CNN Picks 3 Moderators For Detroit Democratic Debates; Conservative Criticizes One Choice

[TexasTowelie]

CNN has picked Dana Bash, Don Lemon and Jake Tapper as moderators for the network’s Democratic presidential primary debates July 30-31 at the Fox Theatre in downtown Detroit, the station announced Monday.

That didn't sit well with conservative strategist Chris Barron, who told Fox News that CNN’s decision is “a disservice to voters all across the political spectrum” because Lemon is so open about his own views.

“They are more interested in the political version of a church revival than an actual debate,” Barron said.

Lemon once called Trump "the dumbest man on television."

Read more:
http://www.deadlinedetroit.com/articles/22761/cnn_picks_3_moderators_for_detroit_dem_debates_conservative_critizes_one_of_the_choices

[Cha]

1. I knew it was going to be Lemon..

who as far as I've heard.. is fearless and is reality based.

Didn't know he said that about the Psycho, though.. lol More truth.

Chris Barron? Any relation to John Barron? How does he object to what Don Lemon said with a straight face?

And, what's with Bash? Is she even reality based? Not too sure about Tapper, either. From what I've read.. the last mods did a terrible job.. are they even aware of that?

Thanks, TexasT

[pnwmom]

5. "From what I've read . . the last mods did a terrible job."

Does that mean you didn't watch the debates?

[George II]

8. From what I saw the "moderators" did a terrible job last time, they did little or no moderating....

...it was so bad that after about 20 minutes the second night I switched over to something else, checking back periodically to see if they were still allowing everyone to interrupt each other.

[Rhiannon12866]

2. He's not the one I'd object to

I'm trying to remember the exact argument - but I remember once, back in the day, Dana Bash got into an argument with someone on air - she kept insisting something that Dick Cheney, I think, said was true when it demonstrably was not. I can't remember the exact details now, but I never believed a word she said after that.

[RockRaven]

3. It's a hell of a thing to be called the "dumbest man on television" by Don Lemon, who has

had a few quite memorable "brain-farts" (to put it mildly) on live TV himself...

That said, I think Lemon might be correct anyway.


For the record, Tapper and Bash are every bit as "open about their own views" as Lemon. They are just a false-equivalency flogging, troop-humping, occasional truth-teller and a female conservative pundit, respectively, instead of a black American man.

[KitSileya]

4. Am I remembering wrong to think that Lemon has questioned Sen. Harris' blackness?

There's been a campaign fueled by Russian psy-ops to get African Americans to turn from Senator Harris by claiming she's not black because her father is Jamaican black. I seem to remember that Don Lemon said she was not an African American. If that is right, he shows he falls for foreign propaganda and should not be considered a serious journalist.

[brush]

11. I've never heard that. Where did you get that from?

Lemon doesn't strike me as being that gullible to fall for russian bot propaganda that sounds like birtherism.

[KitSileya]

14. Actually, I googled it, and turns out there is a clip of Lemon saying exactly that.

Tucker Carlson used it as evidence to bolster his own racist, white supremacist defense of Don, Jr. Had to search a bit for a link that wouldn't break the ToS, but mediamatters is ok, I think.

https://www.mediamatters.org/video/2019/07/02/tucker-carlson-defends-racist-smear-kamala-harris/224119

[StarfishSaver]

18. He didn't question her blackness on the clip

In fact, he said just the opposite. Watch it again.

Tucker Carlson's gonna racist no matter what anyone says or does. We don't need to throw black journalists under the bus because of what Carlson might say.

[brush]

19. Lemon was trying to be literal by stressing she has Jamaican roots...

and of course he should be embarrassed by it. I'm surprised at his ignorance about the matter. Slave ships dropped cargo from the continent in the islands, Brazil (even more than here) and the US. Harris was born in this country so she's an American of African descent via Jamaica, and of course she has Indian roots as well.

What makes her, IMO, stone cold African American is she grew up in Oakland, one of the blackest and most left-leaning cities in the country.

Lemon should've known better to put that uninformed info out into the ether where racists like Carlson could cite it. He should be very embarrssed.

[StarfishSaver]

21. I agree he was wrong

But it's not an unusual argument. Lots of black people, including scholars, debate the definition of "African Americaness" with some seeing it, not so much as a question of genetic heritage but of the slave experience. There's a school of thought that the "African American" refers to people whose ancestors came from Africa to the United States as slaves, while people whose ancestors came to the States via the islands, albeit "black," aren't "African American."

It's a fine point that doesn't lend itself well to a short on-site debate, but while I fall in the "if you're an American with ancestors from Africa, you're African-American" camp, I don't think Lemon needs to be embarrassed for making his point.

And surely, we can't go around blaming people for "putting something out there" that racists like Carlson will seize on since he will seize on anything or nothing, no matter what we say or don't say. And telling black people they shouldn't talk about black stuff because bigots might misrepresent what we say is a non-starter for me.

Screw them. We can own our own conversations.

[brush]

22. Maybe. I am disappointed in Lemon though. Africans dropped off in...

Jamaica were also enslaved so I don't get your point on that. And Lemon is a journalist and it's a journalist's professional duty to put out credible information and IMO he didn't in that instance.

[StarfishSaver]

24. I think he was delving into a topic that was much deeper than could be addressed in a segment

There's a lot of scholarship and discussion based on this. But the point that African American and black are not synonymous is a valid one. An African American is almost always black (except when they're not, like South Africans - a whole nother topic), while a black person is not necessarily African American.

It's a complicated issue that, as I said, doesn't lend itself to a quick discussion in a short panel conversation on cable news. But it's not crazy.

[brush]

25. But Harris was born here.

[StarfishSaver]

29. So was Obama, but

There were some scholars, including black ones, who argued that he wasn't technically African American because he was not descended from slaves. As I said, I don't agree with that definition, but it's not I heard of and the people who believe it are not earthers or denying a person's blackness. It's more of a discussion about what the true meaning of African American is, not any denial of a individuals heritage, blackness or experience.

I had an uncle by marriage who was born in the Caribbean but lived in the United States most of his life and had become a citizen but until the day he died he insisted he was not African American because his ancestors weren't American slaves.

[brush]

31. Guess we can say African Americanism comes in different senses.

Barrack Obama with an African father and American mother is undeniably African American. I've known people from the Carribbean who proudly hold onto their island roots and reject being called African American so the argument really is about "blackness" which is a different thing that one must embrace, become woke as they say.

[Zambero]

32. If one's parent was native-born in Kenya

...and the person in question was born in the U.S., it would be quite stretch to consider that person as not being African-American.

[StarfishSaver]

35. I think so, too.

But some people define African American differently.

Steven Colbert had a funny, interesting segment in 2007 or 2008 on the Colbert Report when he interviewed a scholar who insisted that Obama wasn't really African American because he wasn't descended from slaves. Colbert said (paraphrasing) "What if we made him a slave? Just for a little while. Nothing bad. He could be Jesse Jackson's slave for a few days."

The scholar laughed and said something like "You got me there."

[StarfishSaver]

12. Yes, you are remembering wrong

Maybe you're thinking of Don, Jr.

[KitSileya]

15. Turns out I wasn't wrong.

There's a clip of Don Lemon saying that, and it's been used by Tucker Carlson to defend Don Trump, Jr. Not a good look for Lemon, to be honest.

[StarfishSaver]

16. Yes, I saw the clip. That's how I knew you are wrong.

He didn't question her blackness. In fact, he said repeatedly he wasn't questioning her blackness and that there is no question that she's black.

He said that while she's black, she's not African-American, which is a very different thing.

I don't agree with him, but it's a logical argument and is NOT the same as questioning her blackness.

Black people discuss these things all the time. And we're not going to stop honestly discussing race and ethnicity or take a back seat just because racists like Tucker Carlson might exploit it with the idiots who follow them.

Instead of trying to force Don Lemon into the background or claiming he should lose a career opportunity because he had an honest discussion about something black people do grapple with all the time - which in no way demeans Harris or suggests "birthirism" - people should listen to what he said and understand the difference.

[Skya Rhen]

20. I agree with you 100%. Brilliant assessment!

[brush]

23. IMO Lemon was wrong on that one. Harris was born in the US. One...

parent is of African descent via Jamaica, therefore she, IMO, is African American in a slightly different sense than AAs whose ancestors were of African descent but were deposited and enslaved here rather than deposited and enslaved in Jamaica. She was born here and grew up in the most left-leaning and politically woke cities/areas in the country, Oakland and Berkeley.

She was immersed in that zeitgeist, so yeah, she's African American. And so is Barack Obama in another sense as his father is African and his mother was American—thus he's African American also.

I watch Lemon all the time and am a fan but on that one IMO, he needs to adjust his thoughts on the matter.

[StarfishSaver]

26. I think he was wrong

But he was not questioning her blackness, has has been alleged. And since anything that he or any other black person says about race in connection with Kamala (or anyone else) is going to be twisted and exploited by racists like Carlson, it's unreasonable to say he shouldn't be a debate moderator because of how Carlson reacted to something he said.

[brush]

28. You're right about Carlson, a non-entity in the matter if there ever was one.

We can't control what he tries to do.

[LanternWaste]

34. He provided himself with very effective plausible deniability.

Regardless of what his actual intentions and sentiments are re: race, his plausible deniability allows him a lot of room to hide behind.

[JI7]

6. ugh, Dana Bash sucks so bad .

[True Dough]

7. The three moderators should be

Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and Samantha Bee with John Oliver waiting in the wings as an alternate.

I'd watch that!

[marlakay]

36. I bet millions would watch no matter

Their views as it would be educating, a real debate, all of them would force candidates to give real answers not memorized stuff.

[Princetonian]

9. Who cares what a conservative strategist thinks?

Has Deadline Detroit ever published the opinion of a liberal strategist on Faux News decisions?

[TexasTowelie]

10. Deadline Detroit is an aggregate news site with some original local journalism.

They appear to present a mix of viewpoints from both the liberal and conservative sides. I don't know whether they ever published the opinion of liberal strategists on Fox News decisions,e but if you do know the answer then please present it to me and I'll consider withholding posts from this site in the future. Unfortunately, search engines don't have much success finding articles that have never been published, but you're welcome to try.

[oasis]

13. It was Trump

who tweeted that Lemon was "the dumbest person in broadcasting".

Last August Trump got pissed at Don Lemon who, in a CNN interview with Lebron James, had agreed with Lebron's stinging critisism of Trump.

Trump tweeted "Don Lemon made Lebron James look smart, which wasn't easy to do".

[Skya Rhen]

17. Right wingers don't get to decide who CNN selects as debate moderators. Period.

[Cracklin Charlie]

27. WTH is Chris Barron?

Just one, in the constant stream of knuckleheads.

Lemon is an excellent choice. I like his voice.

[stonecutter357]

30. Dana Bash is just like Kellyanne Conway , just not as smart .....

[tishaLA]

33. repubs also bitched about Maddow hosting the MSNBC debate

and she was definitely among the best, if not the very best, of the moderators. The only one who was comparable was Mr Diaz Balart