Three days before CNN’s Republican presidential candidates debate, Jake Tapper, the moderator of it, predicted at least one of those on stage will try to distract from the real issues by attacking him. “I anticipate that at some point somebody is going to take a shot at me as the straw man, as the stand-in for the media writ large,” Tapper forecast Sunday morning from the site of the debate, the Reagan Presidential Museum and Library.
Reliable Sources host Brian Stelter had asked him about being targeted by Donald Trump, as occurred to FNC’s Megyn Kelly at the first debate. Tapper offered: “I don’t know that it will be Donald Trump any more than it’s going to be Carly Fiorina or Ben Carson.”
He saw it as part of the Republican Party’s DNA: “I mean, the media is a whipping boy, and it’s a Republican debate. Let’s be frank, Republicans often take issue with the media writ large.”
Tapper, from Simi Valley, California, on the September 13 Reliable Sources:
I anticipate that somebody -- and I don’t know who, but I anticipate that at some point somebody is going to take a shot at me as the straw man, as the stand-in for the media writ large. I don’t know how it’s going to happen. I don’t know when it’s going to happen. I don’t know who it’s going to do -- who is going to do it. We should probably lay some bets down in Vegas as to what is going to be the one who does it. I don’t know that it will be Donald Trump any more than it’s going to be Carly Fiorina or Ben Carson. I mean, the media is a whipping boy, and it’s a Republican debate.
You know, let’s be frank, Republicans often take issue with the media writ large. So it could happen. My job is just to, if they’re raising an issue that I think needs explaining, to explain quickly but generally just to move on to the next question. Look, ISIS, health care, jobs, these are topics that are much more important than me. So I’ll try to focus the attention where it needs to go.
My tweets highlighting other comments on the Sunday shows which I found noteworthy:
> Video of @GeorgeWill: “When the air starts leaking out of the Trump balloon, credit should go to @BobbyJindal”
> Video: @StephenFHayes: @realDonaldTrump “not a serious candidate...He says nothing of substance. Nothing.”
> Video: @Ron_Fournier explains @realDonaldTrump phenom: “Crazy, buts” – “Trump is crazy, but...” #MTP
> Video: @JohnDickerson notes conundrum of GOP voters who say they want conservatism but back Trump #FTN
