For the past two weeks, we’ve been documenting the growing frustrations among some reporters over the fact that President Biden has yet to hold a solo press conference to directly address the media in a formal, unscripted setting.
CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, CBS News’s Kathryn Watson, and other journalists in the White House press corps have either raised the issue with White House press secretary Jen Psaki or have brought up the issue the Twitter machine.
“There is no good reason not to have a press conference more than one month into Biden’s presidency,” Watson tweeted last week.
So far, Paski has been non-committal as to a specific date.
Biden, as we noted yesterday, holds the record of being the only president in the last 100 years to not hold a solo press briefing at this stage – 43 days – into his presidency. It’s not a good look at all for a president who vowed to restore “respect” between the White House and the media after four years of President Trump.
Fox News’ Tucker Carlson took note of how Biden has, to date, not even given the first hint as to when he’ll be holding a formal press conference, and unloaded on him in a segment on his program Wednesday night. His take was somewhat different than Watson’s and others in the media. Instead of being concerned about it, Carlson actually says he’d rather not see Biden hold a press conference considering how out of sorts he’s appeared at some recent public appearances.
I’ve transcribed Carlson’s remarks below:
“42 days into the administration, and still no solo press conference from Joe Biden. That is the longest stretch of silence from any new president in at least a century. So by refusing to speak directly to the media, Joe Biden is attacking our most cherished democratic norms. Even CNN is complaining about it.
And we would echo those complaints if we really cared. But honestly, we’re just as happy that Joe Biden remains in seclusion. Imagine a full press conference from Joe Biden? An endless hour of blank spots and mumbling, and his wife interjecting with the right answer. How depressing would that be?
It’s one thing to know your country is being led by a guy in cognitive decline; it’s another thing to see it. And we don’t want to see it. And what would reporters ask anyway?
We got a taste the other day when one shouted this as Biden shuffled by: ‘What did you learn from your classified briefing on border security?’ That was the question. Joe Biden’s answer? ‘A lot.’ That was it. Now, do you believe him? Did Joe Biden really learn ‘a lot’ now or at any time in the past five years? C’mon. As we said, the whole thing is too sad to watch, so we’re not going to.
Instead, we’re happy to listen to Joe Biden’s flacks. They hold the press conferences now. In the last month, Joe Biden’s mouthpieces have had to explain why he bombed Syria, why he blocked the passage of a $15 minimum wage, why Dr. Seuss is ‘racist.’ And in their spare time, Joe Biden’s scribes produce an awful lot of presidential proclamations. They’re heavy on the proclamations in Washington these days, a lot of proclaiming.”
Watch him leave no stone unturned in his assessment of Biden’s limited media interactions to date below:
In addition to Kaitlan Collins, other CNN reporters including Jake Tapper and Kevin Liptak analyzed Biden’s lack of press time in comparison to other presidents, but that didn’t stop another CNNer – Brian Stelter – from predictably rushing to Biden’s defense after Carlson’s rant:
Tucker’s gross distortion
Here’s a classic example of how Fox’s Tucker Carlson takes something legit and turns it into B.S. commentary. Questions about when Biden will have a full-fledged press conference are legit — but on Wednesday night Carlson went way further and said Biden is “refusing to speak directly to the media.” Weird, since Fox’s White House reporter Peter Doocy has repeatedly interacted with Biden this winter. That’s not “silence.” Carlson then ridiculed Biden’s public speaking and said he didn’t want to see a presser after all: “It’s one thing to know your country is being led by a guy in cognitive decline, it’s another thing to see it, and we don’t want to see it.”
What horse poop. We all know how Stelter would be having a meltdown at this point had Trump only interacted with reporters in passing as Biden has done instead of holding a formal press conference.
When you can’t tell the difference between a Biden apologist in the administration and a supposedly objective “reporter”, that pretty much says it all about the sad state of affairs in the mainstream media. Thankfully, we can always count on Brian Stelter to provide us with these important and timely reminders.
No comments:
Post a Comment