“CBS Evening News” fawned over 2020 presidential hopeful Joe Biden’s verbal attack on a voter Thursday, with multiple comparisons to the former vice president’s actions and even a prizefighter, according to a media watchdog.
A man, who later told the New York Post he is a Marine Corps veteran, irked Biden by asking about son Hunter's role on the board of a controversial Ukrainian natural gas firm at an Iowa town hall event. Biden responded by calling the man a “damn liar,” “too old,” and referred to him condescendingly as “jack.” Biden also challenged the man to a pushup contest, IQ test and many observers feel he also called him “fat,” but the candidate denies criticizing the man’s weight.
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“CBS Evening News” anchor Norah O’Donnell teased the story by declaring that things got “pretty hot” in Iowa before introducing reporter Ed O’Keefe to deliver the “blow-by-blow” details.
(Christopher DeVargas/Las Vegas Sun via AP, File)
Media Research Center analyst Nicholas Fondacaro felt that O’Donnell “lauded” Biden’s actions by suggesting he acted like a “prizefighter,” noting that her “enthusiasm persisted” when she read the news “with a big smile on her face.”
O’Keefe then said Biden was “pacing the floor like a prizefighter” when pointing out that the 2020 Democratic front-runner “punched back” at a voter who asked about his son.
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Merle Gorman, the 83-year-old vet and retired farmer who Biden called a “damn liar,” told the New York Post that the exchange speaks for itself.
“[Biden] didn’t have the guts to explain the situation, and that’s what I wanted,” Gorman said. “He got pissed off and stomped around… he’s got a wet noodle for a backbone.”
"CBS Evening News with Norah O'Donnell." (Michele Crowe/CBS via AP)
Fondacaro noted that NBC’s “Nightly News” barely covered the altercation and ABC’s “World News Tonight” anchor David Muir appeared “disappointed” in Biden’s actions, as opposed to CBS’ newscast that seemed to embrace them.
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At one point during the heated confrontation, Biden appeared to begin calling the man “fat” before catching himself. When Biden said the word in question, a group of schoolchildren off-camera gasped, thinking the former VP did, indeed, call the man “fat”.
Biden has denied mocking the man’s weight, and his campaign claims he said “facts,” not “fat,” but many observers disagree. Either way, Gorman told the Post that Biden won’t get his vote and the veteran prefers Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigieg, Cory Booker or Andrew Yang.
“I would love any of them except Joe Biden,” Gorman told the Post.
Fox News’ Allie Raffa contributed to this report.
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