CNN Plans to Treat Dem Debate Candidates Differently Than They Treated Republicans

Jeffdunetz | October 13, 2015
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Anderson Cooper, the moderator for Tuesday night's Democratic Party presidential debate, plans to treat the candidates much differently than Jake Tapper did when he moderated the Republican Party debate on the same network last month. 

WMAL's Chris Plante on the Tuesday episode of his daily radio show demonstrated how, in the CNN Republican debate, questions were framed in a way to have the candidates attack each other. Just listen to the montage below of the questions CNN moderators Jake Tapper and Dana Bash asked Republican candidates. Then, watch tonight's debate to see how the tone changes.

Anderson Cooper plans to take a more peaceful approach with the Democrats. 

In an interview on Sunday's "Reliable Sources," Cooper said his plan calls for "pointed questions" to each contender - but to avoid setting them up to attack each other:

"Going into the Republican debates, you pretty much knew there were a number of candidates who were willing to [attack each other]," he said. "Some lower-level candidates wanted to punch up and try to make a name for themselves. That's not the case, so far as we've seen, on the Democratic side."

Actually the Democratic Party debate has three lower-level candidates wanting to punch up and try to make a name for themselves, and they may be very willing to attack the leaders - especially Hillary Clinton. After all, that's what happens during debates: people attack the front-runner. But, based on his stated strategy, Copper wants to treat the Democratic Party gala on Tuesday less like a debate and more like a joint interview.

No matter which candidates are on stage, debate nights are "incredibly important" for each participant, Cooper said.

If Cooper recognizes how important the debate is for each participant, why isn't he treating the Democrats the same way his network treated the Republicans? Is Anderson Cooper's approach just the latest example of the network trying to protect Ms. Clinton?

Listen to Chris Plante's montage below and you may understand why some people believe CNN stands for the Clinton News Network.

 

 

 

 

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