MSNBC & CNN Gush Over Biden/GOP Meeting: 'Political Unicorn'—No One Cursed!

February 2nd, 2021 10:22 AM

Who cares if Joe Biden was just joshing when he said he wanted to govern in a bipartisan way, and represent those who voted against him, too? At least he didn't curse out Mitt Romney and Susan Collins when he met with them and other Republican senators at the White House yesterday. Ain't Joe wonderful? Unlike that other guy whose name shall not be mentioned.

Willie Geist Kasie Hunt MSNBC Morning Joe 2-2-21That was the gist of the coverage on MSNBC and CNN this morning regarding the White House meeting yesterday between Biden and 10 Republican senators regarding the latest COVID relief package. 

On Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough made a surprisingly strong pitch in favor of Biden actually compromising with the Republicans on the package. But when Willie Geist asked Kasie Hunt whether it was a "good-faith negotiation, or does it look like Democrats are just going to go ahead without Republicans?" Hunt preferred to focus on the post-meeting optics rather than the substance:

"Well, let's take a quick step back here, Willie. After this meeting ended, nobody went to the microphones outside the White House to say that swear words were exchanged, that people were yelling at each other, that anyone had embarrassed anybody else. It is an extraordinarily different time in Washington. And I think that that, all by itself, does stand potentially to go a long way. And, look: two hours with the President and Vice-president of the United States is a really long time!"

Oooh: Joe and Biden stooped to spend two hours with Republicans! That should make them happy, even if in the end the Pelosi-Schumer package is jammed down their throats!

Over on CNN's New Day, co-host John Berman could barely contain his enthusiasm, as he breathlessly described the meeting as a "political unicorn."

So the liberal media is trumpeting the superficial style of the meeting, while behind the scenes Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer are working to jam the Democrat bill through via reconciliation without a single Republican vote. 

The irony is that at the end of 2020, a bipartisan COVID relief package was actually passed under the baton of . . . President Trump. And of course we remember all the accolades the MSM lavished on Trump for his bipartisan achievement. Oh, wait. 

The gushing over the bipartisan optics of President Biden's meeting with Republicans on a COVID relief package was sponsored on MSNBC in part by Lexus, Subway and Ancestry.com, and on CNN by Liberty Mutual, Expedia and USAA.

Here are the transcripts.

MSNBC 
Morning Joe
2/2/21
6:08 am ET

WILLIE GEIST: Kasie Hunt, I put that to you, as someone who covers Capitol Hill every day: is this a good-faith negotiation, or does it look like Democrats are just going to go ahead without Republicans?

KASIE HUNT: Well, let's take a quick step back here, Willie. After this meeting ended, nobody went to the microphones outside the White House to say that swear words were exchanged, that people were yelling at each other, that anyone had embarrassed anybody else. 

It is an extraordinarily different time in Washington. And I think that that—all by itself—does stand to potentially go a long way. And, look: two hours with the President and Vice-president of the United States is a really long time!

 

CNN
New Day
2/2/21
6:00 am ET

JOHN BERMAN: [voice brimming with excitement] What would you call this? This is like a political unicorn! It doesn't even compute! It's an actual, collegial, substantive, bipartisan meeting inside the White House. President Biden, with a group of Republican senators, comparing their plans for economic relief.