Making Pieces Of Debbie

CNN’s Anderson Cooper takes on Debbie Wasserman Schultz


By Katie Glueck | 8/24/12 -- 9:59 AM EDT Updated: 8/24/12 -- 3:40 PM EDT

Debbie Wasserman Schultz and CNN’s Anderson Cooper engaged in a heated exchange Thursday night when Cooper charged that the Florida congresswoman “misquoted” the Los Angeles Times in a letter that the anchor also said misrepresented Mitt Romney’s stance on the Republican Party’s abortion platform plank.

The segment, which has gone viral in the conservative blogosphere, features Cooper, on his CNN show “Anderson Cooper 360,” pointing to a fundraising email Wasserman Schultz signed. He said that a quote she used from the Los Angeles Times in the appeal was taken “completely out of context.”

“The DNC chairwoman calls out Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan for saying they don’t entirely agree with that plank,” Cooper said. “And here’s how she backs it up…’But guess what? ‘The Los Angeles Times’ reported yesterday that the platform was, and I quote, ‘written at the direction of Romney’s campaign.’

But Cooper said the quote “was ripped, in fact, out of a sentence,” saying that the real piece read, “Delegates for presumptive nominee Mitt Romney are voting down substantive changes to the platform language that was written at the direction of Romney’s campaign.”

“Do you at least acknowledge that the quote that you gave from “The L.A. Times” is completely incorrect?” Cooper asked, after a back-and-forth over Romney’s record on allowing for abortions in certain instances, like rape.

“No, I don’t acknowledge that. I know that is what you’re saying,” Wasserman Schultz shot back. When he started to read the quote, she interrupted, “Anderson, what I’m saying is, it doesn’t matter.”

“I think what you say does matter,” he said. “You’re quoting the LA Times and, again, you’ve misquoted them to back up a position.”

Wasserman Schultz said that the point of the fundraising email was to highlight Romney’s connection to his party’s platform ban on abortion, which doesn’t specifically designate exceptions for victims of rape or incest.

“There’s no way a presidential candidate can separate himself from that party’s platform,” she said.

Cooper challenged her assertion there, too, but the most fiery moments of the segment centered on the question of the quote from the Los Angeles Times.

“Just as you don’t like being misquoted, I don’t like being misquoted, I’m sure the LA Times doesn’t like being misquoted to back up your political position,” Cooper said. “I don’t understand why you’d need to do that.”