Media buzz over fly is proof Pence won debate, critics say
The mainstream media was abuzz over a fly on Wednesday night
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
The mainstream media was abuzz over a fly on Wednesday night.
The pesky, now-viral insect landed on Vice President Mike Pence's head during this election's only vice presidential debate and some pundits made huge leaps to tie the bug to the debate’s results.
FLY LANDS ON PENCE'S HEAD DURING VP DEBATE, GOES VIRAL
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
A pesky, now-viral insect landed on Vice President Mike Pence's head during this election's only vice presidential debate.
CBS News’ Gayle King managed to link the fly to Pence’s comments on systemic racism.
“I think it’s very interesting timing that a fly would land on Mike Pence’s head at that particular time when he said that there really wasn’t systemic racism,” King said. “You saw the fly basically going, ‘Say what?’...a memorable moment.”
Over on MSNBC, Steve Schmidt took it a step further when he snarked the fly is “the mark of the devil” during a conversation with host Ari Melber.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
“Not for nothing, I don’t think it’s ever a good sign when a fly lands on your head for two minutes. That’s a sign all through history of sin and historically, biblically... it’s only safe to say this, Ari, after midnight but a fly, he who commands the fly has been seen historically as the mark of the devil,” Schmidt said with a straight face.
Melber laughed and asked if he was joking.
“The fly could have landed on anyone,” Melber pointed out.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
WHO WON THE DEBATE? PENCE-HARRIS SHOWDOWN DRAWS RANGE OF OPINIONS ONLINE
“Yes, but it didn’t. It landed on Mike Pence and it says something karmic about the status of the campaign as it implodes,” Schmidt maintained.
Melber then joked that he couldn’t confirm if Schmidt’s "moral reckoning” theory about the fly connoting evil is true.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
Media Research Center vice president Dan Gainor said liberal pundits are focusing on the fly because their preferred candidate lost.
“The best proof that Pence won the debate is how much the major media are talking about the damn fly."
“The best proof that Pence won the debate is how much the major media are talking about the damn fly. These so-called serious journalists demand we focus on policy and then when their candidate gets crushed on TV they want to talk about nonsense,” Gainor told Fox News.
“Journalists have always snarked among themselves about news events. But now they turn that into news stories and call it analysis,” Gainor added. “It's not analysis, it's like a 10-year-old’s vision of what journalism should be.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
Gainor isn't the only critic who feels liberal pundits have an agenda by focusing on the insect.
“Pence won decisively. That's why everyone wants to talk about the fly,” Spectator USA’s Amber Athey wrote.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
"Pence dismantled Harris. So the entire media will talk about pinkeye and a rogue fly," Ben Shapiro added.
But the media aren’t the only ones focused on the fly, as even Joe Biden tweeted, "Pitch in $5 to help this campaign fly," along with the link "flywillvote.com" which redirected to iwillvote.com.
Fox News’ David Aaro contributed to this report.