WHAT?! MSNBC’s Ruhle Wails: Media Holding Biden to ‘Unfair Standard’

February 4th, 2021 10:46 AM

On her 9:00 a.m. ET hour show Wednesday, MSNBC anchor Stephanie Ruhle actually fretted that she and her left-wing media cohorts were somehow holding President Biden to an “unfair standard” by asking whether the White House was being sufficiently bipartisan in COVID relief bill negotiations. The pro-Biden host pleaded for the press to abandon efforts to hold the administration accountable for promises of unity and compromise.  

Talking to former George W. Bush aide Elise Jordan, Ruhle dismissed concerns over Democrats shoving through the massive spending on a party-line vote: “Elise, what’s the risk-reward here of Democrats going the reconciliation route? Let’s be honest, most people don’t even know what reconciliation means but they know we need help.” Jordan wondered: “Is there anything that the Biden administration is going to be willing to concede on in that bill?...Or are they just go to plunge forward with this huge bill?”

 

 

Ruhle was exasperated at the idea of Democrats working across the aisle and even laughably suggested Biden was somehow a victim of “unfair” treatment from a sycophantic press that constantly promotes his agenda:

The Biden administration has already said they’ll make concessions, but $600 billion is a lifetime away from where the Biden administration clearly says we need to be. Are we holding President Biden to an unfair standard? Saying, “I thought you were going to go unity,” when we are not saying that to any Republican who was asking for unity after Democrats called for an impeachment hearing and certainly didn’t ask the President [Trump] to even represent any form of unity in governing the whole country?

Certainly Ruhle herself need not worry about being disloyal to Biden. One of the President’s top economic advisers recently thanked her for all of her “advocacy” on behalf of the new administration. In fact, she even warned that the nation would “bleed to death” if Congress didn’t approve the trillions Biden was demanding.  

Her questions were directed at far-left Princeton University professor and MSNBC favorite pundit Eddie Glaude, who predictably agreed:

You know, Stephanie, I think that’s absolutely right. And this is why, you know, oftentimes the appeal to bipartisanship is, in fact, a strategy to contain, right, Democratic efforts to implement their policies, right? And the idea is that bipartisanship seems to only apply to those – to Democrats and not really to Republicans when they hold office.

In one breath, he urged Biden to “move beyond” any “partisan bickering,” while also hoping Democrats would be able to “back the Republicans in the corner.”

Despite steadfastly spinning for Democrats at all times, MSNBC hosts worry that they could be doing more to help their party.

This ridiculous fretting over supposed media bias against Democrats was brought to viewers by CarShield and LegalZoom. You can fight back by letting these advertisers know what you think of them sponsoring such content.

Here is a transcript of the February 3 segment:

9:42 AM ET

(...)

STEPHANIE RUHLE: Let’s find out what it all means and bring in two very special guests, friends I haven’t seen for ages of the Eddie Glaude, chairman of the department of African American studies at Princeton University and Elise Jordan, former aide in the George W. Bush White House. Eddie, where do you think all of this is headed?

EDDIE GLAUDE: Well, I hope it heads to reconciliation where the Democrats just simply pass the bill, right? I mean, there’s no reason, at least from my vantage point, Stephanie, to believe that the Republican Party will stand up and actually respond at scale to the problems we face as a country. We have seen over the last year since COVID hit the Republican response to the pandemic, it has been inadequate. We see, even among those Republicans who are trying to strike a bipartisan deal, that they’re put forward a $600 billion response. We know that that’s not at scale. So part of what I’m trying to ask myself is what is the evidence, what are we actually valuing here, bipartisan – evidence of whether or not the Republicans are serious? But what are we valuing here, bipartisanship or are we trying to respond to the suffering out in the country? I think the latter should be our guiding principle.

RUHLE: Elise, what’s the risk-reward here of Democrats going the reconciliation route? Let’s be honest, most people don’t even know what reconciliation means but they know we need help.

ELISE JORDAN: Well, I actually think there’s not that much downside for Joe Biden to pursue this and go at it alone when you look at the numbers. The American public overwhelmingly approves of this package. Over two-thirds of Americans support a huge coronavirus relief bill from Joe Biden. And so I think that while you have a lot of sniping, that, “Oh, this isn’t actually the unity that we were promised from Joe Biden,” at the end of the day, what did Republicans bring to the table? It’s a pretty huge gulf between around $600 billion and $1.9 trillion. Is there anything that the Biden administration is going to be willing to concede on in that bill? Are there any concessions that they’re going to be willing to make to placate Republicans? That’s what I’m curious to see. Or are they just go to plunge forward with this huge bill?

RUHLE: Eddie, making concessions. The Biden administration has already said they’ll make concessions, but $600 billion is a lifetime away from where the Biden administration clearly says we need to be. Are we holding President Biden to an unfair standard? Saying, “I thought you were going to go unity,” when we are not saying that to any Republican who was asking for unity after Democrats called for an impeachment hearing and certainly didn’t ask the President [Trump] to even represent any form of unity in governing the whole country?

GLAUDE: You know, Stephanie, I think that’s absolutely right. And this is why, you know, oftentimes the appeal to bipartisanship is, in fact, a strategy to contain, right, Democratic efforts to implement their policies, right? And the idea is that bipartisanship seems to only apply to those – to Democrats and not really to Republicans when they hold office. So I think Joe Biden and his administration, I think the President needs to understand what his goals are, what the needs of the country are, and proceed accordingly. And try to move beyond, right, the kind of partisan bickering and try to address the suffering that we’re experiencing. And I think that should be the animating value. And that can, in some ways, back the Republicans in the corner. Because if you do not support a package that responds at scale, Stephanie, that means you’re not really trying to respond to the needs of the American people.

(...)