
<p>I watched the entire program that CNN misbilled as a “town hall meeting” featuring President Biden. ; Before getting into why I called it a “fraud” in the headline, a few observations about Biden’s performance.</p>



<p>He was not bad. ; He stood throughout the program without showing any signs of physical fatigue. ; He did cough several times. ; I wondered why host Anderson Cooper did not offer some water. ; ;</p>



<p>Biden did have a few minor “senior moments.” ; At one point when he was trying to find his train of thought, he looked down and muttered “where am I.” ; Another time, Cooper had to finish the thought for Biden. ; And there were other times when Biden appeared to be searching for the remainder of his thought.</p>



<p>He also performed what I call the “Biden ramble.” ; At times he would ramble and never get to the question. ; There were his evergreen references to the things he learned for his working class father, which did not seem to have a relevant point.. ; ;</p>



<p>Some of the Biden fans, say that these pauses and mental searches are because of his early life history as a stutterer. ; I have followed Biden’s 47-year public career, and he did not have these telling pauses in the past. ; They could be related to his earlier speech impediment but seem clearly to be manifest in his elderly years.</p>



<p>My major take-away, however, was CNN’s shameful naming the event a “town hall meeting” when it was essentially a partisan rally – at least by Biden standards. ;</p>



<p>In a town hall meeting, one should expect that the audience is random and representative of the community. ; The questions should be tough at times – covering all the hot topics of the day. ; Maybe even follow up questions. ; This was not that.</p>



<p>The audience was drawn exclusively from the “friends of Biden” invitation list. ; We know that from the frequent outburst of applause &#8212; and occasional cheers as Biden answered questions. ; As one might at a political rally, Biden stopped to “recognize” two Democrat senators in the audience. ; They were Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen, both of Maryland.</p>



<p>This appeared as a pre-arranged set up. ; I recalled that when Biden first appeared on stage, he had to shield his eyes with his hands to look out into the audience. ; Strangely, he later glanced out into the audience and saw the two gentlemen – who were seated in the middle of the auditorium wearing masks. ; To use one of Biden’s favorite expressions … “Come on, man.”</p>



<p>But that was not the only obvious staging. ; Someone with CNN – or even with input from the White House – had to select the audience, the questioners and the questions. ; That is a fair assumption because in a previous CNN “town hall meeting” one of the questioners admitted that the question he asked had been given to him verbatim. ; And that is how most of the questions were presented – read from pieces of paper.</p>



<p>Then there was the matter of those pre-selected to ask questions. ; Some questions came from Cooper – but most were from the audience. ; The majority were Democrats – as identified by Cooper. ; Some were independents. ; Only two were said to be Republicans and they were late in the show. ; And even then, they were not the kind of questions a partisan Republican is likely to ask.</p>



<p>Softballs. ; All the questions were softballs. ; I am a single mother. ; What are you going to do for me? ; I am caring for my elderly parents. ; What are you going to do for me? ; I am a student. ; What are you going to do for me? ; I am a teacher. ; What are you going to do for me?</p>



<p>All the questioners – with the possible exception of the two Republicans – were asking questions that fit into Biden’s big bold legislative proposals. ; All the answer could have been summarized in … “I will give you more money.”</p>



<p>Biden was asked why he had not yet visited the border … but not specifically what he was going to do about the record number of illegal border crossings. ; He did mention asking the longshore workers and the truck drivers to work 24/7 to unload the containers to address the supply-chain disruption. ; At the rate that container ships are unloaded – several days per ship – the Biden plan would eliminate the back log in three years instead of five. ;</p>



<p>There were no tough questions. ; Nothing about Afghanistan and terrorism. ; Nothing about inflation. Nothing addressing the issues that have plunged Biden’s favorable rating into the 30 percentiles.</p>



<p>The was not a town hall meeting. ; What CNN ran was a partisan Democrat dog-and-pony-show for the President.</p>



<p>So, there ‘tis.</p>

CNN’s Biden town hall meeting was a fraud
