To learn who the media love, look at who they let speak.
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren spent the most time talking at the CNN/New York Times debate on Tuesday night, clocking in at almost 23 minutes, according to tracking by CNN. For a lineup of 12 presidential candidates, that’s pretty good. (Then again, how much did we expect to hear from Tom Steyer?)
Warren’s long-windedness wouldn’t necessarily indicate bias if she hadn’t A) talked for almost seven minutes longer than the next-most-verbose candidate and B) already received such fawning coverage in the press.
Warren has benefited from consistently smooth coverage from the media (and even Hollywood). When a recent report questioned the truth in Warren’s story about getting fired from a teaching job for being pregnant, several outlets ran interference for her, with the Washington Post calling it a “fake GOP scandal” in spite of pretty compelling evidence from two independent sources that she made the whole thing up.
On stage Tuesday night, only her fellow candidates were willing to push Warren, with South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar reprimanding her for refusing to state honestly where she’d get the funds for her universal healthcare plan (hint: they’ll come from tax increases).
Joe Biden came in a distant second for time speaking at just 16 minutes. He was forced to defend his son and to claim he is not too old, at almost 77, to run for president.
Once considered the front-runner, Biden now lags behind Warren in some polls, especially at the state level. But that doesn’t mean he’s lost the media favoritism that CNN clearly believes he deserves.
Moderator Anderson Cooper shamelessly took Biden’s side when Cooper claimed that President Trump “falsely” accused Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, of corruption. Never mind that using political clout for personal gain — something Hunter Biden essentially admitted in a recent interview — is exactly that.
Behind Warren and Biden, with a little less media love, were Klobuchar, erstwhile media darling Beto O’Rourke, and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who all tied around 13 minutes, followed by Buttigieg, California Sen. Kamala Harris, and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker.
The moderators of the latest Democratic debate had clearly decided that Warren had already won, and they let her take a victory lap (or two).
Could Warren be the next Hillary Clinton? The press sure hopes so. But look out, because that could run all the way to its full logical conclusion. If she gets the Democratic nomination, her shot at the White House may not be much better.
