We reported yesterday on President Biden’s politically convenient admission nearly a year after he took office and over a year after he promised to “shut down the virus” that there was “no federal solution” to handle the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This gets solved at a state level,” he went on to say, stating a point that many Republicans including former President Trump have been making from the get-go, which they were in turn demonized over because they dared to think that anything being managed at the federal level was destined for failure because that’s really all the federal government knows how to do.

Though it was shocking to finally hear the words coming from Biden, some of The Usual Suspects in the mainstream media wasted no time in trying to cover for Biden by claiming his remarks were taken out of context.

CNN White House correspondent John Harwood, who is no stranger to carrying water for Democrats, appeared on the low-rated “New Day” program today where a discussion was taking place on Biden’s comments from yesterday. Fill-in anchor John Avlon pointed to Biden’s comments from his first day in office and compared them to what he said Monday. It was a clear flip flop, but Harwood – ever the Democrat apologist – didn’t see things that way:

Avlon: But in January, when he released his COVID plan initially, it included this statement. Quote, “For the past year, we could not turn to the federal government for a national plan to answer prayers with action until today.” Strong declaration. But I want you to contrast this with what he said yesterday. Take a listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

Biden: Look, there is no federal solution. This gets solved at a state level. I’m looking at Governor Sununu on the board here. He talks about that lot. And it ultimately gets down to where the rubber meets the road, and that’s where the patient is in need of help or preventing the need for help. (END VIDEO CLIP)

Avlon: Is this a flip-flop, or is this him rediscovering the beauty of federalism? Because that’s actually where problems get solved.

[…]

Harwood: I think that was a throwaway line from Biden. I think Biden was beginning a call from governors. As Jeff Zients was saying, they’ve had 40 of these calls. The reason is that there is an interaction between the federal government and state governments.

And I think presidents always make reference to the fact that states have a lot of authority, and we need to work in cooperation. I don’t think that he was actually signaling like, Oh, OK, it’s not my job anymore; it’s your job.

Because he went on to outline the things that he was trying to do to catch up to the testing problem, and acknowledging, as we’ve just been talking about, that we need to do better. But I think somewhat more has been made of that — of that little sort of polite beginning of the conversation than is warranted.

Watch:

Harwood also made a similar “point” on his Twitter feed:

Biden’s “this gets solved at a state level” is only a thing if you feign ignorance that:
–he was simply affirming NGA chair’s plea not to stifle “state solutions”
–it’s routine presidential “laboratories of democracy” talk
–he discussed federal action and “need to do better”

— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) December 28, 2021

The big problem with Hardwood’s fantastical spin here is that literally, nobody is saying the Feds have “no role.” What Republicans have said is that the role of the federal government can and should be limited in scope, because they realize that the people who best understand the needs of their state are officials at the local and state levels, not the federal level.

The federal government has some oversight responsibility, yes, and there should be some coordination in terms of supplies but in no way should the Feds dictate what the needs of states should be in a pandemic which, unfortunately, is exactly what the Biden administration did a few months ago when they decided to take over distribution of monoclonal antibody treatments in an obvious slap at Gov. Ron DeSantis and other red-state governors who were touting the treatments.

Let’s not be too surprised that Harwood is attempting to ride to Biden’s rescue here, though, considering he crossed the line in 2015 while still a reporter at CNBC by playing favorites with the then-Democratic candidate for president Hillary Clinton’s campaign chair John Podesta on multiple occasions during her failed campaign:

And then there’s John Harwood of CNBC, who consistently tweets misleading and critical takes on the economy. Harwood’s exchanges with Podesta included gloating about his questions at a 2015 GOP primary debate, among many others 5/ https://t.co/v5MbbQN2tohttps://t.co/wT1fA8qwxu pic.twitter.com/RNnfenkCAJ

— James Hasson (@JamesHasson20) August 18, 2019

NYT & CNBC “journalist” John Harwood email to John Podesta wondering why so many want to interview Reptillary. pic.twitter.com/sem7szMtUO

— Dennis (@DL1651) October 19, 2016

And Harwood’s most recent article urged people to believe that “Biden’s struggles shouldn’t eclipse GOP’s year of dangerous falsehoods,” because obsessing about the Capitol riot is much more important than focusing on the fact that the current Oval Office occupant has been and likely will continue to be an epic failure no matter what he does.

Not that any of us needed the reminder, but all the same, we appreciate the fact that John Harwood inadvertently reminded us again today that CNN is not in any way, shape, form, or fashion a legitimate news organization.

Related: About That Don Lemon/Brian Stelter Whineathon on the Fox News Capitol Riot Texts