The CNN panel covering the Democratic National Convention were incredulous at the explanation from organizers that the reason President Joe Biden’s speech started about an hour behind schedule, openly laughing at the claim it was caused by “raucous applause.”
The DNC kicked off Monday evening at the United Center in Chicago, with many speakers getting an enthusiastic response from the crowd — especially a brief surprise speech from the Democratic nominee herself, Vice President Kamala Harris.
But as the night dragged on and convention watchers realized the program was running about an hour late, according to the released schedule, some commentators wondered if Biden’s speech would really end up getting pushed to midnight or later.
The president did finally take the stage around 10:30 pm CT — 11:30 pm ET for the many East Coast reporters and other viewers, delivering a much-anticipated speech in which he passed the torch to Harris.
“I love the job, but I love my country more,” said Biden, before insisting that the reports that he was “angry” at the people who said he should step aside were “not true.”
Biden concluded his speech and was joined on stage by First Lady Jill Biden, Harris, vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, and their families. Shortly thereafter, DNC officials issued a statement about the schedule snafu.
“Because of the raucous applause interrupting speaker after speaker, we ultimately skipped elements of our program to ensure we could get to President Biden as quickly as possible so that he could speak directly to the American people,” said the statement. “We are proud of the electric atmosphere in our convention hall and proud that our convention is showcasing the broad and diverse coalition behind the Harris-Walz ticket throughout the week on and off the stage.”
As the late night CNN panel were discussing Biden’s speech and other parts of the program, Anderson Cooper brought up the convention officials’ statement.
“By the way, I see a report that convention officials are saying that the reason went it long is because of all the ‘raucous applause,'” said Cooper with a chuckle as the rest of the panel laughed. “Uh, that’s the sort of thing, you build into this — we have had conventions before, you sort of know –”
“That’s amazing spin,” agreed Audie Cornish.
Watch the clip above via CNN.
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Sarah Rumpf joined Mediaite in 2020 and is a Contributing Editor focusing on politics, law, and the media. A native Floridian, Sarah attended the University of Florida, graduating with a double major in Political Science and German, and earned her Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the UF College of Law. Sarah's writing has been featured at National Review, The Daily Beast, Reason, Law & Crime, Independent Journal Review, Texas Monthly, The Capitolist, Breitbart Texas, Townhall, RedState, The Orlando Sentinel, and the Austin-American Statesman, and her political commentary has led to appearances on the BBC, MSNBC, NewsNation, Fox 35 Orlando, Fox 7 Austin, The Young Turks, The Dean Obeidallah Show, and other television, radio, and podcast programs across the globe.
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