ABC’s Good Morning America upheld its distinction Wednesday as the worst of the liberal broadcast network as they framed Tuesday’s lone vice presidential debate through the lens of the liberal media’s pet issues — abortion and January 6 — and arguing the election’s “really not...about policy” or pesky concerns Americans have about their livelihoods. Rather, it’s about stopping Republican Senator JD Vance (OH) and boosting Democratic Governor Tim Walz (MN).
The worst came in the so-called analysis section. Co-host and former Clinton official George Stephanopoulos began with correspondent Mary Bruce — who’s Disney’s in-house North Korean news lady for the left — to explain away Walz’s performance, remarking that “the Harris campaign zeroing in on that last question” on January 6.
Bruce giddily proclaimed that back-and-forth “was the moment that defined this debate” for her friends in the Harris-Walz camp in which Walz “defend[ed] the Constitution”, revealing “they are rushing to get out an ad on that exchange what — what Walz called — Walz — what Walz called Vance’s damning non-answer.”
Bruce downplayed Walz’s struggling performance, insisting he only needed “a little while to hit his stride” and shake off “the nerves” before he could “articulate the issue[s].”
Chief Washington correspondent and three-time anti-Trump author Jonathan Karl was supposed to talk about how the Trump-Vance team is reacting to the latter’s debate performance, but largely deemed that irrelevant.
After wish-casting discord (without evidence) on the ticket with Trump being jealous of Vance’s accolades, Karl groused that Vance was “civil”, “rational,” and “very reasonable” before moving onto what he thinks the election is about.
Karl first seemed to take a dig at CBS moderators Margaret Brennan and Norah O’Donnell by lamenting it took “90 minutes into this debate before you hit the fact that this is not a normal election, that Donald Trump tried to overturn the last election.”
“[I]n that last answer, what you saw is J.D. Vance saying he wouldn’t do what Mike Pence did. He wouldn’t stand up to Donald Trump if he tried to do it again. He would help him and he would have helped him last time overturn an American democratic election,” he added, showing more passion about that than Americans struggling to buy groceries or a home.
Karl tripled down this should define the election: “You finally got to that at the end. But, for the first 90 minutes or so, this looked like it is simply a campaign about policy differences. And it’s really not, George. It is more than that.”
Stephanopoulos — who reportedly makes $15 million and thus doesn’t have to care about the economy — agreed: “It is. It is absolutely stunning the only time in American history it has ever happened.”
Rewinding to the start of the show, Stephanopoulos hit that note in the opening tease: “Vance refuses to admit Trump lost the 2020 election as they sparred over the economy, immigration, and abortion.”
ABC had its resident Trump-hating correspondent Rachel Scott on the case for the traditional segment offering debate highlights. After noting the lack of “name calling” and “personal insults”, she went to January 6:
Overnight, in what is likely the last debate before the November election, the two vice presidential candidates sparring over the results of the last election with Senator JD Vance refusing to admit his running mate, Donald Trump, lost.
After back and forth with two Walz soundbites and one from Vance, Scott kept beating the dead horse: “Tim Walz challenging Vance to say Trump was defeated, pointing out Trump’s former Vice President, Mike Pence wasn’t on the debate stage because he stood up to him on January 6th.”
Scott broadened out, briefly acknowledging “[m]uch of the debate was civil and cordial, focused on policy, from immigration to abortion rights” even though “Walz got off to a shaky start, appearing to be nervous” and “mixing up Israel and Iran.”
“Both candidates asked to explain their past comments. Walz asked about false claims he made that he was in Hong Kong during the democracy protests back in 1989...and Vance pressed on his own words from 2016, claiming Trump was unfit for the nation’s highest office,” she added.
The niceties ended there as she used the rest to lambaste Vance over abortion and the hubbub surrounding Springfield, Ohio and then Trump as a coward for not wanting a second debate with Vice President Harris (click “expand”):
SCOTT: Vance was more measured than he has been on the campaign trail. After amplifying false claims that Haitian migrants in his home state of Ohio were eating neighborhood pets, the Ohio senator now shying away from it on the debate stage. But, after an intense exchange on the issue, the moderators muting the candidates microphones. Vance cut off.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Gentlemen, the audience can’t hear you because your mics are cut. We have so much we want to get to. Thank you for explaining the legal process.
SCOTT: The other major issue? Abortion rights. Walz placing the blame on Donald Trump for sweeping abortion restrictions in nearly two dozen states, telling the story of women impacted by the bans.
WALZ: How can we as a nation say that your life and your rights as basic as the right to control your own body is determined on geography?
SCOTT: And Donald Trump has bragged about appointing three of the Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade, but Vance acknowledging Republicans have to do better on this issue.
VANCE: My party, we’ve got to do so much better of a job at earning the American people’s trust back on this issue where they frankly just don’t trust us And I think that’s one of the things that Donald Trump and I are endeavoring to do. I want us, as a Republican Party, to be pro-family in the fullest sense of the word.
SCOTT: Yeah, the Trump campaign trying to make some inroads with likely female voters. So, this debate was civil. At times they even acknowledged where they have common ground. It was a much different tone from the last two presidential debates. But Donald Trump is holding firm. He made it clear he is not interested in another debate with Vice President Kamala Harris calling it too late even though he has participated in debates in late October in both 2016 and 2020[.]
To see the relevant ABC transcript from October 2, click here.
