In what was another on a growing list of embarrassing moments he has been at the center of since he was inaugurated President back in January, the White House cut Joe Biden’s mic Monday during a public briefing in Boise, Idaho where he and other officials were discussing the wildfires that have hit Idaho, California, and other states in the region hard over the last several months.
The embarrassing moment was caught on video as Biden began questioning Washington State Forester George Geissler during the event.
“Can I ask you a question?” Biden began.
“Of course,” Geissler told him.
“One of the things that I’ve been working on with some others is —–” Biden says before the microphone’s audio was cut off. A “Thank you for joining” White House slide was then shown on the screen.
For those who missed it, watch the clip below:
BIDEN: “Can I ask you a question?”
*White House feed cuts out” pic.twitter.com/YQ9I9u3r98
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 13, 2021
The clip went viral, and news outlets like Fox News and the New York Post did write-ups on it because it was a legitimate news story.
Their reports on Biden’s mic being cut, along with Idaho Republican Sen. Jim Risch questioning Secretary of State Antony Blinken about the matter during today’s Afghanistan hearing sent CNN’s Daniel Dale and the Washington Post’s Glenn Kessler, who are purported “fact-checkers” for their respective media employers, into predictable rages. Here are the noted DNC apologists’ their supposed debunkings of the insinuation that Biden’s aides quickly cut his mic before he could say something stupid (my dissection of their comments will follow):
At length, Sen. Jim Risch absurdly said someone at the White House yesterday hit a "button" to stop Biden from talking.
No. There was a planned "pool spray," in which press/cam is allowed in for brief remarks at a meeting's start; it ended as Biden began questioning officials.
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 14, 2021
Also, like, these are the words Biden said before the feed ended: "Can I ask you a question? One of the things that I've been working on, with some others, is…" It wasn't like he started telling some crazy story. (Anyway this is all ridiculous.)
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 14, 2021
When you are living in the Murdock news bubble….a NY Post story prompted by a RNC tweet and then echoed across the right-wing tv & twitterverse. https://t.co/eDT4t5joKr https://t.co/kOgUzoPfMe
— Glenn Kessler (@GlennKesslerWP) September 14, 2021
Translation of "pool spray at top" — reporters will hear some opening remarks and then leave as the president begins to engage in the briefing.
— Glenn Kessler (@GlennKesslerWP) September 14, 2021
Just freakin’ hilarious, and trust me when I say that nobody outside of those who reside in the WaPo/CNN fake news bubble is buying it.
For starters, we’ve seen umpteen instances where Biden has made public appearances where his handlers have abruptly stepped in in a very obvious way to either keep people from hearing Biden say something stupid or to prevent Biden from having to answer a question. We saw it throughout his presidential campaign last year and we’ve seen it numerous times this year as well.
So no, it’s not “absurd” as Dale suggested to believe Biden’s mic was deliberately cut to avoid catching him uttering another embarrassing gaffe. What was “absurd” was Dale pretending that any of this should be accepted as normal behavior from a President and his staff.
Secondly, his second tweet where he talks about reporters frequently being shoved out of the room and/or the mic routinely being cut further negates his first point about speculation over the incident being “absurd” and his third point about how all of this is “ridiculous,” doesn’t it?
As for Kessler, I laughed out loud at his rant for two reasons, the first being about “living in the Murdock news bubble.” As opposed to what? Living in the WaPo news bubble where people were repeatedly lied to about the Wuhan lab leak theory being “debunked”? I’ll take my chances with the “Murdock [Murdoch, actually] news bubble,” thank you very much.
Secondly, note who Kessler uncritically retweets: Notorious left-wing Vox.com “journalist”/hack Aaron Rupar, who bizarrely suggested it was “bizarre” for Risch to ask a perfectly legit question of Blinken about who is controlling Biden’s microphone. It’s not the first time Kessler has embarrassed himself by relying on Rupar’s interpretation of events, and sadly it won’t be the last.
Lastly, Politico reported just last week on how “anxiety levels” within the Biden administration were high whenever he spoke publicly. The story noted how some White House staffers “will either mute him or turn off his remarks” just to spare themselves from the inevitable cringing. Yet we’re supposed to believe them cutting the mic yesterday was supposed to happen simply so Biden could speak candidly off-camera with fire agency officials? I don’t think so.
This Twitter user perhaps summed things up best:
A button to control his audio? Absurd to suggest the people who give him the list of reporters he’s allowed to answer, with the instructions for what he’s supposed to do next, which he inevitably reads out loud, would have or need such a thing. https://t.co/gWSkAuYpeD
— Jack (@MrBeagleman) September 14, 2021
Next time around, instead of Biden’s mic being cut, maybe Kessler’s and Dale’s access to Twitter should be temporarily restricted before they rush to make up lame excuses for Biden that sound like they came directly from Jen Psaki or another member of the White House’s comms staff, and in the process removing all doubt as to which political team they play for.
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