While nowhere near Barack Obama in terms of infatuation, the liberal media did their best on Thursday night to sing the praises of Joe Biden following his 2020 DNC acceptance speech. And CBS did its part, trumpeting his “great,” “incredible,” “soaring” speech “from the heart” that was the “strongest” of his career.
DNC coverage host and CBS Evening News anchor Norah O’Donnell was blunt: “This was one of the strongest speeches of Joe Biden's career. He spoke directly to the camera. I did not catch him miss a beat, as Joe Biden is known to flub every once in a while, or to veer off script. He spoke passionately and from the heart.”
60 Minutes correspondent John Dickerson concurred, praising Biden for “playing the pastoral role of the President, really, in this moment” with “a thoroughly normal speech for a country that the Biden campaign thinks wants to get off the circus ride it’s — the carnival ride it's been on.”
CBS News contributor and former activist Univision anchor Maria Elena Salinas was most enthused of those gathered, raving that Biden gave “a great speech” that “was better than what many of us expected because he was able to combine both the show that empathy, show that hope, give people that hope.”
She continued:
I think it was important for him tonight to make people feel that hope, to make people feel empathetic, to make people think that, you know, the future is better, that lightness is more important than darkness and it was those types of phrases that he used that made people feel like maybe this is a time for us to put away all this hatred, put away all this negativity, and — and start looking at — at an America, at a United States, that can go into the lightness and get away from the darkness.
Covering the Biden campaign in Wilmington, Delaware where Biden spoke (and a fireworks display followed), political correspondent Ed O’Keefe put the night in sentimental terms for the candidate: “[T]hink of it — a man who has waited about 50 years to get nominated by his party to be president gets to do it tonight unexpectedly in his own home town. Talk about a dream come true.”
When O’Donnell asked O’Keefe what he made of the speech (and inadvertently calling him “Joe”), he heaped the kind of praise that one can safely assume his colleagues won’t do for President Trump next week: “Oh, an incredible set of remarks and I think to John's point earlier, more of a presidential-style address...[H]e's not someone who is known to give soaring speeches but tonight certainly delivered it.”
After she led off the analysis, O’Donnell closed out the night by talking about political conventions and, in promising to carry Trump’s speech next week, she gave herself and her media colleagues the kind of eye-rolling praise you, the NewsBusters readers, loathe:
That's why the broadcast networks air these full speeches by both parties and political candidates, because the idea that journalism is what we need to make democracy work, and everyone should have the opportunity to hear the views expressed by those running for the most powerful job in the world.
CBS’s DNC coverage was brought to you by advertisers such as ADT, Ancestry, and Carvana. Follow the links to the MRC’s Conservatives Fight Back page.
To see the relevant CBS transcript from August 20, click “expand.”
CBS News: 2020 America Decides: Democratic Convention
August 20, 2020
11:13 p.m. EasternNORAH O’DONNELL: And than Democratic presidential nominee for the year 2020, Joe Biden, greeted now by his wife. There was great expectation heading into this night, that Joe Biden who has been on the political stage for almost half a century and has given tens of thousands of speeches, that this would be a make-or-break moment for him. This was one of the strongest speeches of Joe Biden's career. He spoke directly to the camera. I did not catch him miss a beat, as Joe Biden is known to flub every once in a while, or to veer off script. He spoke passionately and from the heart and as he said, “we are in a battle for the soul of the nation.” Greeted now by his vice presidential pick, Kamala Harris, the senator from California, and her husband, Doug and the virtual applause from around the country and the tailgate party there in his home state of Delaware. I want to bring in our panel now. John Dickerson, your thoughts.
JOHN DICKERSON: Well — this is going to be a referendum on Donald Trump's handling of COVID-19 is his argument and he said, “I have a plan for taking care of that," and then he gave pretty much the exact opposite of Donald Trump's line, “it is what it is,” which we've heard all week. He took his personal suffering throughout his life, and he spoke directly to those families of the 170,000 Americans who have lost their lives, playing the pastoral role of the President, really, in this moment. It was a thoroughly normal speech for a country that the Biden campaign thinks wants to get off the circus ride it’s — the carnival ride it's been on. This looked like an old-fashioned presidential speech and in that sense, this constrained convention, the theater of it, looked like he was giving a national address rather than a campaign speech in a convention.
O’DONNELL: Margaret, I was struck because he talked about restoring the promise of America. But he said, “in order to do that, we have to lay down the burden of hate and racism” and posing the question, “will this be the generation to do that?”
MARGARET BRENNAN: He did, indeed and it was interesting, because one of the phrases that stood out to me because it seems look a parallel to Donald Trump, was he talked about the left-out and the left behind, in that he put immigrants, people of color, a parallel to the forgotten men and women that you often hear Donald Trump refer to, particularly in the heartland of America. It's that same idea of being left behind in an economy, left behind by this pandemic is what he would argue and did there, that all of the disparities that existed before have been worsened, deepened, broadened in a way that has left people behind. He said let's end this chapter of darkness, another very strong phrase there to leave us with.
O’DONNELL: Marie Elena Salinas is also with us and I know you have covered nine conventions, and so you have seen on both tickets many of these types of speeches. Your view.
MARIA ELENA SALINAS: I thought it was a great speech. I think it was better than what many of us expected because he was able to combine both the show that empathy, show that hope, give people that hope, but also lay out at least some of what his plan is and, you know, what they say, that it's not — people remember you not so much from what you say but how you make them feel. So I think it was important for him tonight to make people feel that hope, to make people feel empathetic, to make people think that, you know, the future is better, that lightness is more important than darkness and it was those types of phrases that he used that made people feel like maybe this is a time for us to put away all this hatred, put away all this negativity, and — and start looking at — at an America, at a United States, that can go into the lightness and get away from the darkness.
O’DONNELL: And we are watching now Joe Biden and Jill Biden with masks on, appearing before that crowd that is tailgating, and greeting all of them and Jamal Simmons, you've worked on many of these presidential campaigns, and I know you've seen a number of Joe Biden speeches through the years.
JAMAL SIMMONS: I have and I gotta tell you, this is — this is really great theatre they’ve put together. They have found a way to get a crowd together that is socially distanced but with the camera shots, looks like everybody is sort of packed in, but they're not anybody’s very — everybody is very excited. You know, the thing I noticed tonight, in the Democratic Party, there is this wrestle between are our problems because of Donald Trump or did Donald Trump create- — or did the problems exist, and then Donald Trump was the creation of the problems? He found a way — Joe Biden tonight — to tip his hat to that. And he talked about work and jobs and the dignity of work, which is something you hear a lot from labor unions and that type of crowd. He really did say — this is the build back better. It's not just about replacing Trump. It's about making the country better than it was before Donald Trump got here.
O’DONNELL: The fireworks of 2020 are the balloon drops of the past decades. Ed O’Keefe is there in Wilmington, Delaware, with the fireworks, as his backdrop. Ed.
ED O’KEEFE: Norah, you said it. This is the 2020 version of balloons. Instead of coming down, they're going up. Biden and Harris are on a stage at the front of this parking lot looking up over the minor league ballpark in Wilmington for a party that was put together in about 10 days. As we said early, a few hundred car loads of people waving American flags, signs that say, “Joe,” and they're replicating here, virtual or other drive-in parties that are being held across the country, but think of it — a man who has waited about 50 years to get nominated by his party to be president gets to do it tonight unexpectedly in his own home town. Talk about a dream come true.
O’DONNELL: And, Joe [sic], you have traveled the campaign trail before the pandemic, been with been with all the Democrats who were vying for their party's nomination. Your take on his speech tonight.
O’KEEFE: Oh, an incredible set of remarks and I think to John's point earlier, more of a presidential-style address and we’ve heard from our colleagues in the room that the teleprompter in the back of the room was marked up with red exclamation points and underlines to help him move along. As we've said, he's not someone who is known to give soaring speeches but tonight certainly delivered it. He tweeted shortly before he took the stage, his son Beau, his late son, Beau, told him to be yourself in the past, seemed to be channeling that he would do that tonight, delivering the biggest speech of his political life. And it's just such a surreal scene, Norah, to see him and Dr. Biden, Senator Harris and her husband, Doug, with these masks on, amid this crowd. It's such a surreal scene after such a different week in American politics.
O’DONNELL: And certainly remember this image, because next week is the Republican Convention, which is expected to look very different and feel very different and so these two opportunities for the American electorate — are to get a sense of what — what you want for the next four years. That's why the broadcast networks air these full speeches by both parties and political candidates, because the idea that journalism is what we need to make democracy work, and everyone should have the opportunity to hear the views expressed by those running for the most powerful job in the world.
