Public television’s idea of a balanced political debate: Friday's PBS NewsHour punditry found little daylight between “conservative” New York Times columnist David Brooks and liberal Washington Post columnist Jonathan Capehart, nodding in agreement that the new Biden classified document controversy had no comparison to Trump’s.
The pundit pair opened Friday’s discussion with the classified documents found illegally stored at Biden’s think tank office and in his garage at a Biden residence in Delaware.
GEOFF BENNETT: ….So Jonathan, let's start with this news this past week. Democrats found themselves in a real tough spot in trying to handle the revelations that President Biden mishandled classified documents. The latest reporting is that there's roughly 20 documents found across his private home in Delaware and his private office in Washington, some marked top-secret. He is now facing arguably the worst political crisis of his presidency.
The Post’s Jonathan Capehart pretended the relative raw number of top secret documents found in the possession of Biden as compared with Trump was a significant comparison, though we don’t yet know what was in the Biden documents, calling the comparison "apples and basketballs."
CAPEHART: Worst political crisis -- could we just put this into perspective? Especially I mean we are talking about this as the worst political crisis because of his predecessor, former President Trump and his classified documents problem. Hundreds of classified documents at the highest classified markings, and we are talking about 20 documents, classified documents from when Joe Biden was Vice President of the United States.
This is apples and basketballs. I mean these two -- those two objects are spherical in nature and that is all they have in common. And I think we need to, I no politics doesn’t do nuance and most people do not do nuance, but we have to do nuance in this case. This happens more frequently than we realize or we even want to appreciate. Plenty of national security lawyers and experts have gone on the record to say that this happens more often than not.
Nuance? On August 12, 2022, Capehart and Brooks fulminated about this was potentially major criminal activity, and no president should ever take these documents out of secure locations. Capehart warned "I cannot express how serious the situation is that the country finds itself in right now." But now it's "apples and basketballs."
Capehart tried to compare Biden’s woes favorably to Trump, saying the Biden team “have been cooperating. They have been transparent….The former president [Trump] stands accused basically of obstruction of justice. That is not what is happening with President Biden.”
Bennett managed to make Republicans sound obsessive when he turned to Brooks:
BENNETT: David, understanding the key differences, both in terms of how these documents came to light, the volume, and the point that Jonathan makes, the responses, very different responses of both men. What do you see as the political fallout, because this is a huge opening for House Republicans who are feverishly focused on investigations right now?
Brooks deviated slightly toward toughness.
BROOKS: Yeah, I guess I would say ‘not as bad as Trump’ is not the moral standard our Sunday School teachers were dreaming for us. So, but, it's not as bad as Trump. It is not in the same ballpark. I wouldn’t go apples – but I would, apples and grapes or something. But it’s bad....And so what Joe Biden or somebody in Joe Biden’s office did, we don't know, was sloppy and pretty irresponsible….
Capehart actually tussled more with the host than with “conservative” Brooks, interrupting with excuses when Bennett noted these documents were apparently discovered right before the midterms. Should they have been more forthcoming?
Capehart: And then have the White House stand accused of trying to affect the midterm elections? I don’t know. I mean, as a journalist, would I want the White House to release the information? Absolutely, yeah, they should have. Did they? No. Did the Justice Department? No. But does the Justice Department tell us everything that they’re doing in real-time? No, they do not.
We can quibble over the timeline and wag our fingers at the White House for not being forthcoming in terms of when they told the Justice Department about the documents, or wag our fingers at them for not telling the American people sooner. But we’re talking about it not because they are being transparent and forthright, as—CBS broke, CBS broke the story, but they have been forthcoming ever since then. And I think we should hold them accountable….
Brooks concluded, after admitting that the White House’s behavior seemed “fishy”: “To me, as presidential scandals go, it’s pretty small beer.”
The ongoing Friday evening PBS political sparring actually just pits two-Obama supporters against each other. A Sunday opinion piece-exchange between Brooks and another of the Times’ purported conservatives, Bret Stephens, discussed why they’ve lost faith in the Republican Party: “The Party’s Over for Us. Where Do We Go Now?” Brooks admitted that in the 2008 election pitting Obama-Biden vs. John McCain and Sarah Palin, he went with Obama, with fear of Palin the deciding factor: “I don’t think I’ve ever said this publicly before, but I voted for Obama.”
Transcript is below:
Host Geoff Bennett: ….So Jonathan, let's start with this news this past week. Democrats found themselves in a real tough spot in trying to handle the revelations that President Biden mishandled classified documents. The latest reporting is that there's roughly 20 documents found across his private home in Delaware and his private office in Washington, some marked top-secret. He is now facing arguably the worst political crisis of his presidency.
Jonathan Capehart: Worst political crisis -- could we just put this into perspective? Especially I mean we are talking about this as the worst political crisis because of his predecessor, former President Trump and his classified documents problem. Hundreds of classified documents at the highest classified markings, and we are talking about 20 documents, classified documents from when Joe Biden was Vice President of the United States.
This is apples and basketballs. I mean these two -- those two objects are spherical in nature and that is all they have in common. And I think we need to, I no politics doesn’t do nuance and most people do not do nuance, but we have to do nuance in this case. This happens more frequently than we realize or we even want to appreciate. Plenty of national security lawyers and experts have gone on the record to say that this happens more often than not.
The other thing and the biggest difference here and why I downplay this notion that this is a big political crisis for the president, and that is, the sitting president, his people found the documents, brought them, alerted the archives. The archives alerted the Justice Department. They then go and do another search and bring forth more documents. They have been cooperating. They have been transparent.
Whereas when we talk about the former president, the reason why we even know that there were all those documents there was because he kept defying the National Archives' request to return the documents. And the DOJ, because the Archives -- had been in touch with the Archives, conducted a search. People call it a raid. I keep my feet on the ground. It was a search. But the FBI just doesn’t show up and search someone's home without cause. That is not what happened here. The former president stands accused basically of obstruction of justice. That is not what is happening with President Biden.
Bennett: David, understanding the key differences, both in terms of how these documents came to light, the volume and the point that Jonathan makes, the responses, very different responses of both men. What do you see as the political fallout, because this is a huge opening for House Republicans who are feverishly focused on investigations right now?….
David Brooks: Yeah, I guess I would say ‘not as bad as Trump’ is not the moral standard our Sunday School teachers were dreaming for us. So, but, it's not as bad as Trump. It is not in the same ballpark. I wouldn’t go apples -- apples and grapes or something. But it’s bad. People who have had clearances say that it’s very clear, if you have classified documents, you go to a separate room. You have an entirely different computer system. They make it very clear where you can’t take them, which is out. And so, a lot of people get their careers ruined when they are sloppy with this stuff. And so what Joe Biden or somebody in Joe Biden’s office did, we don't know, was sloppy and pretty irresponsible….
….
Bennett: According to the reporting, the documents were discovered before the midterm elections. Should this have been made publicly known immediately--
Capehart: …by whom?
Bennett: …by the White House.
Capehart: And then have the White House stand accused of trying to affect the midterm elections? I don’t know. I mean, as a journalist, would I want the White House to release the information? Absolutely, yeah, they should have. Did they? No. Did the Justice Department? No. But does the Justice Department tell us everything that they’re doing in real-time? No, they do not.
We can quibble over the timeline and wag our fingers at the White House for not being forthcoming in terms of when they told the Justice Department about the documents, or wag our fingers at them for not telling the American people sooner. But we’re talking about it not because they are being transparent and forthright, as—CBS broke, CBS broke the story, but they have been forthcoming ever since then. And I think we should hold them accountable. Keep telling us what you know. Politically, it might not be wise for them to tell us everything that they know in real time ‘cause facts change and we also, we should keep that in mind.
Brooks: ….As for whether it will have some broad effect on Biden's reputation, on his administration, I tend to think not. To me, as presidential scandals go, it’s pretty small beer. But, it does certainly make it a lot harder to prosecute Donald Trump.
