Conservatives may have had their doubts about CNN’s Anderson Cooper hosting Tuesday’s Democratic debate, but by the end of it, many on the Right and even Donald Trump said Cooper did a standup job.
In a statement on Wednesday, Brent Bozell, president of the conservative Media Research Center, sang Cooper’s praises.
“During last night’s Democratic debate, Anderson Cooper in large measure did exactly what a debate moderator is supposed to do,” Bozell said. “He asked tough, probing questions of all the candidates. Better yet, he did what most moderators won’t do: when given an evasive or untrue answer, he pounced in a follow-up question, exposing the evasion or untruth. It was a breath of fresh air to see such professionalism.”
Joe Concha, a right-leaning columnist for Mediaite, also complimented Cooper’s performance.
“Anderson Cooper showed presence, consistency and gravitas on Tuesday night,” Concha wrote. “Focused. Prepped. The questions were natural in their delivery, difficult in their content and stated with conviction.”
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Cooper said before the debate that he wouldn’t be instigating any fights between the candidates. But Cooper took an aggressive approach with the five candidates on stage once it started.
He opened the event, 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.
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.
And at times, Cooper did ask the candidates to contrast themselves. At one point, he asked Clinton if Sanders’ Senate voting record was “tough enough” on gun control.
“Anderson Cooper doing an excellent job on these questions, shockingly,” tweeted Ben Shapiro, with the conservative-activist news website Breitbart.com, during the debate.
Also on Twitter, GOP candidate Donald Trump said Cooper “did an excellent job” moderating. “Tough, firm, but fair.”
.@andersoncooper did an excellent job of hosting the #DemDebate last night. Tough, firm, but fair.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 14, 2015
On his own website, conservative radio host Erick Erickson wrote some of the most flattering comments about Cooper.
“He kept the trains running on time,” Erickson wrote. “He forced the candidates to answer questions they otherwise did not want to answer. He pushed on gun control; he pushed on Clinton’s emails; he held his ground against an audience even against him.”
