We’re almost a full two months into Joe Biden’s presidency, and though the mainstream media still occasionally surprises us with a few tough questions of the Biden administration and their associates, the vast majority of the time they’re continuing to carry their water and then some.
Case in point, an article from Politico’s “Transition Playbook” Monday, where the writers unintentionally alerted people to something almost no one in this country knew about. Apparently, Joe Biden has become a “disciplined messenger” over the last eight weeks:
Two and a half months in, President Biden has surprised some of his former colleagues and allies with a largely gaffe-free White House debut after a lifetime of verbal stumbles. https://t.co/Iz4Pr1kEd9 pic.twitter.com/06G1mKs1JF
— POLITICO (@politico) March 15, 2021
The article proceeds to gaslight readers by telling them that even though Biden’s media availability has been limited, that he’s actually not that far “behind his predecessors on that front”:
To hear the president’s allies tell it, the calls for him to speak to the press more regularly are just the latest example of reporters elevating their own concerns over the actual interests of the voters. The White House says it isn’t shielding Biden, pointing out that he has held about 40 informal, often very short, Q&A sessions with reporters before and after public events. And while Biden hasn’t held a formal press conference, he isn’t actually too far behind his predecessors on that front.
What they don’t tell you is that some of those “informal pressers” look like the bizarre scene last week at the DC hardware store, where a “press availability” devolved into shouting questions to a president who claimed he couldn’t hear them. He did not answer a single one of them. In fact, Biden was essentially upstaged by his handlers during that “Q&A”, where his staff aggressively herded the press away from him like cattle.
The Politico piece treated the issue of Biden’s gaffes with kids gloves, stating that his limited interactions with the press were an “attempt to synthesize the comms strategy and an implicit recognition that an extended interview or press conference poses new risks.”
Let’s be real here. This is not partially an “attempt to synthesize the comms strategy.” It has everything and I do mean everything to do with the fact that Biden is not a “disciplined messenger” in any way, shape or form. How is it that the leader of the free world can be a “disciplined messenger” when he’s either a) barely speaking to reporters, b) scheduling “interviews” with Dem-friendly journalists, or c) embarrassing himself when he does? When everyone around him is put in the position of having to talk for him because more often than not he bombs badly when let off the leash, that is not being a “disciplined messenger.”
What an absurd spin on the fact that he hasn't had any formal pressers almost two months in, the press gets herded out like cattle at his public appearances, FCOL! #GarbageJournalism https://t.co/jwLFI67Jns
— Sister Toldjah Le Pew 😁 (@sistertoldjah) March 16, 2021
His eloquence is why they’re afraid to put him in front of a microphone without a script. 😂 https://t.co/Gy6Kkax3aR
— Fuzzy Chimp (@fuzzychimpcom) March 15, 2021
Naturally, the Usual Suspects on the left and Never Trump la la land are running with the “he’s not a gaffe machine, he’s just smarter than you” hot take as well:
Contrary to some cynical pundits, Biden was not “lucky” to win in 2020. He is not a gaffe machine; indeed, he is religiously on-message and often eloquent. https://t.co/EMfutwQ7tp
— Jennifer 'pro-voting' Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) March 14, 2021
— Biden Voters Posting Their L's Online (@BidenLs) March 15, 2021
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said earlier this month that they were planning on scheduling a solo press conference for Biden that would take place by the end of the month (update: it will be March 25th, the White House announced today). It will be interesting to see how “disciplined” – and controlled – that one will be.
Stay tuned.
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