A Republican congresswoman suggested on Tuesday that CNN anchor Anderson Cooper was taking shots of tequila during his network’s New Year’s Eve broadcast because of the failed policies of President Joe Biden.
Appearing on Fox Business Network’s Mornings with Maria, Rep. Kat Cammack (R-FL) also claimed that Cooper’s on-air alcohol consumption was in response to his network’s middling television ratings over the past year.
Airing a clip of President Joe Biden chatting with host Ryan Seacrest during ABC’s New Year’s Eve special, Fox Business anchor Cheryl Casone took issue with Biden appearing upbeat about the American economy. Citing low unemployment numbers and rising wages, the president told Seacrest that Americans are in a better place than they were when he took office.
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“People are in a position to be able to make a living now, and they’ve created a lot of jobs for over 14 million,” Biden stated. “I just feel good, the American people got up. They’ve been through a rough time with the pandemic, but now we’re coming back, they’re back.”
Casone, however, pointed to polls showing that Americans still do not approve of Biden’s handling of the economy, largely due to the surging inflation and rising interest rates that marked the first two years of Biden’s presidency. Cammack, meanwhile, took the opportunity to blast both the president and CNN.
“Wow, yikes, just watching that with Ryan Seacrest, it’s uncomfortable because obviously it is another example of a tone-deaf White House,” the Florida lawmaker groused. “On so many issues, they have ignored the everyday American people. They have said that the border is secure. The border is not secure. We have historic numbers every single month breaking records of illegals from over 151 different nations coming here.”
After blaming Biden for rising housing costs, the opioid crisis, and a “crime wave that gripped the country,” Cammack then invoked Cooper’s festive drinking.
“Nothing is better under Joe Biden’s America,” she declared. “Heck, even Anderson Cooper is doing shots on live television, and I think that speaks to both CNN’s ratings as well as what’s going on in America today.”
Casone, for her part, noted that Cooper and his NYE co-host Andy Cohen “certainly had a few drinks to ring in the new year” before moving on to consumer spending and immigration.
Following its one-year ban on drinking during the NYE broadcast, CNN apparently lifted the prohibition that was put in place by the network’s since-deposed chief Chris Licht. Cohen, who publicly railed against the Licht-imposed mandate, made a big show of bringing back the celebrated tradition on Sunday night.
“I guess I’m just wondering, does daddy get his juice?” Cohen joked before pulling out a bottle of tequila. The two hosts would go on and take a shot every hour, starting at 8 p.m. ET, much to Cooper’s chagrin—and viewers’ delight.
This isn’t the first time that Cammack has castigated others for drinking. During last January’s protracted vote to elect Kevin McCarthy as speaker, the congresswoman drew howls and jeers from her Democratic colleagues when she accused them of boozing on the House floor amid the nomination process.
