The Kamala Harris and Donald Trump debate is still on for tomorrow night, and the muted mics have taken away what was going to be the Democrat nominee's debate strategy: "I'm speaking!!"
The Democrats are now concerned because their candidate might have to actually talk about some of the issues, all without laughing hysterically along the way. It's a tall order for the Harris campaign.
The next order of business for the Harris campaign is to lower expectations:
Harris team moves to soften potential debate impact 'before it even happens' and more top headlines https://t.co/iEtTuwM9t5
— Fox News (@FoxNews) September 9, 2024
Team Harris can at least be comforted by knowing the debate will be taking place on a network that's done more than its share of water carrying for the Democrats while dumping on the Republican nominee.
The Media Research Center did a deep dive into ABC News' coverage, and it's got 2024-style "journalism" written all over it:
In preparation for the debate, Media Research Center @newsbusters compared ABC News coverage of the Harris campaign and the Trump campaign. You'll be stunned to learn they found a disparity. https://t.co/t9gEsI2MUE pic.twitter.com/aIHVzUUUEi
— Byron York (@ByronYork) September 9, 2024
What a shocker!
From Newsbusters:
MRC analysts reviewed all 100 campaign stories that aired on ABC’s World News Tonight from the day Harris entered the race (July 21) through September 6, including weekends. Our analysts found 25 clearly positive statements about Harris from reporters, anchors, voters or other non-partisan sources, with zero negative statements — none. That computes to a gravity-defying 100% positive spin score for the Vice President.
As for Trump, our analysts found just five clearly positive comments, vs. 66 negative statements, for a dismal 7 percent positive (93% negative) spin score.
Our measure of good press/bad press omits partisan comments, as well as “horse race” assessments about the candidates’ poll standings and prospects. So while viewers of ABC’s World News Tonight certainly heard negative comments about Harris during these past six-and-a-half weeks, all of them were from Trump, his campaign team, or other Republicans — never from reporters or nonpartisan sources.
At the same time, while our spin score similarly excludes all Democratic soundbites about the Republican nominee, ABC’s reporters and anchors either jumped in to criticize Trump themselves, or broadcast negative comments from non-partisan sources to impart a heavily negative spin to the former President’s coverage.
ABC's coverage of Kamala Harris has been "100% positive."
100% positive! Even North Korean state media might tell ABC to take it down a notch.
🚨 BREAKING STUDY: @ABC's coverage of Kamala Harris is 100% positive, while their coverage of Donald Trump is 93% negative.
— MRC NewsBusters (@newsbusters) September 9, 2024
ABC is the most biased debate host. https://t.co/Vomo6zRdDa
I shouldn't be amazed, but still, even for the MSM that's pretty shameless.
That’s just freaking nuts.
— Terry Schilling 🇺🇸 (@Schilling1776) September 9, 2024
And he’s still beating her!
Can you imagine what position the Harris campaign would be in if we had a national media that was remotely objective and not just stenographers and cheerleaders for the DNC?
