Viewers of the Tuesday, October 1 debate between Senator and 2024 Trump running mate JD Vance and Minnesota Governor and 2024 Kamala Harris running mate Tim Walz took to X (formerly Twitter) and the airwaves to sound off on how the CBS News co-moderators handled the debate, alleging that they were “obnoxious” and “biased” in how they treated Vance.
Particularly at issue online in the wake of the debate was a moment in which co-moderator Margaret Brennan, despite rules for the debate to the contrary, fact-checked JD Vance on air during the debate, then the network cut off Vance’s mic as he tried to respond to the comments pushed by Brennan and call her out on breaking the rules to which everyone agreed.
In that exchange, Brennan said, “Just to clarify for our viewers, Springfield, Ohio, does have a large number of Haitian migrants who have legal status, temporary protected status.” Vance fired back, “Margaret, the rules were that you guys weren’t going to fact-check. And since you are fact-checking me, I think it’s important to say what’s actually going on.”
Amongst those who sounded off was former Fox News Channel and current podcast host Megyn Kelly, who tweeted, “F you CBS – how dare you.” She continued, “Tried to fact check. JD put you in your place. You won’t [let] him fight you and you wont let them debate.” Chiming in, a commenter on her post added, “JD Vance called out the moderators for lying to the audience, and CBS immediately muted him. Legacy media is clearly controlled by the Democrats.”
Also sounding off was current Fox News Channel personality Bret Baier, who said, in his post-debate reaction comments. “And there was some, you know, questions about fact-checking and whether it was fair and balanced across the way.” Fellow FNC personality Brit Hume added, “The moderators were obnoxious and made it feel like three-on-one on Vance, and Vance was just fine.”
Yet another who sounded off on the matter on FNC was Joe Concha, who said, ”This was journalist malfeasance because this network CBS promised us the moderators were not going to fact check and then they go ahead and do it anyway but to his credit JD Vance did push back and fact check the fact check until his mic was cut…a horrible look for the Tiffnay network.”
Additionally, in a post on X about the debate, Concha criticized CBS over what questions were not asked, saying, “Again- just like on ABC last month – not one question from the CBS moderators on Biden’s health and why he’s still in office. Coincidence? Or did the Harris-Walz campaign demand the question not be broached and CBS agreed?”
Also chiming in was The Spectator’s Stephen Miller, who sounded off on the Vance mic cut moment and said, “Rewatching this, as soon as Vance corrects Walz that the CBP One app has not been around since 1990, Norah O’Donnell pushes the button under the desk. They didn’t cut the mics because there was insulting and abusive cross talk or yelling. They cut it because Vance was making a point and was right.” Watch the incident to which he is referring here:
Senator Ted Cruz chimed in as well and argued that CBS made itself look foolish during the debate, though for a different reason, saying, “CBS beclowned itself by trying to fact-check JD Vance for proving that the increased cost of housing is tied to illegal aliens. Of course flooding the market with 20 million illegal aliens will increase housing costs. It’s simple supply and demand.”
Even Trump hater Bill Mitchell chimed in on X and said that Vance had destroyed Walz even despite the behavior of the biased moderators, saying, “As expected, the CBS Debate Moderators were completely biased in Walz’ favor, often speaking down to Vance with disdain. Vance handled them beautifully and won anyway!”
Marco Rubio chimed in as well, and said, “Once again another major media outlet embarrasses themselves on a debate stage. In just the first 30 minutes of the CBS debate the moderators have already offered two gratuitous editorial statements, (one of them misleading), taking a shot at JD Vance under the guise of ‘fact checking.’”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video
