CNN panelists reporting from the Democratic National Convention in Chicago scoffed at party organizers’ claims that President Biden’s speech was an hour behind schedule because of “rabid applause” that was generated by the speakers who preceded him throughout the evening.
Anderson Cooper, who moderated the CNN panel as part of the network’s coverage of the convention, wasn’t buying the official explanation.
“By the way, I see a report that congressional officials say the reason took too long because of all the ‘rabid applause,'” said Cooper, who laughed along with the other commentators.
Cooper then added, “Uh, that’s the kind of thing, you build on that — we’ve had conventions before, you know . . .”
Another CNN panelist, Audie Cornish, agreed, saying, “That’s amazing spin.”
The comments from Cooper and Cornish were reported by news site Mediaite.
Biden, whose decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential race last month paved the way for the nomination of Vice President Kamala Harris, took the stage around 11:30 p.m. ET.
The original DNC schedule called for Biden to address the crowd at 10:45 PM ET — which is still well past prime time.
Biden was preceded by a list of speakers that included party stalwarts such as former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who was accused of speaking with a “weird” fake accent and ” strange”.
A convention official released a statement regarding Biden’s appearance on stage so late:
“Because of the wild applause that interrupted speaker after speaker, we eventually skipped elements of our program to make sure we could get to President Biden as quickly as possible so he could… pic.twitter.com/ZsI8WReEFF
— Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) August 20, 2024
The president spoke for nearly an hour — though observers began to question whether Biden, who was forced out of the race by top party leaders over concerns about his age, was deliberately sidelined by convention organizers who knew the audience would viewers would dwindle as the night dragged on.
About half of Americans live in the Eastern time zone.
Biden was also scheduled to speak on the first day of the convention — a rarity for a sitting president, who is usually penciled in to address delegates on the final night of the four-day event.
“Because of the wild applause that interrupted speaker after speaker, we eventually skipped elements of our program to make sure we could get to President Biden as quickly as possible so he could speak. directly with the American people,” a congressional official said in a statement.
“We are proud of the electric atmosphere in our convention hall and proud that our convention is showcasing the broad and diverse coalition behind the Harris-Walz ticket all week on and off the stage.”
A Biden aide told Axio: “This is terrible. He literally created a campaign and handed it to them – should they take it off prime time?
Biden dropped his bid for a second term after a growing Democratic outcry over his dismal June 27 debate performance against Trump, which fueled concerns about his apparent mental decline.
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