CNN's Don Lemon, Chris Cuomo, and Alisyn Camerota stuck to the left's spin about the results of the 2014 midterm elections on Thursday's CNN Tonight, as they discussed President Obama's Wednesday press conference. Lemon wondered, "Why do people vote against their own interests? Because if you look at West Virginia, Kentucky, Arkansas...they put mostly Republicans in office...But they are the states that are benefiting the most from the Affordable Care Act."
Cuomo also asserted that the reason why Democrats lost was because "the party abandoned its president, and paid the price....by running away from what it is and what its core values are." He added, "I think the Democrats aren't getting enough stink on them." [MP3 audio available here; video below]
Lemon led the segment with the New Day hosts by noting that "American voters sent a clear message on Tuesday. They're not happy with President Obama's leadership. And Democrats across the board took a drubbing." The anchor then asked what came next. Camerota first pointed out that "all of the Beltway is filled with conversation about bipartisanship," but continued that "it doesn't feel like a new day in Washington," as the President threatened executive action on immigration; and congressional Republicans "say they want to overturn and get rid of ObamaCare."
Cuomo replied to his colleague by contending that "I think that there's a general feeling of dissatisfaction. People didn't come out and vote. What they did come out and vote on was decidedly negative. This was not a positive, uplifting election."
Lemon then played a clip of the President's message to voters from the presser: "To everyone who voted, I want you to know that I hear you. To the two-thirds of voters who chose not to participate in the process yesterday, I hear you, too." This statement spurred a discussion between the three CNN personalities over its meaning:
DON LEMON: That was a diss to me.
ALISYN CAMEROTA: What does that say to you?
LEMON: 'I hear you, too' – that you were – to me, it's saying that you didn't care enough to got off your butt and go to the polls and vote. So, I hear you as well.
CAMEROTA: Oh, I hear it differently.
LEMON: Because it's the minority decided the direction of the country, rather than the majority. I think that's what he's saying.
CAMEORTA: I hear him saying that your silence is deafening-
LEMON: Speaks volumes-
CAMEROTA: Speaks volumes...In other words, you don't even want to engage with the process. I hear you're disgusted. That's how I heard – that's how I interpreted it.
CHRIS CUOMO: Point to Camerota-
LEMON: No, I think it's – I think that was a diss. 'Oh, I hear you, too.' And then, he goes on-
CUOMO: It was a diss. It was a diss to him by those voters who didn't come out. That's his base that was alienated.
The CNN Tonight host responded to Cuomo's claim by underlining that "this president can't even convince his own party, at this point, to support him. So then, why should people go out to the polls to send people to – who are supposed to enact his policies to Washington?" The younger brother of the Democratic governor of New York answered his colleague's question with his "the party abandoned its president and paid the price....by running away from what it is and what its core values are" analysis.
Lemon then played one more clip from the President's press conference, where the Democrat played up his supposed economic accomplishments. Camerota had her own explanation as to why his Obama's message wasn't sinking into the American populace:
LEMON: ...Joe Biden said, in the interview with Gloria Borger, I don't think...the administration does a good job of selling the accomplishments – because even though he's been...obstructed-
CUOMO: That's true-
LEMON: He's accomplished a lot. And he said it in this press conference. Listen to this.
OBAMA: The fact is, more Americans are working. Unemployment has come down. More Americans have health insurance. Manufacturing has grown. Our deficits have shrunk. Our dependence on foreign oil is down – as are gas prices.
LEMON: All true.
CAMEROTA: Yes – and he does talk about it. The funny thing is, is that he does talk about it. He does travel around the country, and he talks about it. But somehow, the message doesn't resonate. I don't know if it's his tone, or if he doesn't do it enough. But somehow, the message-
LEMON: Or is it us?
CAMEORTA: I don't know! Because that's what voters say – is that the messaging isn't getting to them. They don't believe it. They don't – in other words, Americans don't even know that the economy is getting better. There's all sort of metrics that show that it is, but they don't feel that way. They don't know that.
LEMON: He says it's because income is stagnant; people aren't getting raises; and they're not feeling it at home in the pocketbooks. And that's what makes a difference.
Later in the segment, Lemon and Cuomo raised the ongoing controversy over the police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. The openly-homosexual anchor also asked his "why do people vote against their own interests" question, which led to Camerota and Cuomo offering their own explanations:
LEMON: I wrote an editorial this morning...and it started with a Tweet that someone sent me the night after the election. They said, here's the first thing that CNN should do when they go to Ferguson – the protesters – they should say, did you go out to vote? And if the person says no, then you...move on to the next person and say...you cannot just complain. You have to go to the polls and vote. You have to show some sort of political acumen, and that's the only way that you're going to change anything – not just through being angry...at first, I shrugged it off. And then, I said, you know what? This person really makes a good point. You can't just complain-
CUOMO: They are angry, though. See, here's – look, it's hard to reason with anger. Anger is an emotion. What you are providing is an intellectual construct for how you get past the emotion and to change. Well, you have to deal with the anger first, and that has to do with leadership.
One of the things that's bothered me in Ferguson from the beginning was, where are the leaders who should be there? If something amazingly great had happened in Ferguson, the governor would have been all over it; their U.S. senators would have been there – everybody would have wanted some kind of piece of the pie.
LEMON: You mentioned ObamaCare...and immigration. Why do people vote against their own interests? Because if you look at West Virginia, Kentucky, Arkansas – they've put a lot of Republicans – they put mostly Republicans in office this election. But they are the states that are benefiting the most from the Affordable Care Act. Why is that?
CAMEROTA: Well, I have a theory. And it is that, really, at our heart, we do want a balance of power. And really, though we claim about – that we hate obstructionists, and we hate the impediments to progress – really, we don't like when things go too quickly. So when something big and comprehensive happens, like ObamaCare, we're actually not that comfortable with it. And that's why – you know, you can say, we want things done in Washington, but we really only want our things done. We don't want your things done, or somebody else's things done-
LEMON: But...you don't think it's just because it was proposed by a Democrat? You don't think that has anything to do with it?
CUOMO: It certainly has a lot to do with it, because it's about how it's explained to them. One: we know there's something that's true in politcs in general: people don't see themselves as...they actually are...we all have misperceptions about ourselves.
So, you'll see it two ways: one, you're benefiting from Obamacare – okay? You don't realize that. You don't want to realize it. Instead, you want to say, this government spends too much, because that makes you feel better about it. And the second way you see it is, people always say, don't tax the rich, because I'm going to be there someday....Even if the tax plan will help you now, (Lemon laughs) you don't like that it's going to hurt where you want to be-
LEMON: And, most likely, you will probably never be there. Stand by, Alisyn and Chris.
