All three network morning shows on Wednesday failed their audiences as they refused to fact check a blatant lie by Joe Biden that state-led GOP efforts to pass voting security laws are the “most significant test of our democracy since the Civil War.” That’s just demonstrably untrue, but not only did ABC, CBS and NBC NOT fact check him, they promoted the lies, cheering the “passionate” Democrat.
Here’s the statement from Biden that got the networks so excited: “We're facing the most significant test of our democracy since the Civil War.” Of course, this ridiculous statement ignores lynchings, poll tests, literacy tests and other egregious anti-voting acts of terror. But the networks don’t care.
ABC and NBC led their programs with the quote. Good Morning America co-host George Stephanopoulos (a former Democratic operative) hyped, “Voting rights showdown.... President Biden blasts Republican-led efforts to restrict voting.”
Reporter Cecilia Vega sounded like a press release as she pushed the absurd comparison: “In the birthplace of American democracy, Philadelphia, President Biden delivering his most forceful condemnation yet likening Republican-led efforts to restrict voting to the Jim Crow south.” Vega then played the clip of the President lying.
Over on NBC’s Today, after highlighting Biden’s quote, Halle Jackson deemed the Democrat “passionate,” saying, “The President, passionate and pointed, demanding to an end to the recent wave of GOP-backed restrictive voting bills.
On CBS This Morning, guest co-host Adrianna Diaz opened the show by paraphrasing Biden: “President Biden says Republican attempts to restrict voting are the most significant test of our democracy since the Civil War.” Later, she uncritically touted the false claim again: “President Biden is condemning Republican efforts to restrict voting access calling it the most significant test of our democracy since the Civil War.”
Never in the show did Diaz point out the falsity of the statement. Former Education Secretary Bill Bennett, however, wouldn’t accept the President’s historical ignorance lightly. Appearing on Tuesday’s Special Report, he presented the facts that the networks don’t care about:
The President of the United States and his staff don't know any history. Under Jim Crow, you could not vote at all if you be were a black person. You could not get an education. You could not apply for certain kinds of jobs. If you looked the wrong way, you could be lynched. Please, a little modesty here in your characterizations and a little realism.
Facts, reality. These are foreign concepts to ABC, CBS and NBC.
The promotion of lies on CBS was sponsored by Amazon. On ABC, it was Verizon. On NBC, it was State Farm. Click on the links to let them know what you think.
Partial transcripts are below. Click “expand” to read more.
CBS This Morning
7/14/20217 AM tease
ADRIANNA DIAZ: President Biden says Republican attempts to restrict voting are the most significant test of our democracy since the Civil War. Why the GOP says Democrats' efforts to block a voting overhaul in Texas by fleeing to Washington is a stunt.
...
7:06DIAZ: President Biden is condemning Republican efforts to restrict voting access calling it the most significant test of our democracy since the Civil War. More than a dozen states have tightened their voting laws since the 2020 selection, according to one analysis. Ed O’Keefe is at the White House. Ed, there was one key issue that the president did not mention in his speech.
ED O’KEEFE: That's right, Adriana. Good morning, so far he has not joined the calls to end the filibuster, that Senate procedural tactic that can limit debate. Many Democrats believe that's holding up attempts to pass voting rights legislation without Republicans support. But even if the President suddenly endorsed ending the filibuster, he’d have to convince moderate members of his own party to do the same.
JOE BIDEN: 21st century, Jim Crow assault is real. It's unrelenting. We're going to challenge it vigorously.
O’KEEFE: Speaking from Philadelphia, the birthplace of American democracy, President Biden forcefully attacked voting restrictions being enacted in more than a dozen GOP-controlled states.
Good Morning America
7/14/2021
7 AM tease
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Voting rights showdown.
JOE BIDEN: We're facing the most significant test of our democracy since the Civil War.
STEPHANOPOULOS: President Biden blasts Republican-led efforts to restrict voting and the false claims of widespread fraud.
...
7:09
VEGA: President Biden is under growing pressure right now from even members inside his own party to do more, use his bully pulpit to speak out on voting rights and he did deliver on that and called this unconscionable but did stop short of calling for procedural changes in Congress that would allow Democrats to block some of these restrictions. In the birthplace of American democracy, Philadelphia, President Biden delivering his most forceful condemnation yet likening Republican-led efforts to restrict voting to the Jim Crow south.
BIDEN: We're facing the most significant test of our democracy since the Civil War.
VEGA: Just this year 17 states passing laws that restrict access to the polls, the President calling it an assault on democracy.
Today
7/14/2021HALLIE JACKSON: Dozens of those Texas Democrats are waking up in their hotel rooms here in Washington, here as part of a push to not just block that restrictive voting effort back home, but to convince Congress to do more nationally with the President putting the spotlight on all of it. President Biden this morning raising the stakes in the fight over voting rights.
JOE BIDEN: We're facing the most significant test of our democracy since the Civil War.
JACKSON: The President, passionate and pointed, demanding to an end to the recent wave of GOP-backed restrictive voting bills.
BIDEN: Stand up, for God sake, and help prevent this concerted effort to undermine our elections and the sacred right to vote. Have you no shame?
8:02
SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: We begin with the growing battle over voting rights in Texas and across the nation. The President lashing out against Republicans who want to restrict voting access, calling it the most significant test of our democracy since the Civil War.
