As the liberal media hawk the latest COVID-19 booster shot and begin their latest fear-mongering campaign ahead of the holidays, the Associated Press’s Will Weissert served as the standard bearer during Monday’s White House press briefing as he opened the Q&A for the ever-inept Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre by fretting that President Biden didn’t get his umpteenth booster in public.
“Why did the White House choose to have the President take his — his latest COVID booster out of public view? Isn’t this a time when, you know, given the promotion of boosters and how important they are that the public might want to see the President have one,” he asked.
Three words (plus two) for Weissert: No one cares (except liberals).
Jean-Pierre scoffed, pointing to “the physician’s memo — his report on Saturday, so, certainly, if you haven’t, you should take a look at it” and arguing Biden “has an incredibly busy schedule.”
In turn, she insisted, Biden “got his vaccination as — the earliest moment that he could and that’s what we were able to do — work — that would work in his schedule,” but was no diss to encouraging other Americans to join him.
“[W]e are certainly engaged in a robust campaign and it is incredibly important,” she proclaimed.
Elsewhere in the briefing, ABC’s Selina Wang and NBC’s Gabe Gutierrez came armed with pointed questions concerning new polling from their respective networks showing more Americans are giving Biden poor marks.
Wang’s question acknowledged the administration wants to blame Republicans if the government shuts down, but countered with the fact that “our latest polling shows that a higher percentage of Americans would actually blame the shutdown on the President and the Democrats, not on Republicans.”
Jean-Pierre dismissed it because “we’re going to be very clear” that “this will be a Republican shutdown” by “extreme House Republicans” and a desire for them “to ram through extreme policies...to hurt the American people.”
A few minutes later, Gutierrez chimed in with three data points from NBC’s poll:
According to NBC News polling, 37 percent of registered voters — just 37 percent approve of the President’s handling of the economy. He’s at a 56 percent disapproval — the highest of his presidency and 74 percent of registered voters say they have major or moderate concerns about the President’s age and mental fitness. How troubling is that?
Jean-Pierre ducked them and stuck to her emphasis that Biden will be “support[ing] the workers” striking at auto plants as the latest example of how he’s “working for American families.”
She then further discounted polls by claiming that “a lot of the policies that the President has put forward are indeed popular” with Bidenomics having “worked so well that you have Republicans in their own districts, in their own states taking credit for things that the President pushed forward”.
Gutierrez followed up by restating the 37 percent approval rating, but Jean-Pierre doubled down by arguing “[p]olls are polls — right” and “they are going to be all over the place.”
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack played the role often held by John Kirby as Jean-Pierre’s stand-in to eat up time, focusing largely on how a shutdown would affect his department (read: food stamps and welfare).
While most reporters stuck to that in his Q&A, Real Clear Politics’s Philip Wegmann brought up the concerning trend of Chinese corporations or individuals buying up American land (click “expand”):
WEGMANN: Has the Department of Agriculture seen anything in the purchase of farmland by Chinese corporations or Chinese nationals that would suggest a threat to national security or food security? Or are those concerns that we’ve increasingly been hearing about — are those overblown?
VILSACK: Well, I think there is concern, as there was in the North Dakota circumstance, where the Chinese interest was purchasing a land near a military installation. I think there is legitimate concerns in that space...[W]’ve articulated the need, as a department, to be more engaged in the CFIUS process...[O]n any given day, somebody may walk into that recorder’s office and file a deed, and there is no way of knowing precisely whether or not that is a Chinese purchaser...[W]e need to work on how we might be able to collect the information and be able to analyze that information in a timely way so that we would determine whether or not a threat exists or not.
WEGMANN: So, it sounds like you’re not confident in the current system as it’s set up to necessarily monitor?
VILSACK: Well, it’s not that I’m not confident. It’s that...if folks are looking for a foolproof system...then I think there are ways in which we can be helpful...Being part of CFIUS...being able to collect information in a way that allows us to go a little bit deeper and a little quicker would be helpful as well.
To see the relevant transcript from the September 25 briefing (including a question from CNN’s MJ Lee about embattled New Jersey Democratic Senator Bob Menendez), click “expand.”
White House press briefing [via ABC News subfeed]
September 25, 2023
1:45 p.m. EasternPHILIP WEGMANN: Has the Department of Agriculture seen anything in the purchase of farmland by Chinese corporations or Chinese nationals that would suggest a threat to national security or food security? Or are those concerns that we’ve increasingly been hearing about — are those overblown?
AGRICULTURE SECRETARY TOM VILSACK: Well, I think there is concern, as there was in the North Dakota circumstance, where the Chinese interest was purchasing a land near a military installation. I think there is legitimate concerns in that space and I think that’s one of the reasons why, you know, we’ve articulated the need, as a department, to be more engaged in the CFIUS process. I would also say that I think there is work to be done to give us the tools to be able to do an even better job of ensuring that we know when these transactions take place. It’s complicated, but every county has their county recorder. And on any given day, somebody may walk into that recorder’s office and file a deed, and there is no way of knowing precisely whether or not that is a Chinese purchaser. So, we would — you know, we need to work on how we might be able to collect the information and be able to analyze that information in a timely way so that we would determine whether or not a threat exists or not.
WEGMANN: So, it sounds like you’re not confident in the current system as it’s set up to necessarily monitor?
VILSACK: Well, it’s not that I’m not confident. It’s that I think — I think we could be — we could do — I think we’re confident in the job we’re doing today, because we are ba- — able to identify circumstances, as was the case in North Dakota. I think that — if any — of pe- — if folks are looking for a foolproof system so that nothing gets through the cracks, then I think there are ways in which we can be helpful, and — and we can improve that process. Being part of CFIUS, I think, is part of it. Being — being able to collect information in a way that allows us to go a little bit deeper and a little quicker would be helpful as well.
(....)
1:49 p.m. Eastern
WILL WEISSERT: Why did the White House choose to have the President take his — his latest COVID booster out of public view? Isn’t this a time when, you know, given the promotion of boosters and how important they are that the public might want to see the President have one?
JEAN-PIERRE: Yeah. So, I think you all saw the pr- — the physician’s memo — his report on Saturday. So, certainly, if you haven’t, you should take a look at it. So, the President got his vaccination. As you know, he has an incredibly busy schedule. He’s got — he got his vaccination as — the earliest moment that he could and that’s what we were able to do — work — that would work in his schedule, so that’s what happened last week and certainly, we are — as you just laid out in your question, we are certainly engaged in a robust campaign and it is incredibly important to us that we encourage the public to get vaccinated. That has been the way that we have moved forward when we have moved forward with the — you know, this comprehensive kind of vaccination program that the President put forward from the beginning and so, you know, we — it doesn’t require a photo op of the President to — to be — to be doing that — with a presidential photo op, to be more clear, so we thought that we needed to get that done, get that on his schedule. We did and we’re going to — doesn’t stop us for having a robust engagement with the public to make sure that we get it across — the importance of folks getting their vaccines — not just the updated COVID vaccine, but also RSV, and — and also the flu shot.
(....)
1:52 p.m. Eastern
MJ LEE: I know that you got a number of questions about Senator Menendez on Friday, but now that the senator himself has said that he is not going anywhere and given that President Biden is the leader of the Democratic Party, does the President believe that a person who is facing allegations that are as serious as the allegations confronting the senator that there is any place for somebody like Senator Menendez in the Democratic Party?
JEAN-PIERRE: So, I’m going to be very clear: This is a serious matter. We see this as a serious matter. I think — and we believe the senator stepping down from his chairmanship was the right thing to do — obviously, the right thing to do. As it relates to anything else, any decision that he has to make, that’s certainly going to be up to him and the Senate leadership to decide, but, of course, we see this as a serious matter and I’m just going to leave it there for now.
(....)
1:59 p.m. Eastern
SELINA WANG: And, separately, the White House has made it very clear that it’s on Republicans to avoid the government shutdown, not on the White House, but our latest polling shows that a higher percentage of Americans would actually blame the shutdown on the President and the Democrats, not on Republicans. Why do you think that is? And should the President be out there speaking more on this issue?
JEAN-PIERRE: We’re going to be very clear. This is — this is — this will be a Republican shutdown, right? This is extreme House Republicans who have made it very clear that the chaos that we’re seeing in the — in the House, they are marching us towards a government shutdown that shouldn’t be happening. This shouldn’t be happening. This is the job of Congress. One of the basic jobs of Congress is to keep the government open. A deal was made. I mean, I can’t speak to your polling, but what I can speak is to the facts. The facts is: A deal is a deal. It is up to them to keep the government open. This is something they can do. They know how to fix this and it is an extreme — extreme part of the Republican Party that is holding this — holding this because they want to ram through extreme policies. That’s going to hurt the American people. So, we’re going to continue to be very clear about this. We’ve talked today about the food safety. You’ve heard me talk about education, housing, law enforcement, Meals on Wheels, Head Start. So much more will be affected by — by — will be affected by this if the shutdown — this this Republican shutdown happens. So, we’re going to continue to be very clear about it and it is — you know, it is something that they can fix, they can fix this.
(....)
2:02 p.m. Eastern
GABE GUTIERREZ: A strike could have potentially huge impacts for the economy. According to NBC News polling, 37 percent of registered voters — just 37 percent approve of the President’s handling of the economy. He’s at a 56 percent disapproval — the highest of his presidency and 74 percent of registered voters say they have major or moderate concerns about the President’s age and mental fitness. How troubling is that?
JEAN-PIERRE: Here’s what we’re going to focus on: We’re going to focus on exactly what you just asked me — right — with the first question, which is: How do we — how do we continue to support the workers, right? We’re not going to get into the litigation of — of the negotiations here, but what we’re going to do is continue to show how much this President is working for American families. You just heard from Secretary here, who laid out what it means if there’s a shutdown and why it is so important for Republicans to keep to their deal. That’s what we’re going to focus on. You see the Bidenomics. I get it. I get that Americans right now — they’ve been through a lot, right? They’ve been through the pandemic — this global pandemic that we’re coming out of. They have been through what we’ve seen because of Rus — Russia’s war in Ukraine and we saw inflation spike. We saw — we saw what’s going on with what Americans are feeling every day. This is why — this is why this President has been so zeroed in, so laser-focused on lowering costs for Americans and we’ve done that. And a lot of the — a lot of the policies that the President has put forward are indeed popular. I mean, Bidenomics is — has worked so well that you have Republicans in their own districts, in their own states taking credit for things that the President pushed forward, policies that the President has pushed forward, legislation that they didn’t even vote for, if you think about the American Rescue Plan, the Inflation Reduction Act. So, I get — I get the — I get the polling that you’re laying out. I get that, but we — we can’t — we can’t be focused on that. We also have to be focused on really speaking directly to the American people. The next three days, you’re going to see the President go to three states to do just that.
GUTIERREZ: But 37 percent approve?
JEAN-PIERRE: I hear you. I hear you, but it is — look, our focus is going to be on — on what we can do to continue to deliver for the American people. Polls are polls — right — they are going to be all over the place. They are going to — they’re going to — you know, they don’t tell the whole story, actually and that is just the way a poll is. What we’re going to focus on is how we can continue to do the job that the President promised that he would do — is make Americans’ lives a little bit better, give them that breathing room.
