CNN Getting Roasted for Biden Town Hall That Might as Well Have Been a Campaign Event

On Thursday, Joe Biden held a town hall with CNN’s Anderson Cooper.

It went exactly how you would have expected. Biden was lobbed the types of softball questions that were obviously meant to make him look good in the eyes of the viewer.

But, luckily, it seems that CNN’s trick did not work. Many noticed that Cooper was going as easy as possible on the Democrat nominee.

Fox News reports:

While Biden’s performance has received praise for his ability to display empathy toward Pennsylvania voters selected to ask questions, what has been described as the “softball” treatment of the former vice president by CNN was widely panned on Thursday night, especially following the grilling President Trump faced at the ABC News town hall [with George Stephanopoulos] just two days before.

“In the first moments, the contrast between what Trump was asked and what Biden is being asked is striking,” Politico columnist Jeff Greenfield tweeted, later writing. “Biden is doing very well, yes. But this is not exactly getting him ready to face tough questions from a Chris Wallace or Jake Tapper (should he decide to do so).”

In the first moments, the contrast between what Trump was asked and what Biden is being asked is striking.

— Jeff Greenfield (@greenfield64) September 18, 2020

Biden is doing very well, yes. But this is not exactly getting him ready to face tough questions from a Chris Wallace or Jake Tapper (should he decide to do so).

— Jeff Greenfield (@greenfield64) September 18, 2020

According to analysis from NewsBusters managing editor Curtis Houck, of the 16 participants who asked Biden questions, 13 of them, over a whopping 80 percent were identified as Democrats. Only three were identified as Republicans.

That was in stark contrast to the town hall attendees Trump faced Tuesday on ABC News, which featured four Trump voters, three Hillary Clinton voters, one Jill Stein voters, three non-voters, and one unidentified.

All told, in terms of audience members for CNN's #BidenTownHall (and not counting the slant the questions), there were 16 total and 13 were Democrats versus only three Republicans.

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) September 18, 2020

“So far the questions at CNN’s drive-in #BidenTownHall sound as if they were written by Biden’s campaign: “Tell us how bad Trump is”. Reversal of the president’s ABC townhall,” columnist Miranda Devine observed.

So far the questions at CNN’s drive-in #BidenTownHall sound as if they were written by Biden’s campaign: “Tell us how bad Trump is”. Reversal of the president’s ABC townhall

— Miranda Devine (@mirandadevine) September 18, 2020

Fox News continues by pointing out that many noticed that, even though they socially distanced during the town hall for the cameras, Biden and Cooper were seen approaching each other when they thought the commercial break had begun:

Joe Biden and Anderson Cooper are making a point of social distancing during the CNN Town Hall while on the stage.

But when they think they’ve gone to commercial break, they get so close to each other that Biden is whispering in Cooper’s ear: pic.twitter.com/ClZXrxFfSo

— Steve Krakauer (@SteveKrak) September 18, 2020

The Trump campaign released a statement in response to the town hall:

“Virtually every question for Joe Biden was an invitation for him to attack President Trump, while moderator Anderson Cooper offered almost no pushback, giving Biden a total pass on his lies and misrepresentations. At no time did anyone question Biden about his economic record or his plan to raise taxes by $4 trillion while the economy is in rapid recovery. At no time did anyone ask Biden why he opposed President Trump’s travel restrictions on China at the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak, which experts say saved thousands of American lives. And at no time did Biden offer any examples of anything he would have done differently to combat the virus, despite six months of relentless criticism of the President’s response. He did, however, manage to lie by claiming he said in January it was a pandemic and that the President did not mention the threat of the coronavirus in his State of the Union speech. And he managed to obfuscate on fracking, by claiming he’d support the natural gas industry just long enough to kill it. This was classic Joe Biden: untethered to the facts, his own record, or reality.”

Say what you will about President Trump interviewing with hostile Leftist media types, such as George Stephanopoulos or Bob Woodward, but at least doing that gives him debate practice, by definition. CNN does Biden no favors here at all.