country, what do you have to do? What are you thinking?
(...)
KING: Will you continue teaching?
(...)
KING: In the classroom, you’ll go every day -- ?
(...)
KING: Let's talk about the biden/harris ticket. Because many people thought how will Joe Biden be able to get past the kerfuffle they had in the debate and the bigger question is how will Dr. Jill Biden get past it as the wife of someone who many people thought was unfairly attacked in the debate. How do you get past that? The thinking is he would not have picked Kamala Harris had you not signed off on it.
(...)
KING: President Trump has questioned Joe Biden's mental fitness and cognitive skills. What do you want us to know about that?
(...)
KING: All right, Jill Biden. The campaign's just getting under way. You can't campaign the way you'd like to, you can't connect with people face to face. How do you intend to connect with people under these circumstances and then we'll let you go.
(...)
KING: I'm all zoomed out. I don't know about you. Oh one more thing I saw on the tape. Your grandchildren described you as not the typical grandmother. They said that you're the type, you're a prankster, you wake them up the 5:00 to go soul cycling. I call that child abuse on Christmas eve. What do you want us to know about you, Jill Biden, as a grandmother? I love that.
(...)
KING: Jill Biden, we'll see you on the campaign trail.
NBC’s Today:
Today
08/19/20
7:06 AM
SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: And joining us now, fresh off that speech late last night is Dr. Jill Biden. Dr. Biden, good morning. You're nice to get up early because I know it was a late night. You’ve given –
JILL BIDEN: Yes. Good morning.
GUTHRIE: Yeah, good morning. But we’re in the same boat here. You’ve given many convention speeches after all these years, but never like this, never in an empty classroom. Do you feel you got your message across?
(...)
GUTHRIE: I’m sure you’re following the news. You’ve seen that the Postmaster General has decided to suspend those cutbacks that had certainly left him open to a lot of criticism. Do you worry about the election, the fairness of the election, voting?
(...)
GUTHRIE: Are you concerned by what you’ve seen with the recent activity at the Post Office?
(...)
GUTHRIE: Let’s talk about schools. As we well know, you are an educator. You are a community college professor yourself. We’ve seen what’s happened at Notre Dame, just announcing they have to suspend in-person classes after a week. We saw it at other schools so far. Do you think it was a mistake to have college campuses open, just given what we know about college kids, frankly?
(...)
GUTHRIE: Tonight is of course Kamala Harris’s big moment. You were definitely a part of that process, that selection process. Tell us about why she was chosen. Why did your husband choose her as his running mate?
(...)
GUTHRIE: Well, fierce is a word that could be described for you. You are said to be fiercely loyal. We all know and remember that Democratic debate back in June of last year, Kamala Harris really took it to your husband in a pretty personal way on the issue of race and segregation. Was that a tough hurdle for you personally to overcome?
(...)
GUTHRIE: Politics is tough. You’re not a stranger to it. You’ve been in it, your husband’s been in the Senate since the ’70s.
BIDEN: Forever.
GUTHRIE: Yes, forever, so you know it well. And you know how hard it can be. You’ve got to have a thick skin. The President’s campaign this week released an ad just really attacking your husband’s cognitive abilities, suggesting that he’s lost a step or two in the last few years. As far as you’re concerned, is that a fair attack? Is that something that should be debated as part of the campaign?
BIDEN: No, no, it’s ridiculous.
(...)
GUTHRIE: Let’s talk about the campaign. I mean, polls have your husband ahead, a tightening race though. How confident are you going into this election and do you worry about overconfidence on the part of Democrats?
(...)
BIDEN: So I think we have, what, 80-something days left.
GUTHRIE: But who is counting, right, Dr. Biden? Thank you so much –
BIDEN [Laughs]: But who’s counting.
GUTHRIE: Up late, up early, we really appreciate your time, thank you.
BIDEN: Thanks, Savannah.
ABC’s Good Morning America
8/19/20
7:06:05-7:09:52 AM EST
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Good morning, Dr. Biden. Congratulations on last night's nomination.
JILL BIDEN: Thank you. Good morning.
STEPHANOPOULOS: You know, we all got a kick --
BIDEN: I hope everybody is safe.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Everybody is doing well. Thank you very much. We all got a kick out of that celebration last night. Which grandkids were in charge of the confetti and balloons?
(...)
STEPHANOPOULOS: You know, on a more serious note this nomination is something your husband first sought more than 30 years ago and as you recounted last night those years have been filled with peaks but also some very deep valleys for your family so when the cameras were gone, just of two of you, what were you feeling in that moment?
(...)
STEPHANOPOULOS: We saw you in that classroom last night. If you were teaching right now how would you be feeling about going back into the classroom and trying to balance both your desire to get there and teach the kids and real fear about the pandemic?
(...)
STEPHANOPOULOS: We learned a lot about you in that video last night as well including the time you punched a bully in the face to defend your sister.
BIDEN: Yeah.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Have there been times during the campaign when you felt like doing that?
BIDEN: [Laughs] Not really, no.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But it is getting pretty rough --
BIDEN: I think my punching days are over.
STEPHANOPOULOS: I don’t know, it seemed like you had a pretty good right cross in the video. It is getting pretty rough and personal on the campaign trail right now. The president and his campaign have made direct attacks including a brand-new ad campaign on your husband's mental faculties. How do you respond to that?
(...)
STEPHANOPOULOS: He's been at it for an awful long time. There’s no question about that. You've seen the job of first lady up close. If you win in November, what are you most excited about? What is your biggest fear?
(...)
