After a disappointing night of failures (and some highs), Wednesday’s broadcast network news show on Wednesday morning shows each moment of gloating or outright laughter. This included claims that country was reminded not to “bet against Joe Biden,” and that January 6 matters. Voters also bought the narrative that Republicans were linked to the Paul Pelosi attack.
On CBS Mornings, White House correspondent Ed O’Keefe was just finishing arguing that President Biden did well where candidates supported him and poorly where he didn’t (which was not true considering his stops at Florida for the hapless Democratic party ticket). When he said Tuesday’s takeaway: “Don’t bet against Biden.”
Nate Burleson, co-host, was enthusiastic in adding: “Don’t Bet against Biden!” O’Keefe continued, adding that Biden “always find a way” and that’s likely to be a message that the Biden administration will push over the next few days.
Gayle King, Democratic donor and co-host, was also in a good mood and mocked Republicans. Nancy Cordes, chief White House correspondent, laughed at her jokes about the red wave. It’s been called the red sprinkler, or the red splash, or the red puddle. Needless to state, it was not the red tsunami, nor the red wave.
O’Keefe said that O’Keefe’s prediction that Biden’s closing focus was on “democracy,” would be correct: “[T]here will likely be some indication that President’s focus in closing days on issues such as democracy, reminding people of what had occurred on January 6th, may have helped close the gap between independents and the President.”
This was mirrored by the next block, as January 6 correspondent Scott MacFarlane pointed out that Liz Cheney (D-VA), had endorsed Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger (D) as key to her win.
ABC’s Good Morning America featured Donna Brazile, an ABC News contributor who was also the former DNC Chairwoman. Her fellow liberals on-set, masquerading themselves as journalists, laughed at her jokes after George Stephanopoulos, co-host and ex-Clinton official, said that she “talk[ed] up] a good game” on Tuesday morning.
One of the reasons I bought a red jacket after I spoke to George was because I saw that it was the only red wave Chris could see. It was a trickle. It was a trickle. No question. And look, Democrats defied expectations. Democrats defied historical norms. Joe Biden said that it would be a choice. It was a choice. We had a good turnout.
Chuck Todd, moderator of NBC’s Meet the Press, offered an explanation for why Democrats did well and Republicans did poorly. Many prognosticators blame Donald Trump. However, Todd’s second point highlighted the poisonous propaganda of the liberal media despite not having any evidence to support it.
Paul Pelosi was attacked. It was a significant moment for many voters, I think. In our poll, we actually saw a change in tone with voters post-attack. Voters in their message said: What message would you send with a vote? They said, “End — End — End the partisanship. Let’s tone it down.” Even Republicans said that we weren’t in the Pelosi attack — it was a one-sided conversation.
The alleged attacker rants about Q-Anon and censorship on his blog, but the mentally ill, ex-Green Party supporter and nudist who claimed there are half-alien, ha-human creatures in our midst had absolutely nothing to do with House Republicans.
Advertisers such as Nature’s Bounty (on CBS) and Jergens (on ABC) made Wednesday’s gloating possible. Follow these links to view their contact information on the MRC’s Conservatives Fight Back Page.
Click “expand” to view the relevant transcripts starting November 9.
ABC’s Good Morning America
November 9, 2022
7:36 a.m. Eastern
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE] Breaking News; Too Close To Call; Control of House & Senate Still up for grabs with Key Races Undecided]
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS : Donna, you were making up a great game. You proved to be more right than you thought.
DONNA BRAZILE – Well, I bought a red jacket after talking to George because I saw that it was the only red wave Chris could see. It was a trickle. It was a trickle. No question. And look, Democrats defied expectations. Democrats defied historical norms. Joe Biden said that it would be a choice. It was a choice. We had a good turnout. Although we were competitive, I was very disappointed about North Carolina. Florida is disappointing. I am disappointed in Stacey Abrams but so happy that Maggie won. I’m excited
STEPHANOPOULOS is in New Hampshire.
BRAZILE — in New Hampshire. There’s no question about it. John Fetterman? Come on. This is a guy that showed up to a debate and everyone said, oh no, he won’t win. But, you know, the lieutenant Governor of — of Pennsylvania was able to go to every county to get every vote, so it was a good evening for Democrats.
(….)
7:38 a.m. Eastern
BRAZILE – The Democrats know how to win in Georgia. This has been proven repeatedly. It’s a fact that we have already proven in 2020. It will be proven again in 2021. It will be proved in 2022. Stacey Abrams may not have been there yesterday.
CHRIS CHRISTIE: Yes, she did.
BRAZILE You have to admit that Democrats can walk and chew gum. We were able to address the economy, deal with inflation, and talk about freedom being on a ballot.
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CBS Mornings
November 9, 2022
Eastern Time: 7:30 a.m.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE] America Decides Campaign ’22; Control of Congress Up for Grabs]
NATE BURLESON It’s a better night for Democrats than Nancy expected. What are you hearing from White House?
NANCY COORDDES: Wow, what a big shift in mood from the White House over the past 24 hours. Yesterday, they tried to explain why it wouldn’t matter if they lost a lot of seats.
BURELSON: Mmm.
CORDES: They’re now saying, “Wait, maybe we didn’t lose a lot of seats.”
BURLESON: Yeah.
CORDES: Maybe we lost a handful. They feel a mix of excitement and validation for having resisted a historical trend. They didn’t lose as many seats as previous presidents.
ED O’KEEFE : We were pointing out that the President didn’t go everywhere or to all the places he visited seemed a bit off, given our perceptions of the battlegrounds.
GAYLE KING: But people didn’t —
O’KEEFE : All the different places.
KING: Ed, we want him to come. However, people didn’t want him there.
O’KEEFE — And those who didn’t are those who are struggling. But he did go —
KING: Uh-huh.
O’KEEFE — they held on.
BURLESON: Wow.
O’KEEFE – All right? It’s a signal to — John Fetterman in particular. Someone completely —
KING: Yes.
O’KEEFE — embraced the Biden legacy and the Biden White House said come on down to help me out.
KING: Yes.
O’KEEFE – He came, former President Obama arrived, and he made it all work. We went to a lot of races in New Mexico, California, Illinois, and other places. Why are you going there?
KING: Yeah.
O’KEEFE: Kathy Hochul in New York.
KING: Yes. Yes.
O’KEEFE — He came twice to help her and she pulled it off. The lesson is:
VLADIMIR DUTHIERS: Tim Ryan, no.
O’KEEFE: — don’t bet against Joe Biden.
BURLESON – Don’t put your money on Biden!
O’KEEFE – Politically, the man always finds a way to make it seem.
DUTHIERS: Mmm.
O’KEEFE – And that’s what the White House has been working on privately. Maybe he’ll speak publicly at some point.
KING: It will be fascinating to see.
O’KEEFE – He knows what he is doing.
KING: What he has to tell us. We expect to hear from him today. Let’s not forget the red wave. It’s been called the red sprinkler — [NANCY CHUCKLES] — I also heard it called the red splash or the red puddle. Needless to state, it was not the red wave or the red tsunami.
O’KEEFE: No.
KING: Did you see anything in the evening that could have suggested that this was how it would end?
O’KEEFE: Yeah.
KING: Did you?
O’KEEFE – There were in races at Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Connecticut. They said, “Look, we’re going win those early, it will be the beginning of it.” It didn’t happen. They won one race in Virginia, where Donald Trump had won quite easily back in 2020. The Democrats won all the other races. There were also parts of the country where Democrats were hoping to be able take districts that were Democratic for decades, or even 100 years. It didn’t happen. Democrats say, “Look, these midterm voting patterns in these areas of the country at most stayed the same.” Abortion was clearly a factor.
KING: Mmhmm.
O’KEEFE – You saw them doing that.
BURLESON: Yep.
O’KEEFE: and
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Today on NBC
November 9, 2022
Eastern, 8:06 a.m.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE] Decision 2022; House & Senate Still Hang in Balance
SAVANNAH GUTRIE: You had the basics, including —
CRAIG MELVIN : Yes.
GUTHRIE — History would also say, oh! You will see a big Republican
TODD: Right.
GUTHRIE — sweep here in both the House and possibly the Senate. We haven’t yet seen that. The House could be taken over by the Republicans. We’ll watch what happens in Senate. It’s hanging by one thread. But why would you believe that the Republican wave didn’t materialize as Lindsey Graham, a Republican senator, stated?
CHUCK TODD: You have to go back to Donald Trump. It is the one — I keep coming back. What has changed in the past ten days? In the past ten days, two things have changed. There was the attack against Paul Pelosi.
HODA KOTB: Uh-huh
TODD: I don’t think it was an insignificant moment. In our poll, we actually saw a change in tone with voters post-attack. Voters in their message said — they asked what message would you send along with your vote. They said, “End — End — End the partisanship. Let’s tone it down.” Even Republicans said that we were not in the Pelosi attack — it was only one-sided conversation. Then Donald Trump at the end of the weekend. He does — if you look at Democrats — the Republicans — it wasn’t only Republicans who felt good. Because they didn’t believe they would get the African American turnout that they wanted, Democrats panicked. They certainly didn’t believe they would get the youth turnout. Then, lo and behold, yesterday was the day. It was Election Day Democratic voters. These are people who decided not to vote early.
MELVIN: Mmm.
TODD: They were motivated to vote. What happened? Donald Trump was on the trail, and he was — he — he’s sort of a negative motivator. He, I believe, motivated the Democratic base enough. We wondered what was more harmful to the middle than the Independents. The Trump right or the woke left?
CRAIG MELVIN – Mmm.
TODD: I believe last night, the answer was given by independents that we may not like Trump’s woke left, but that Trump is more of a threat to us right now.
