On Sunday night, President Joe Biden sat down for an interview with CBS’s 60 Minutes anchor Scott Pelley. From the very start, it was clear why Biden chose Pelley to conduct his first sit-down interview in months. Right out of the gate and until the last minute, Pelley gushed and sucked up to Biden in embarrassing fashion.
“Summer was going so well for the President, the White House threw a party last week with a concert by James Taylor. Mr. Biden's streak began in June when he signed a bipartisan gun safety law,” Pelley said with stars in his eyes in a desperate attempt not to drool all over the studio floor.
“Then in August, over Republican objections, he signed the largest investment ever on climate change, a minimum tax on corporations, a law to lower prescription drug prices, and student loan forgiveness,” Pelley continued.
Once Pelley was finished with his servile opening introduction for Biden, he began by asking the President a series of questions about the economic calamity Biden has caused. Although, Pelley didn’t frame it that way.
Instead, Pelley let Biden get away with his lies on the economy and his refusal to admit the United States is in a recession.
“With the Federal Reserve rapidly raising interest rates, what can you do to prevent a recession?” Pelley asked Biden with the premise of the question being that Biden’s recession denialism is reality.
Later on the camera cut to the two walking together inside the hall of the Detroit Auto Show. According to Pelley, this led him to ask if the pandemic is over.
Biden responded that “the pandemic is over. We still have a problem with COVID. We're still doing a lot of work on it.”
“If you notice, no one's wearing masks. Everybody seems to be in pretty good shape,” Biden said cavalierly. One has to wonder if he consulted Dr. Tony Fauci before making these remarks.
One surprising moment came when Pelley actually challenged Biden on his abysmal approval ratings. “Your approval rating in the country is well below 50 percent. And I wonder why you think that is,” Pelley asked.
Biden took Pelley’s question as an opportunity to blame the situation he inherited and the pandemic. “When I got in office, when I got elected, only 2 million people had been vaccinated. I got 220 million -- my point is it takes time. We were left in a very difficult situation. It's been a very difficult time, very difficult,” Biden whined.
Feeling bad for Biden, Pelley attempted to make his viewers feel bad for poor Joe Biden and the “difficult life” the millionaire President has:
PELLEY: And a difficult life for the President. In 1972 he lost his wife and daughter in a car accident. He lost his son, Beau, to cancer in 2015 at the age of 46. And his son, Hunter, has been a lightning rod for suspicion. Hunter Biden's former addiction to crack cocaine led to a life he describes as nonstop depravity.
He has also acknowledged a federal investigation into his taxes. Congress investigated Hunter Biden's job with a Ukrainian company at the time that his father ran Ukrainian policy in the Obama administration. A Republican investigation, however, uncovered no wrongdoing by then Vice President Biden.
Back in the Oval Office for the final part of the softball interview, Pelley cried to Biden by warning him that if he runs again in 2024 “Republicans are most likely to go after your son Hunter once again.”
Biden responded by claiming: “there's not a single thing that I've observed at all from that that would affect me or the United States relative to my son Hunter.”
In another hard-hitting question, Pelley groveled before Biden’s feet and heaped praise: “you have lived a long life of triumph and tragedy. In November, you'll be 80. And I wonder what it is that keeps you in the arena.” Biden responded that he keeps a rosary in his pocket to get through his grief.
Pelley announced to the audience without laughing at himself that pro-abortion Biden is “Catholic and devout.”
This kind of media praise would make state-controlled media in North Korea blush. Pelley would make a terrific “news anchor” at a North Korean or Chinese state media outlet.
Scott Pelley’s groveling at Biden’s behest was made possible thanks to sponsorships from Allstate. Their information is linked.
To read the relevant transcript click “expand”:
CBS’s 60 Minutes
9/18/2022
8:06:53 p.m. EasternSCOTT PELLEY: Summer was going so well for the President, the White House threw a party last week with a concert by James Taylor. Mr. Biden's streak began in June when he signed a bipartisan gun safety law. Then in August, over Republican objections, he signed the largest investment ever on climate change, a minimum tax on corporations, a law to lower prescription drug prices, and student loan forgiveness.
But, Tuesday, as James Taylor sang “Fire and Rain,” it seemed like both descended on the President's party. The Dow plummeted nearly 1,300 points after a dismal inflation report. At the White House on Thursday, we spoke to President Biden about the economy, Ukraine, those top-secret documents in Donald Trump's home, and whether Mr. Biden will run again. The President made news and will ignite a few controversies.
[...]
PELLEY: Is the economy going to get worse before it gets better?
PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: No, I don't think so. We hope we can have what they say, a soft landing. A transition to a place where we don't lose the gains that I ran to make in the first place for middle-class folks, being able to generate good-paying jobs and expansion. And, at the same time, make sure that we, we are able to continue to grow.
PELLEY: And you would tell the American people that inflation is going to continue to decline?
BIDEN: No, I'm telling the American people that we're going to get control of inflation. And their prescription drug prices are going to be a hell of a lot lower. Their healthcare costs are going to be a lot lower. Their basic costs for everybody, their energy prices are going to be lower. They're going to be in a situation where they begin to gain control again. I'm more optimistic than I've been in a long time.
PELLEY: Sir, with the Federal Reserve rapidly raising interest rates, what can you do to prevent a recession?
BIDEN: Continue to grow the economy. And we're growing the economy. It's growing in a way that it hasn't in years and years.
PELLEY: How so?
BIDEN: We're growing entire new industries. 695, I think it is, or 85,000 new manufacturing jobs just since I've become President in the United States. Continue to grow the economy and continue to give hard-working people a break in terms of we pay the highest drug prices in the world of any industrialized nation. Making sure that Medicare can negotiate down those prices. By the way, we’ve also reduced the debt and reduced the deficit by $350 billion my first year. This year, it's going to be over $1 trillion, $500 billion reduced the debt. So, to continue to put people in a position to be able to make a decent living and grow, and grow, and increase their capacity to grow.
[...]
PELLEY: Mr. President, first Detroit auto show in three years. Is the pandemic over?
BIDEN: The pandemic is over. We still have a problem with COVID. We're still doing a lot of work on it. It's -- but the pandemic is over. If you notice, no one's wearing masks. Everybody seems to be in pretty good shape. And so I think it's changing. And I think this is a perfect example of it.
[...]
PELLEY: Mr. President, the price of gasoline is down about 26 percent from the $5 high. What can you do to keep that price down while Vladimir Putin is throttling energy supplies?
BIDEN: Well, there's -- there's a couple things we've done. For example, remember I got some criticism for releasing a million barrels of oil a day from the strategic petroleum reserve. And then along came the industry saying they'd produce another million barrels a day by the spring. So, I think we're in relatively good shape.
[...]
PELLEY: You have had a string of legislative successes recently.
BIDEN: How's an old guy do that?
PELLEY: But your approval rating in the country is well below 50 percent. And I wonder why you think that is.
BIDEN: This is a really difficult time. We're at an inflection point in the history of this country. We're going to make decisions, and we're making decisions now that are going to determine what we're going to look like the next ten years from now. I think you'd agree that the impact on the psyche of the American people as a consequence of the pandemic is profound. Think of how that has changed everything. You know, people's attitudes about themselves, their families, about the state of the nation, about the state of their communities. And so there's a lot of uncertainty out there, a great deal of uncertainty. And we lost a million people. A million people to COVID.
When I got in office, when I got elected, only 2 million people had been vaccinated. I got 220 million -- my point is it takes time. We were left in a very difficult situation. It's been a very difficult time, very difficult.
PELLEY: And a difficult life for the President. In 1972 he lost his wife and daughter in a car accident. He lost his son, Beau, to cancer in 2015 at the age of 46. And his son, Hunter, has been a lightning rod for suspicion. Hunter Biden's former addiction to crack cocaine led to a life he describes as nonstop depravity.
He has also acknowledged a federal investigation into his taxes. Congress investigated Hunter Biden's job with a Ukrainian company at the time that his father ran Ukrainian policy in the Obama administration. A Republican investigation, however, uncovered no wrongdoing by then Vice President Biden.
Mr. President, if you run again, Republicans are most likely to go after your son Hunter once again. And I wonder what you would like to say about your son and whether any of his troubles have caused conflicts for you or for the United States.
BIDEN: I love my son, number one. He fought an addiction problem. He overcame it. He wrote about it. And, no, there's not a single thing that I've observed at all from that that would affect me or the United States relative to my son Hunter.
[...]
PELLEY: Joe Biden is among the longest-serving politicians in Washington. If there is less bounce in the step than there once was, if the words don't flow like they used to, maybe there's something to be said for knowhow, five decades on the Hill and in the Oval.
[...]
PELLEY: You have lived a long life of triumph and tragedy. In November, you'll be 80. And I wonder what it is that keeps you in the arena.
BIDEN: Well, look, I've had tragedies. I've lost part of my soul when I lost my son Beau, I lost my wife and my daughter in an accident. I think of all the people who've gone through what I've gone through and a lot more without what I had. I have had incredibly supportive family.
There's so many literally heroes getting up every day putting one foot in front of the other with no help. I constantly think what would Beau want me to do. What would -- and, you know, this gets me a long way, this rosary.
PELLEY: Catholic and devout, he keeps a rosary in his pocket.
