OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Critics criticized CBS News anchors Margaret Brennan and Norah O’Donnell for moderating the vice presidential debate on Tuesday night between Ohio GOP Sen. J.D. Vance and Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
Even after CBS said that live fact-checking would not be permitted during the debate, the moderators did it on multiple occasions. Vance implied that resources in Springfield, Ohio, are being overtaken by illegal immigrants; Brennan intervened to correct him.
“Just to clarify for our viewers, Springfield, Ohio does have a large number of Haitian migrants who have legal status, temporary protected status,” Brennan said.
As the moderators attempted to move on, Vance pushed back.
“The rules were that you guys weren’t going to fact-check,” Vance reminded them. “And since you are fact-checking me, I think it’s important to say what’s actually going on.”
When Vance was outlining the process for obtaining legal status and tying it to an immigration policy that Kamala Harris supported, the moderators cut him off once more. They thanked him for “describing the legal process” and then turned off his microphone when Walz tried to refute him.
Critics criticized the fact-checking by the CBS moderators.
“The moderators were obnoxious and made it feel like three on one on Vance,” Fox News’ Brit Hume reacted.
Fox News author Laura Ingraham called out the “smug, arrogant bias” of the moderators.
“Almost every question was designed to make Republicans look bad, slanting Trump’s views on childcare. And yet Vance seemed to take it all in stride. And he really, I think, with most questions, really showed his humanity and also his knowledge of the issues,” Ingraham said.
Critics also took to social media to pile on the CBS anchors.
“Once again another major media outlet embarrasses themselves on a debate stage,” Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., wrote. “In just the first 30 minutes of the CBS debate the moderators have already offered two gratuitous editorial statements, (one of them misleading), taking a shot at JD Vance under the guise of ‘fact checking’.”
Once again another major media outlet embarrasses themselves on a debate stage. In just the first 30 minutes of the CBS debate the moderators have already offered two gratuitous editorial statements, (one of them misleading), taking a shot at JD Vance under the guise of “fact…
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) October 2, 2024
“CBS literally cut off @JDVance’s mic mid-sentence as he was trying to fact-check Tim Walz. They’d never do it if the tables were turned,” Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah said.
CBS literally cut off @JDVance’s mic mid-sentence as he was trying to fact-check Tim Walz
They’d never do it if the tables were turned
— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) October 2, 2024
“Margaret Brennan interrupting JD Vance technically correcting her false fact check of him is a terrible look for @CBSNews,” conservative strategist Brad Todd said. “They just cannot help themselves. Democracy Dies in Muted Microphones.”
Margaret Brennan interrupting JD Vance technically correcting her false fact check of him is a terrible look for @CBSNews. They just cannot help themselves. Democracy Dies in Muted Microphones.
— Brad Todd (@BradOnMessage) October 2, 2024
“What is this CBS bulls—? If you’re going to fact check, then say you will. Don’t say you won’t and then do!” exclaimed “Breaking Points” co-host Saagar Enjeti.
“The way the moderators think it’s their job to have the last word on how to frame an issue is amazing,” Wall Street Journal film critic Kyle Smith quipped.
The way the moderators think it’s their job to have the last word on how to frame an issue is amazing.
— Kyle Smith (@rkylesmith) October 2, 2024
Bill Melugin of Fox News, who has covered the immigration crisis in-depth under the Biden-Harris administration, offered his own analysis of the debate.
“CBS cuts Vance’s mic while he’s explaining how the Biden/Harris admin has allowed over 800,000 migrants to enter the U.S. via the CBP One App ‘lawfully’. It then sounded like Walz claimed the CBP One app has been used since the 90s, which is completely false,” Melugin wrote on X. “The Biden/Harris admin started using it in winter 2023 to begin mass paroling migrants into the country by the hundreds of thousands, typically between 1,300-1,500 every single day.”
Several media critics panned Walz’s “unsteady” debate performance, saying there was a “clear lack of preparation and execution.”
“I think there was a clear lack of preparation and execution on Walz’s part,” CNN anchor Abby Phillip said.
ABC News’ Linsey Davis criticized Walz for his “awkward, cringeworthy moments,” drawing parallels to President Joe Biden’s poor performance at the CNN debate. Biden dropped out of the 2024 race not long after the debate against Trump.
“It kind of reminded me of the June 27 debate when Kamala Harris said that night of Joe Biden ‘It was a slow start but a strong finish.’ And that’s how I felt that Tim Walz kind of did tonight,” Davis said.
“Dems are fortunate presidential debates tend to matter a lot more than VP debates,” Cook Political Report senior editor Dave Wasserman reacted on X.
“Where is the Tim Walz who went viral going after ‘weird’ Republicans? Not showing up on that debate stage so far tonight…” New Yorker staff writer Susan Glasser posted.
“Gov. Walz is not prosecuting the case rather its a nicefest. If you agree with Vance on so much then why should we vote for you?” MSNBC host Symone Sanders Townsend asked the governor. “Sen. Vance is giving revisionist history on Trump’s agenda & what they would do & b/c the moderators are not fact checking…it sounds sane.”
“Walz’s answers are smart and substantive. But I hate to say it, the delivery is a bit off — he’s just not as engaging as he often is. Hoping he gets a little more energetic and less nervous as this goes on,” liberal columnist Jill Filipovic said.
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