On Friday, CBS Mornings eagerly previewed a fawning interview the network treated President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden to for the upcoming CBS Sunday Morning. Reliable liberal hack correspondent Rita Braver conducted the friendly chat and was shown commiserating with the First Lady over how the President must be “frustrated” by Republican opposition to his radical agenda.
“I think a lot of people would find it hard to believe that you don’t get frustrated when you feel that Republicans are really trying to block the President’s agenda,” Braver sympathized. Jill Biden replied: “He keeps working at it. He’s an eternal optimist and he keeps working, Rita, like almost 24 hours a day, at creating relationships with Republicans as well as Democrats, to push his agenda forward. It’s that important.”
The on-screen headline gushed: “‘He’s An Eternal Optimist’; First Lady Reflects on Republican Opposition to President’s Agenda.”
Braver followed up by pressing the First Lady on how her husband must angrily insult the GOP: “He doesn’t ever come home and say to you, ‘These such and suches, I can’t believe what they’re doing’?” Jill Biden admitted: “Well, he might make a disparaging remark once in a while, but I’m telling you, he believes, as he always has. He’s always worked with both sides of the aisle.”
After the taped preview, co-host and Democratic Party donor Gayle King swooned over the idea that the President was attacking Republicans behind closed doors: “I like the First Lady saying he might make a disparaging remark once in a while. That’s called being a human being.”
It’s no surprise that the White House would go to Braver for a certain softball sit-down, she has a reputation of slobbering over liberal politicians and media personalities, including the Bidens:
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In fact, Braver’s husband, Democratic lawyer Bob Barnett, even helped then-Hillary Clinton vice presidential running mate Tim Kaine do debate prep in 2016.
The Bidens knew exactly what kind of chummy treatment they could expect when they chose to grant a carefully choreographed interview to someone like Braver.
Here is a transcript of the December 10 preview segment from CBS Mornings:
7:34 AM ET
TONY DOKOUPIL: This weekend, on CBS Sunday Morning, Rita Braver speaks with President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden, reflecting on their first year in the White House. It’s a rare Camp David interview, and Rita asked the First Lady about the President’s political opponents.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: “He’s An Eternal Optimist”; First Lady Reflects on Republican Opposition to President’s Agenda]
RITA BRAVER: I think a lot of people would find it hard to believe that you don’t get frustrated when you feel that Republicans are really trying to block the President’s agenda.
JILL BIDEN: He keeps working at it. He’s an eternal optimist and he keeps working, Rita, like almost 24 hours a day, at creating relationships with Republicans as well as Democrats, to push his agenda forward. It’s that important.
BRAVER: He doesn’t ever come home and say to you, “These such and suches, I can’t believe what they’re doing”?
BIDEN: Well, he might make a disparaging remark once in a while, but I’m telling you, he believes, as he always has. He’s always worked with both sides of the aisle. And that is what he will continue to do.
DOKOUPIL: An optimist. Rita Braver’s full interview with the President and the First Lady airs this weekend on CBS Sunday Morning.
GAYLE KING: I like the First Lady saying he might make a disparaging remark once in a while. That’s called being a human being.
