Conservatives online and in media were skeptical that CNN’s Anderson Cooper would run the Democratic presidential candidates through tough questioning for Tuesday’s debate, but many were probably surprised once it began.
Cooper opened the debate, hosted by his network in Las Vegas, with a twice-followed up question for Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton on whether she would “do anything to get elected,” referring to several positions she has shifted on.
He pressed Bernie Sanders to defend himself as a Democratic socialist.
And Cooper repeatedly asked Lincoln Chafee, who was a Republican and an independent before becoming a Democrat, to explain why Democratic voters should be convinced that he’s a legitimate member of their party.
“Is Anderson Cooper moderating or interrogating?” said conservative journalist Matt Lewis on Twitter.
Is Anderson Cooper moderating or interrogating?
— Matt Lewis (@mattklewis) October 14, 2015
Ben Shapiro at the conservative activist news site Breitbart.com tweeted that Cooper was “doing an excellent job on these questions, shockingly.”
Anderson Cooper doing an excellent job on these questions, shockingly.
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) October 14, 2015
In the days heading up to the debate, however, some conservative websites had suggested that Cooper may not prove critical enough in his line of questioning for the candidates.
In a blog post on Tuesday, the conservative Weekly Standard, which is owned by the same company as the Washington Examiner, recalled that Cooper is a former member of the Clinton Global Initiative organization.
“CNN’s not gonna do anything to make any of these people look bad,” conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh said on Monday. “They rally the troops. They circle the wagons. They do everything they can to protect.”
On Sunday, Cooper indicated that he would not attempt to instigate confrontations among the five Democratic candidates during the debate.
“I’m always uncomfortable with that notion of setting people up in order to kind of promote some sort of a face off,” Cooper said Sunday on CNN’s “Reliable Sources.” “Look, these are all serious people. This is a serious debate. They want to talk about the issues and I want to give them an opportunity to do that.”
But Cooper did at times ask the candidates to contrast themselves. At one point, he asked Clinton if Sanders’ Senate voting record was “tough enough” on gun control.
