On Thursday’s CBS This Morning, co-host and Democratic donor Gayle King just could not believe that anyone would be unimpressed by the Democratic National Convention. After former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus dismissed Democrats using the same playbook against President Trump as they did in 2016, an exasperated King proclaimed: “Were you watching the convention last night?”
During a panel discussion early in the 8:00 a.m. ET hour that apparently was only meant to focus on how wonderful the Democratic Convention had been so far, King turned to Priebus and suggested that the GOP was struggling to criticize the far-left ideology of Kamala Harris: “Reince, you know, Republicans have painted Senator Harris as – some too progressive, others say she’s not progressive enough. How do you think that Republicans will take her on?”
Priebus rejected the premise, and instead called out the Democrats for delivering the same old tired lines of attack:
Well, look, I would go back to 2016. And what I saw last night and Monday and Tuesday was pretty much the same playbook....There was two themes at the Democratic Convention in 2016 – the qualifications of Hillary Clinton and the fact that Trump, they claimed, was too divisive. And the American people heard all that, they heard about the tweets, they heard about, you know, all the things that the Democrats didn’t like about Trump, and what did they do? They voted for Donald Trump....what the DNC is trying to do is sort of harken back to the way that things use to be....And I don’t think they’re doing anything differently in this convention that they’ve been trying basically since 2016.
Shocked by his analysis, King remarked in disbelief: “Really, Reince, were you watching the convention last night? It felt very different – ” Priebus shot back: “Yeah, I was...I watch it, I’ve got to do your show every night.”
He then explained that conventions don’t generally change many minds:
...conventions generally don’t include a lot of persuadable voters. What matters is how does the news play the next day? How does the news feed into folks that aren’t sitting and watching conventions, you know, virtually? Those types of people are – they have their minds set....So persuadable voters don’t watch virtual conventions.
Of course partisan hacks like King know how important media spin is when it comes to manipulating voters.
Looking to get a rave review of the DNC, she turned to Robby Mook, the former campaign manager for Hillary Clinton’s failed 2016 presidential bid. King marveled at the nasty and irresponsible rhetoric from disgruntled former President Barack Obama: “...he really issued a call, he said the democracy of this country is at stake. It was a code red, he called it, it seemed, a national emergency....at times it felt like he was pleading and imploring voters, Democrats and Republicans, to pay attention to this, that the democracy is at stake.”
Mook predictably agreed with her sycophantic praise: “And I think part of what President Obama was trying to do was send out that call, that beacon to everybody, to say we can’t sit back....I think that was a very important piece of work here....it was very important to put people on notice, we all got to do our part.”
Making it clear she wanted to do her part for the 2020 Democratic ticket, King hailed: “I thought, too, President Obama made a point of saying that, listen, he was a better president because of Joe Biden. I thought he made that case very well.”
Why does CBS even allow Gayle King to cover politics when she is so obviously in the tank for Democrats and has a laundry list of political conflicts of interest? The answer is simple: The media work for the Democratic Party.
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Here is a transcript of the August 20 exchange:
8:07 AM ET
(...)
GAYLE KING: Reince, you know, Republicans have painted Senator Harris as – some too progressive, others say she’s not progressive enough. How do you think that Republicans will take her on?
REINCE PRIEBUS: Well, look, I would go back to 2016. And what I saw last night and Monday and Tuesday was pretty much the same playbook. If you go back and watch Hillary Clinton’s speech in 2016, she said that Trump creates a movement – a moment of reckoning. Barack Obama said that Trump was full of hate and anger. There was two themes at the Democratic Convention in 2016 – the qualifications of Hillary Clinton and the fact that Trump, they claimed, was too divisive. And the American people heard all that, they heard about the tweets, they heard about, you know, all the things that the Democrats didn’t like about Trump, and what did they do? They voted for Donald Trump, they drained the swamp, and crushed the way that things used to be. And so, what the DNC is trying to do is sort of harken back to the way that things use to be. You know, let’s go back to that. And they’ve got to make the case for Joe Biden. And I don’t think they’re doing anything differently in this convention that they’ve been trying basically since 2016.
KING: Really, Reince, were you watching the convention last night? It felt very different –
PRIEBUS: Yeah, I was –
KING: I know you were. I know you were, I’m being facetious.
PRIEBUS: I watch it, I’ve got to do your show every night. But no – look, people that watch these live – we have to watch it, you have to watch it, conventions generally don’t include a lot of persuadable voters. What matters is how does the news play the next day? How does the news feed into folks that aren’t sitting and watching conventions, you know, virtually? Those types of people are – they have their minds set. They know what they’re doing. They either love Trump or they don’t love Trump, or they don’t know much about Biden, but they know they don’t like the President, so they’re watching. So persuadable voters don’t watch virtual conventions.
KING: But, you know, Robby, last night the President – President Obama said something that I thought was very interesting. He said most voters may have already made up their minds. But he really issued a call, he said the democracy of this country is at stake. It was a code red, he called it, it seemed, a national emergency, cleanup on aisle three. Where he – at times it felt like he was pleading and imploring voters, Democrats and Republicans, to pay attention to this, that the democracy is at stake. We have never seen anything like that before. What was your take on that, Robby?
ROBBY MOOK: Yeah. Well, you know, Reince was talking about 2016, you know, and Reince knows more about Wisconsin than me, but Donald Trump got less votes in Wisconsin than Mitt Romney, right? Trump didn’t win by getting more votes. Trump won by people either deciding not to turn out or voting for third-party candidates. And I think part of what President Obama was trying to do was send out that call, that beacon to everybody, to say we can’t sit back. You know, it’s getting harder to vote in some places because of COVID, because of efforts to suppress the vote. And he was saying you got to do everything you can to get that vote in. So I think that was very important. And to Reince’s point, you know, about who watches this, he was talking to the base. And we really heard the President – President Obama in particular – talking to young people. And so, I think that was a very important piece of work here. I get particularly worried, like 2016, we hear all the time Biden’s doing well, Biden’s doing well in the polls. This can change. And so, I think it was very important to put people on notice, we all got to do our part.
KING: I thought, too, President Obama made a point of saying that, listen, he was a better president because of Joe Biden. I thought he made that case very well.
(...)
