Media top headlines August 10
In media news today, Washington Post calls for CNN to investigate Chris Cuomo, Vogue gets ripped as ‘frauds’ for a glowing feature on Jen Psaki, and MSNBC’s Joy Reid claims those angry at maskless Obama party are only mad because they weren’t invited
CNN ran a gushing hour-long interview of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Monday full of softball questions that seemingly sought to highlight the far-left Squad member as a victim and hero standing against the political establishment.
"While celebrities sometimes use their stardom to go into politics, she reached fame as a politician. The 31-year-old is outspoken, uncompromising and not just navigating the political world, but trying to change it," CNN anchor Dana Bash said as she introduced Ocasio-Cortez, and praised her huge social media following.
The show ran in place of CNN host Chris Cuomo's weeknight program "Cuomo Prime Time." The anchor is on a pre-planned vacation, according to the network, as he faces call for discipline and even his firing over his private advice to his brother, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, D., on combating sexual harassment allegations.
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Bash highlighted Ocasio-Cortez's rise from being an unknown political candidate in The Bronx to defeating a veteran House Democrat, all while praising her "confidence" and complimenting her "trying to change" the world at a young age.
"Part of being Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez means being a target of scorn and criticism, even within her own party," Bash said.
"My first term was very painful. It was very, very painful," Ocasio-Cortez responded. "I came in and I unseated an incumbent that, while may not have been very resonant in our community, was very popular inside those smoke-filled rooms. And so I took away a friend. And I walked in into a very cold environment. Even within my own party."
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Ocasio-Cortez added that she would sometimes walk onto the floor of the House and none of her Democratic colleagues would greet her or start up a conversation with her. "It was very, very tough," she said.
Bash said Ocasio-Cortez's response in a speech on the House floor to former House Republican Ted Yoho allegedly calling her a "f***ing b***h" on the front steps of the Capitol were "very memorable" to her. "I stopped in my tracks," she said, before noting that people celebrated Ocasio-Cortez's response by making viral remakes of the speech on TikTok.
"You are uncompromising in your vision, in your goals for what you want to do," Bash said later in the interview, before also claiming that "being Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez means being a celebrity and looking like one. Red lips and all."
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Bash noted Ocasio-Cortez was featured on the magazine cover of Vanity Fair and played a video clip of her explaining her makeup routine. She added that Ocasio-Cortez sometimes gets criticism for her "celebrity status" and for "being glamourous."
"Power can have red lips," Bash said after Ocasio-Cortez talked about the importance of embracing the power of "femininity."
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Throughout the interview Bash never mentioned any of the other controversies Ocasio-Cortez had been involved in, including being accused of judging legislation on infrastructure based on the skin color of the bipartisan group of senators constructing the bill, downplaying the spike in violent crime across the country and suggesting that a commission was needed to "rein in" media "misinformation."