Biden Was The Clear Winner in NBC’s Town Hall in Miami, But Were Soft Ball Questions Lobbed at Him Coming From Voters Only Pretending to be Undecided?

 Thomas J. Madden, Chairman and CEO, Transmedia Group

Some of the so-called “undecided voters” at the recent NBC-Biden town hall were once identified as Biden supporters when they previously appeared on MSNBC.

Really?  If that’s true, shouldn’t moderator Lester Holt have asked them:

“Were you once for Biden, but switched to undecided?”

What bothers me about this is that NBC is close to my heart as I was once a senior VP there and on exhilarating mornings I’d ride up on the elevator to the mighty sixth floor with one of my heroes, Tom Brokaw.

Since I left 30 Rock and the spacious offices my assistant Donna Kazolas and I had overlooking the skating rink at Rockefeller Center, I’ve remained loyal to this day to NBC, watching NBC Nightly News practically every night.

Ask my wife Rita.  She’ll tell you I’m still a newshound like I was when I was a reporter at The Philadelphia Inquirer, only now I’m probably more a news fanatic who’s worried his favorite news organizations are taking sides politically.

The NBC town hall was billed as consisting only of “an audience of undecided Florida voters,” but according to reports it included two Cuban American voters who had told MSNBC in August they were voting for the former vice president.

One of the questions at the event came from attorney who six weeks ago had told MSNBC that young people are no fans of President Trump, while an on-screen graphic identified him as “Voting for Biden.”

Another questioner who voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 had told MSNBC that some of Biden’s statements “resonated” with him and a third “undecided voter” featured several pro-Biden posts on her Facebook page in recent weeks.

Of the 16 questions asked of the Democratic nominee, 13 came from those identified as Democrats and just 3 from Republicans, which drew President Trump’s attention who complained Biden gets the soft balls.

“They don’t ask me questions like that,” Trump told supporters.

NBC and national news media in general, please do those of us a favor who count on news being objective or at least trying to be politically neutral.

Please check to see if voters who claim they’re undecided are really being honest so we can understand better the source of their questions.

And I’d try to be more vigilant in spotting those just pretending to be undecided, when they’re obviously not.

And now as Lester says at the end of each NBC Nightly News:

“Please take care of yourself, and each other.”

Only I would add:

“No matter what side you’re on, we’re all Americans!