Democratic debate moderator Anderson Cooper admitted in a radio interview that he knew Bernie Sanders would leap to the defense of Hillary Clinton on her handling of classified emails before the debate began.

The admission shows how CNN stage managed the debate to maximize Clinton's position and strike a blow against the GOP investigations.

Washington Post:

Much political chatter this week focused on a pivotal moment at Tuesday night’s CNN Democratic debate in Las Vegas: “I think the secretary is right, and that is that the American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn e-mails,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders to former secretary of state Hillary Clinton. Sanders was called upon to address the Democratic front-runner’s ongoing e-mail controversy after Clinton issued her standard defense.

The Vermont senator’s defense brought an uproarious reaction from the crowd at the Wynn Las Vegas. Though hopefuls Lincoln Chafee and Martin O’Malley both chimed in on the e-mail stuff, Sanders had pretty well snuffed out the issue. “Thank you, Bernie. Thank you,” said Clinton after Sanders had ripped the e-mail stuff as a campaign-trail issue.

In a chat with former New York Times television reporter Bill Carter on the SiriusXM show “The Bill Carter Interview,” Cooper put this moment in his basket of regrets over his handling of the debate. “I wish I had brought in one other candidate before I went to Sanders on the email thing because I knew Sanders would try to shut it down,” said the debate host. Perhaps that would have been a better way to go, though there was no guarantee. After all, Chafee commented that the e-mails drive at a credibility crisis in American politics. When Cooper asked Clinton whether she wanted to respond, she said, “No,” to the delight of her supporters.

The assembled challengers weren’t prepared or disposed to mount a serious challenge to Clinton’s e-mail problem. That would have had to come directly from Cooper in a series of pointed questions. Posing them would have hijacked the debate, driving it into a homebrew rabbit hole; better to leave the prolonged e-mail cross-examinations to Cooper’s peers who sit for extended interviews with the candidate. Several such clashes have already taken place, and there are more to come, including Jake Tapper’s CNN interview with Clinton this afternoon.

Gee...who woulda thunk it. A major national news network works off a script to make Democrats look good and aid them in their campaigns? That debate was about as spontaneous as a professional wrestling match. And CNN's post debate "analysis" by its talking heads - where Hillary was declared the hands down winner - was also canned chatter in hindsight. 

The question is did Cooper set the scene up with Sanders before the debate? When her chief rival says there's nothing to a scandal, that carries a lot more weight than if one of the minor candidates had made the statement. It's also not surprising that the entire press corps watching in the press room leapt to their feet and cheered when Sanders made his "damn emails" comment.

GOP candidates should boycott CNN until they get a full explanation by Cooper on what he knew about Sanders' gambit and when he knew it. And if there was an ounce of justice in the media world, Cooper would be fired and never work as a "journalist" again.