On Wednesday, the flagship morning news shows of ABC, CBS, and NBC made sure to tout President Biden’s Tuesday afternoon address in Las Vegas to the NAACP convention, but only played up sanguine soundbites calling for a lowering of the temperature of our civic discourse, not those saying Republicans want to “erase..history” and want to take away the “freedom” of black people.
So much for a cooling down after the Trump assassination attempt.
Take, for example, this clip in which he said Republicans are “risking people’s lives” and not only want to “undo everything they NAACP stands for”, but “deny you freedom”. Not just particular freedoms, but “freedom” period.
Turning down the temperature?
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 16, 2024
Biden: Trump and Republicans will “do everything – undo everything they NAACP stands for, but now they're trying to deny it. They’re lying about their Project 2025. They want to deny you freedom, the freedom of the vote, have your vote… pic.twitter.com/JoJJL7OFEE
That didn’t make the cutting room floor on any of the networks.
ABC’s Good Morning America were stenographers to power with co-host and former Clinton official George Stephanopoulos saying Biden was “on the trail in Nevada” and then chief White House correspondent and lead Biden apple polisher Mary Bruce touting Biden as “out here hitting the trail hard, pledging he is all in on this race”.
Bruce continued with two staid soundbites of Biden praising the NAACP and then another talking about the need to balance “lower[ing] the temperature” with “telling the truth” (click “expand”):
BRUCE: Overnight, President Biden firing up the Democratic Party’s base —
BIDEN: I’m a lifetime member of the NAACP. [CHEERS AND APPLAUSE] And I am all in! [CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
BRUCE: — glad handing as he reaches out to critical black and Latino voters, with polls showing signs their support is slipping. All as he fights to show doubters in his own party he has what it takes to beat Donald Trump.
(....)
BRUCE: Back on the trail for the first time since the attack against Trump, he’s urging Americans to cool down the political temperature, but not shying away from drawing a sharp contrast.
BIDEN: Now, just because we must lower the temperature and our policy is veradivsposiv [sic], doesn’t mean we should stop telling the truth.
BRUCE: Biden fired up, but some in his party still not convinced.
How about this part of Biden’s speech where he said not only have Republicans “eviscerated affirmative action” and want to “decimate diversity, equity, and inclusion all across American life,” but “bann[ed] books” and want “to erase Black history”, including the history of lynchings?
Again, none of them cared to mention this apocalyptic talk.
NBC’s Today barely brought up Biden’s NAACP speech as his kowtowing to the far-left and endorsing bids to change the Supreme Court was far more interesting.
Just over a minute after co-host Savannah Guthrie noted Biden was “hitting the campaign trail in another crucial swing state, Nevada” and senior White House correspondent Gabe Gutierrez led off with the so-called court reforms, but then arrived at Biden’s speech with a pointless soundbite:
GUTIERREZ: Meanwhile, President Biden is back on the campaign trail in Nevada, referencing Mr. Trump’s comments from the debate about immigrants taking, “black jobs.”
BIDEN: Folks, I know what a black job is. It’s the Vice President of the United States.
CBS Mornings had a 28-second news brief with fill-in co-host Adriana Diaz saying Biden used the speech to highlight the fact that Americans can disagree, but must remember we’re each other’s family members and friends:
DIAZ: President Biden is back on the campaign trail courting black and Latino voters in the key battleground state of Nevada. He spoke at the NAACP’s national convention yesterday, his first political speech since Saturday’s shooting at Donald Trump's rally.
BIDEN: Got to remember — in America, we're not enemies, we're friends, we're neighbors, we're fellow Americans. Most importantly, we must fully and firmly reject not only political violence but violence of any kind.
In other words, no time for Biden’s handlers writing standard talking points trashing American as having been a place filled with “racism and violence” and that it can’t be allowed to return to those ugly days (i.e. if Republicans win).
To see the relevant transcripts from July 17, click here (for ABC), here (for CBS), and here (for NBC).
