It's apparent to everyone that our media elites adored Barack Obama, in deeply embarrassing fashion. But on Monday's CNN This Morning, Don Lemon protested when co-host Kaitlin Collins relayed "Democratic party leaders say that President Biden may still be the ticket for 2024 even if they're not passionate about him."
CNN's Isaac Dovere (who used to be hyphenated Edward-Isaac Dovere) reported that party leaders "just don't feel that exact passion, that love for him, that maybe they felt for President Obama."
Lemon then piped up to defend the Big Guy. He claimed that there is a "disconnect between the people and the party leaders. The people love him! The people on the street love him." Actually, a majority of the "people" right now disapprove.
Ben Smith of Semafor was on the set, and although he hadn't been scheduled to speak in that segment, Lemon enlisted him to support his claim about the "disconnect" between party leaders and the Biden-loving "people." The best Ben could come up with was saying that many black Democrats in South Carolina love Biden (since they put him on track for the nomination in 2020). Not exactly a broad cross-section of the electorate.
Lemon then pitched in with his evidence in support of his theory: a poll with a sample size of exactly one—his own mother—whom Lemon described as a "church lady," and who "loves Biden."
Earlier in the segment, Collins had displayed a poll showing that 58% of Democrats want someone other than Biden as their 2024 candidate. Are they non-persons, Don?
On CNN This Morning, Don Lemon claiming there is a "disconnect" between Democrat party leaders who are not enthusiastic about Biden, and "the people, who love him," was sponsored in part by Google, Jackson Hewitt, ADT, and Liberty Mutual.
Here's the transcript.
CNN This Morning
2/6/23
6:31 am ETKAITLIN COLLINS: We also have new CNN reporting this morning about what's happening in Washington, as Democratic party leaders say that President Biden may still be the ticket for 2024 even if they're not passionate about him.
. . .
ISAAC DOVERE: I was in Philadelphia last week for that meeting of the Democratic National Committee. Those are the state party chairs, the most involved party operatives. And they say, look, they are so happy with what Biden has gotten done. Really satisfied with the sense of calm that he's brought to a lot of things in Washington and in the party overall.
But they just don't feel that exact passion, that love for him, that maybe they felt for President Obama, or that Republicans in the base feel for Donald Trump.
I was talking to Jaime Harrison, the DNC chair, about this, and he said to me, look, you don't find Joe Biden's face on a t-shirt. That's true. But Donald Trump's face might be on a t-shirt. He lost in 2020.
. . .
DON LEMON: Can we just bring Ben in now? Because we're going to talk to him about something else. We'll leave that for later.
Because I want you to respond to this. Is this -- is this a disconnect between the people and the party leaders? Because if you look at what happened with Biden, you know, he made the speech, and he went to the convention, whatever.
People love him! The people on the street love him. But the people in the party are like, eh, I'm not so sure. So, is this real?
BEN SMITH: You know, I think there are a lot of Democratic voters, particularly, for instance, black voters in South Carolina, who really love Joe Biden. And that's why nobody is going to run against him. For whatever party elites feel, sort of journalists feel about him, actually.
That said, he's not a movement candidate. He's not filling stadiums. But, um, that's how he won the first time, by being good enough for most Democrats.
. . .
LEMON: There're so many different things about Biden that people like my mom, who is the sort of, you know, church lady, every Sunday, votes, rain, snow, sleet, snow or shine. She loves Biden. It doesn't matter. The classified documents, she goes, well, Trump had -- the whole thing. And then you read what the Democratic party leaders say, and it's just sort of a disconnect. I just want to know what is real.
SMITH: I mean, that's been, that's been how he -- that's why he's president.
LEMON: He's defied logic for most people at least. At least expectation. Thank you, Ben.
