The crucial Super Tuesday wins for former Vice President Joe Biden seemed to ease the liberal media’s fears of Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) being the Democratic nominee. None were arguably more transparent about that than CNN host Don Lemon during the wee hours of Wednesday morning, when he explained how he woke up from a nap and thought he was still dreaming when he saw the results.
“What a night it has been for Joe Biden,” Lemon exclaimed as he took over during the 1:00 a.m. Eastern hour. “What a race it’s been, unbelievable. I took a nap because I knew I would be up late. And I woke up and I thought I was still dreaming. Joe Biden, you can only say is over-performing what everyone thought he would do.”
After being introduced, former Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum quipped “[i]t's good to know you dream about Joe Biden.”
Lemon defended himself by pointing out that he knew that they would be up way into the early morning, so he tried to get some extra sleep. “And I said what is going on? Joe Biden kept winning state after state after state after state,” he said with amazement.
He then looked to senior political analyst Mark Preston to get an explanation for Biden’s come from behind. “Look, certainly in politics, success begets success,” Preston said.
Preston added: “And we saw Joe Biden really take control of South Carolina. It really went overwhelmingly. And if you look at that placement so close to Super Tuesday, that was a big, big, big thing for Joe Biden because he was able to carry that moment into the south, where we saw a lot of African-American voters who clearly were behind Joe Biden.”
A few minutes later, political commentator Scott Jennings, the lone conservative on the panel, humorously compared Biden’s campaign to the WWE character The Undertaker because it seemingly busted out of a rhetorical coffin:
Look, I'll wear the pundit cone of shame cause I came out here and thought after the first three contests, it felt like – as someone who’s been in campaigns, including some losing ones, that Biden’s campaign had that stink, you know, of death that campaigns get. And watching him pop up out of the coffin tonight like the Undertaker at a WWE match has been really, really amazing.
“And look, I don't think it is over. By the way, Bernie Sanders raised $46.5 million in February, he has money to keep going. But obviously, there has been a momentum shift,” he added. “But I don't think we should make the same mistake that we made before.”
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CNN’s America’s Choice 2020: Super Tuesday
March 4, 2020
1:21:59 a.m. EasternDON LEMON: What a night it has been for Joe Biden! What a race it’s been, unbelievable. I took a nap because I knew I would be up late. And I woke up and I thought I was still dreaming. Joe Biden, you can only say is over-performing what everyone thought he would do. Let's join the experts now
(…)
Did you think the same thing?
ANDREW GILLUM: It's good to know you dream about Joe Biden.
[LAUGHTER]
LEMON: Listen, I try to sleep during the day. And I knew that, you know, we would all be up here until -- at least 5:00 in the morning. And I said what is going on? Joe Biden kept winning state after state after state after state. And if you asked any of us, 72 hours ago at least. Obviously, you thought he would win some states. But if you had asked Park Preston, would you have said that Joe Biden would be performing at least the way he performed tonight?
MARK PRESTON: Not by these margins. But I mean, look, certainly in politics, success begets success. Right? And we saw Joe Biden really take control of South Carolina. It really went overwhelmingly. And if you look at that placement so close to Super Tuesday, that was a big, big, big thing for Joe Biden because he was able to carry that moment into the south, where we saw a lot of African-American voters who clearly were behind Joe Biden.
(…)
1:30:36 a.m. Eastern
SCOTT JENNINGS: Look, I'll wear the pundit cone of shame cause I came out here and thought after the first three contests, it felt like – as someone who’s been in campaigns, including some losing ones, that Biden’s campaign had that stink, you know, of death that campaigns get. And watching him pop up out of the coffin tonight like the Undertaker at a WWE match has been really, really amazing.
[LAUGHTER]
And look, I don't think it is over. By the way, Bernie Sanders raised $46.5 million in February, he has money to keep going. But obviously, there has been a momentum shift. But I don't think we should make the same mistake that we made before. We all wrote Biden off and then he came back. And now we’re all tempted to write Bernie off.
(…)
