Midway through day number 30 of the government shutdown, CNN’s Dana Bash discussed the situation with both House Speaker Mike Johnson, and Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) in separate interviews on Thursday’s “Inside Politics”, on CNN, and although the topic was the same, her questions and Bash’s handling of each guest’s responses were noticeably different. First it was Speaker Johnson’s turn.
Bash’s first question to Johnson involved the President revealing that he had instructed the Pentagon to begin testing nuclear weapons again for the first time in more than 30 years. Next she turned to the shutdown, and the possibility that a partial deal could be reached that would keep funding SNAP, which is set to expire on Saturday. Johnson asked why not keep all programs going, by having the Democrats agree to open the government, and Bash responded:
BASH: So, just to put a pin in it, all or nothing. Full government funding for the entire government, or you’re not going to bring anything up on the House floor, even if the Senate finds some sort of compromise?
JOHNSON: Yeah, because they’re trying to play games and we are not interested in doing that. That’s the position of the leadership, Republican leadership in the Senate and the House and the White House as well. We have to do well and right by all the American people…
BASH…. But why are you drawing the line now on 40 million Americans who literally will not be able to eat without government assistance? Why not help them in the short term?…
JOHNSON: Wait a minute, wait. I reject the premise of the question. I’m not drawing the line. The Democrats are drawing the line… All the cabinet secretaries are doing everything they can to mitigate and reduce the pain. But that ability is not available for SNAP because the contingency fund had to be prior authorized by Congress.
BASH: Well, they say that that’s not what the law shows.
JOHNSON: No, that’s ridiculous.
BASH: And certainly, the administration has shown they are very happy — money around without Congress saying, yes.
JOHNSON: No, Dana. They’re just simply not true. It’s already been adjudicated… The Democrats have put the American people in this crisis, and they are the ones that have the power to end it. They could do it today, if they feel enough pressure to do so.
Bash then wanted to know if, now that the President had returned from his overseas trip, he would get involved and bring the sides together to cut a deal.
BASH: You know, he could — he could make a deal on this in five minutes.
JOHNSON: He can’t. There’s no deal to be made. Remember, the CR does not have Trump or Republican priorities on it at all. There’s nothing we can pull off of that to make it more palatable for the Democrats. I would have done that a long time ago…
As you can see, Bash was not bashful about confronting the Speaker. Her interview later with Booker, was nowhere near as hard hitting. CNN isn’t fair and balanced.
To her credit, she started out with a tough one on SNAP. “Are there some Democrats do you, sir, because you voted no, bear some responsibility for endangering people’s food aid?” But she then let Booker spew talking points uninterrupted for a minute and a half.
She later said, “So you say that Republicans are being cruel, but it’s also true that you just have to vote yes, and four other Democratic senators have to vote yes, and the government will be reopened.” But she then allowed Booker to ramble on for almost two full minutes without interruption, before she switched topics to the New Jersey Governor’s race.
There is no doubt that Speaker Johnson has a more powerful position, and tough questions are fair, but there is also no doubt that Bash played by two sets of rules during her two sessions. Of course this is not unique to these interviews, not unique to Bash, and not unique to CNN. It’s called liberal media bias.
