For Some, Debate's 'Biggest Failure' Wasn't Biden

Jon Stewart isn't the only one finding fault in the moderation of Thursday's presidential debate. Criticism is coming in hot, particularly from the left, of moderators Dana Bash and Jake Tapper. Of his opponent, President Biden said, "I can't think of one thing that he said was true," per the Hill. "CNN's decision to abrogate its journalistic responsibilities by not fact checking Trump's firehose of lies is unforgivable," former cable news host Keith Olbermann wrote on X, adding Biden faced "the tag team of Trump and CNN's utter failure as a news organization." NBC News and MSNBC contributor Anthony Coley said the absence of fact checking was "the biggest failure" of the debate. "If you don't know the facts, you'd think [Trump] was making a lot of sense," added CBS' Gayle King, per the AP.

Ahead of the debate, CNN faced heavy criticism from the right over its apparent bias against Trump. When it came to Thursday, "the two moderators were very much in a neutral stance" and "at their best when they held both men to the rules of the interaction," per Deadline. Following the debate, CNN said it was "very proud" of Bash and Tapper, who met their goal "to make sure candidates were heard so voters can make informed decisions." Earlier in the week, CNN political director David Chalian told the New York Times the live debate "is not the ideal arena for live fact-checking" so moderators would focus on "facilitating the debate" while "not being a participant."

Yet Times columnist Nicholas Kristof questioned "how it helps for a platform to transmit falsehoods disguised as facts," per the Hill. Though CNN fact checker Daniel Dale did share live fact checks online, none appeared on the broadcast watched by tens of millions. Social media users felt Trump, in particular, needed to be called out, including when he claimed Democrats support abortion late in pregnancy or "after birth," per the Washington Post. But both candidates "made a number of misleading or false statements about topics ranging from crime to immigration to the economy," per the Hill. For some, that was fine. Republican pollster Frank Luntz said participants in his focus group had a favorable view of the moderators, with "no accusations of bias," per the Post. (More presidential debate stories.)