CNN analyst Bakari Sellers rejected a report that the Democratic National Convention (DNC) committed a “cardinal sin” by pushing President Biden’s speech back so late Monday night because of scheduling delays.
New York Times reporter Peter Baker noted: “But the Democrats jumbled their homage plan with a slate of speeches that went so long that Mr. Biden was pushed out of prime time on the East Coast. He did not begin his own address until about 11:30 p.m. in Washington, a cardinal sin in modern convention planning.”
He even revealed that “Democrats were so far behind schedule that they had to scrap a video tribute to the outgoing president.”
However, on CNN Tuesday morning, Sellers dismissed the report and blasted Baker: “It’s weird to me that people who are so smart and so good at their jobs just mess up so glaringly.”
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“Peter misses the simple fact that these speeches live online forever, there are clips that are playing on social media and TikTok,” Sellers said. “They’re not traditional means and methods by which people consume these speeches anymore.”
“Just because you give a speech at 11:30 does not mean… this is not 1940 where people have to gather around the radio, Peter, and actually listen to it,” he added.
Biden spoke at the DNC on Monday night, approximately four weeks after ending his White House re-election bid and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris. He did not finish speaking until after midnight Eastern Time.
Critics scolded Democrats for delaying Biden’s speech, calling it another sign of “disrespect” to the president.
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DNC convention officials told Fox News Digital in a previous statement that Biden’s speech was delayed due to overwhelming applause for the speakers before the president.
“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,” the officials wrote. “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.”
The New York Times did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
