Thursday’s CNN Primetime did what the broadcast networks of ABC, CBS, and NBC wouldn’t do on their flagship morning and evening news shows by diving into Wednesday’s infamous photo of President Biden holding a notecard with a Los Angeles Times reporter’s name, picture, and a version of a question she’d ask during a press conference with the South Korean president.
This week’s host Michael Smerconish and New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman correctly called this out as concerning and disturbing, but they made sure to qualify that thesis by fretting Republicans were “seizing on” and “up in arms” over this “unfortunate” headline for Dear Ole Joe.
Smerconish gave away the tone in a tease: “Republicans, right now, up in arms, over what they’re calling President Biden’s cheat sheet. So, did he get reporters’ questions ahead of Wednesday’s press conference? That’s next.”
Up in arms? That’s a phrase worth adding to a list of drinking game words, bingo cards, or threat assessment charts for conservatives to consult when liberals turn their negative headlines back on the right as the party in the wrong.
Smerconish returned from break with the catchphrase that one could call the O.G.:
Republicans seizing on images of President Biden’s notecards, from Wednesday’s press conference. One of them lists the President himself, as an attendee, at an Oval Office prep session, while another features a picture, of Los Angeles Times reporter, Courtney Subramanian, accompanied by a question. Now the RNC cast it as a “cheat sheet,” and implied that Biden not only had advance knowledge, of the reporter’s question, but needed the notes, because of his advanced age. The White House pushed back on this today.
After a clip of Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre trying to explain away what happened (to mostly muted questions), Smerconish played another clip with a splitscreen of Biden’s notecard on the left and Los Angeles Times reporter Courtney Subramanian on the right asking her question.
Smerconish’s reaction expressed concern: “So, she’s not reading the question, verbatim, right that we saw in the note. But the whole thing does look troubling.”
Asked to chime in, Haberman first cushioned the blow for Subramanian and the White House by insisting she didn’t “know what happened” and wouldn’t “want to impugn” Subramanian, though “it is a much sharper question than” Biden’s card and “[i]t is not unusual for White Houses, or city halls, or gubernatorial offices, to try to get a sense of what reporters might be asking.”
Haberman also lessened the blowback for Biden and described the story as a “not ideal” and “unfortunate image” because it happened as Republicans have continued “hitting him as too old, that he doesn’t know enough.”
That said, she conceded that, prior to Biden, she had “never seen somebody have to have themselves listed as an attendee, at an event.”
Smerconish then gave his two cents and at first sought to jokingly compare his segment with Haberman (which was on TV, scripted in terms of topics, and even general questions) and Biden’s interactions with the public, which weren’t supposed to include any collusion to create the appearance of reporters acting on behalf of the American people: “I’m sitting here, by the way, with notes of what I feel like I’ll next ask Maggie Haberman, right? I mean, there’s nothing wrong with notes.”
Once he did that, Smerconish and Haberman pinned blame not on Biden or Subramanian, but Biden’s staff (click “expand”):
SMERCONISH: But, in this case, it’s political, I’ll say this, it’s political malpractice, insofar as this is a week, when he announced. And polling data came out expressing that so many Americans are concerned about his age. Like, who would have even put that note, in his pocket, to put him in a position of pulling it out?
HABERMAN: I’m assuming some staffer did, either in the comms office, or an advanced staffer, but yes, it was not exactly bearing in mind that there would be a camera that was going to be drilling down. And he’s holding it, and waving it around. I think it also just speaks to, again, something he’s going to have to get used to, which is being around, and visible, in ways that certainly, in his 2020 campaign, he was not. He’s going to have to be, this time.
CNN’s use of key GOP drinking game words to describe the right’s reaction to a liberal screwup was made possible thanks to advertisers such as Chase and E-Trade. Follow the links to see their contact information at the MRC’s Conservatives Fight Back page.
To see the relevant transcript from April 28, click “expand.”
CNN Primetime
April 28, 2028
9:12 p.m. Eastern [TEASE][ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: GOP Slams Biden’s “Cheat Sheet” at Press Conference]
MICHAEL SMERCONISH: Republicans, right now, up in arms, over what they’re calling President Biden’s cheat sheet. So, did he get reporters’ questions ahead of Wednesday’s press conference? That’s next.
(....)
9:16 p.m. Eastern
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Biden Seen Holding Notecard With Version of Reporter’s Question]
SMERCONISH: Republicans seizing on images of President Biden’s notecards, from Wednesday’s press conference. One of them lists the President himself, as an attendee, at an Oval Office prep session, while another features a picture, of Los Angeles Times reporter, Courtney Subramanian, accompanied by a question. Now the RNC cast it as a “cheat sheet,” and implied that Biden not only had advance knowledge, of the reporter’s question, but needed the notes, because of his advanced age. The White House pushed back on this today.
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: It is entirely normal for a President to be briefed on reporters who will be asking questions at a press conference and issues that we expect they might ask about. We do not have specific questions in advance. That’s not something that we do. And, in fact, I would point out the questions that was asked was different than what was on the card that you all saw.
SMERCONISH: Okay, so how different? Well, here’s the notecard, against the question, so that you can decide.
COURTNEY SUBRAMANIAN: Your top economic priority has been to build up U.S. domestic manufacturing in competition with China. But your rules again- -- against expanding chip manufacturing in China is hurting South Korean companies that rely heavily on Beijing. Are you damaging a key ally in the competition with China to help your domestic politics ahead of the election?
SMERCONISH: So, she’s not reading the question, verbatim, right that we saw in the note. But the whole thing does look troubling. What do you make of it?
MAGGIE HABERMAN: It’s topically similar, certainly, to what Biden had on that notecard.
SMERCONISH: Right.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: White House Denies Biden Got Reporter’s Question in Advance]
HABERMAN: But it is a much sharper question than at least the notecards suggested it might be. I don’t know what happened. I don’t want to impugn a reporter, for something that I have no visibility into whether there was an exchange, with the White House or not. It is not unusual for White Houses, or city halls, or gubernatorial offices, to try to get a sense of what reporters might be asking. I’ve never seen that detailed a note card before. And it is an unfortunate image, for Biden, for all of the obvious reasons. We see Republicans hitting him as too old, that he doesn’t know enough. I’ve never seen somebody have to have themselves listed as an attendee, at an event. Look, we saw Donald Trump, with his hand-scrolled notecards. There were images of that constantly, when he would be at events. I remember Rudy Giuliani, as Mayor, in New York City, his folks would come up to us, in the press corps, and not only try to figure out what we were going to ask, but tell us what he wanted to talk about.
SMERCONISH: Sure, of course.
HABERMAN: And what they hoped would happen. So, I don’t know exactly what happened here. But I think that the visual for Biden is not ideal.
SMERCONISH: I’m sitting here, by the way, with notes of what I feel like I’ll next ask Maggie Haberman, right?
HABERMAN: Yes.
SMERCONISH: I mean, there’s nothing wrong with notes.
HABERMAN: No. No.
SMERCONISH: But, in this case, it’s political, I’ll say this, it’s political malpractice, insofar as this is a week, when he announced. And polling data came out expressing that so many Americans are concerned about his age. Like, who would have even put that note, in his pocket, to put him in a position of pulling it out?
HABERMAN: I’m assuming some staffer did, either in the comms office, or an advanced staffer, but yes, it was not exactly bearing in mind that there would be a camera that was going to be drilling down. And he’s holding it, and waving it around. I think it also just speaks to, again, something he’s going to have to get used to, which is being around, and visible, in ways that certainly, in his 2020 campaign, he was not. He’s going to have to be, this time.
SMERCONISH: The L.A. Times said they did not submit questions to the White House.
HABERMAN: Right.
