If a media outlet airs a presidential candidate’s livestream from his campaign website, does it count as a donation? MSNBC should be forced to answer that question after running a 10-minute video, on Thursday, of Joe Biden talking down the economy – all streaming from the presumptive Democratic nominee’s website and complete with a crawl pleading for supporters to text him.
As the video wrapped up at noon, MSNBC anchor Andrea Mitchell came on to conduct a DNC strategy session with “reporter” and Biden apologist Mike Memoli. “Former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, just speaking about the economy in response to President [Trump’s] remarks earlier today....saying this is good news but it’s not good enough, and that it’s the easy jobs to come back, which were the people who were laid off and furloughed, not the people – the 15 million who are still without jobs,” the host gushed.
Memoli, who during a press conference with the candidate on Tuesday touted Biden’s “sizable lead,” responded to Mitchell by arguing that the only “dilemma” for the Democrat was the possibility of an economic recovery: “And this really gets to the heart of what the campaign dilemma is right now for the Biden campaign....what is the one issue on which President Trump still continues to outperform Biden? It’s the economy...”
Doing his best to be a Biden campaign surrogate, Memoli proclaimed: “...you see Biden attempting to quickly try to counter the narrative that the President was very eager to get to quickly this morning about this new jobs report.” So he wants to “counter the narrative” of good economic news?
After Mitchell touted how the Democrat was “trying to be more agile,” Memoli celebrated:
The other point, Andrea, which is, you know, Biden has no shortage of resources to come and get his message out. We just saw it last night, the campaign announcing that they have outraised the Trump campaign for the second consecutive month and for the entire second quarter. And so, this is a campaign that is really clicking otherwise on all cylinders.
The Biden campaign’s biggest “resource” to “get his message out” is a compliant media desperate to drag him across the finish line in November.
This Democratic Party infomercial was brought to viewers by Fidelity and Keeps (company contact info is linked, let them know what you think about them sponsoring this content)
Here is a full transcript July 2 segment:
12:00 PM ET
ANDREA MITCHELL: Good day, everyone, I’m Andrea Mitchell in Washington. Former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, just speaking about the economy in response to President Bush’s [sic] remarks earlier today. NBC News correspondent Mike Memoli joining us now. Mike, the Vice President saying this is good news but it’s not good enough, and that it’s the easy jobs to come back, which were the people who were laid off and furloughed, not the people – the 15 million who are still without jobs.
MIKE MEMOLI: That’s right, Andrea. And this really gets to the heart of what the campaign dilemma is right now for the Biden campaign. You see another poll out today from Monmouth University that shows him with an expanding, double-digit national lead. But what is the one issue on which President Trump still continues to outperform Biden? It’s the economy, to get back to a campaign you remember well, in 1992. The White House still wants to run on the economy.
And so, the former Vice President, you see repeatedly trying to return the conversation to the pandemic, saying that because of the President’s bungled response to the pandemic, the economy is in a much worse situation than it might have been. And Andrea, this is a real concern, especially of some of the outside groups that are supporting Biden, they do feel there has not been enough of an effort to define what his economic vision for the country would be. And you see one of the super-PACS supporting him is one of the only ones running purely positive messages on this score.
The Biden campaign has said you should expect to hear a much more robust jobs plan from him in the coming weeks. We’re still on – we’re still waiting for that, Andrea. But for now, you see Biden attempting to quickly try to counter the narrative that the President was very eager to get to quickly this morning about this new jobs report.
MITCHELL: And what he said, in your point about the pandemic, is that there are 128,000 people dead, that that didn’t have to be, if there had been a better response early on. This follows, of course, on his speech earlier in the week on the pandemic, largely on the pandemic, but also talking about the Russia response and other leadership issues. So they’re trying to be more agile, because the criticism has been that they have not been responding in real time, quickly enough, and not showing him often enough. And as you point out, the economy is still the President’s strength.
MEMOLI: That’s right. And this is why I think coming forward with a plan in the coming weeks will be so important for them, because what was the number one criticism from the trump campaign for a while? It was, “We haven’t seen the former Vice President enough, he hasn’t taken questions.” Well, he’s done that. And so that’s why we should expect to hear more from him on the economy.
The other point, Andrea, which is, you know, Biden has no shortage of resources to come and get his message out. We just saw it last night, the campaign announcing that they have outraised the Trump campaign for the second consecutive month and for the entire second quarter. And so, this is a campaign that is really clicking otherwise on all cylinders. And that’s why the focus on the economy is one that they’re going to have to address to really drive the message home.
MITCHELL: And let me just read one quote from his speech just now, about a ten-minute speech, Mike, saying, “Does this feel like mission accomplished? People are hurting. President Trump has spiked the ball and made this about him. He doesn’t seem to realize we’re only on the 50-yard line.” So a lot of signals and important messaging in there for him, talking about “Mission Accomplished,” obviously a reference back to George W. Bush and Iraq.
Thanks, Mike Memoli. Thank you very much for jumping in the chair for us, we appreciate it.
MEMOLI: You got it, Andrea.
