Letting her brush aside the allegations of unwanted touching against her husband and questions of “where is Hunter,” CBS correspondent Rita Braver conducted a gooey puff piece for CBS Sunday Morning featuring Dr. Jill Biden (Ph.D.). Between excited fawning over the idea of continuing to teach and playing pranks around the White House, it was obvious that Braver desperately wanted Biden to be her “unconventional” first lady.
Braver, whose husband (Robert Barnett) would probably be working with Joe Biden on his debate prep, began her doting feature with a clip of Biden blocking a heckler from getting to her husband and proclaiming “Jill Biden has always stood up for her family.”
In that vein, Braver helped Jill protect the media’s presidential candidate by weakly bring up the allegations of inappropriate and unwanted touching against Joe. “Allegations started to come out that some women thought that your husband had been too familiar with them,” Braver gingerly put it. She let Biden brush it aside as “a space issue. They felt that they wanted more space.” Biden also insisted that Joe had “learned from it” and “keeps his distance.”
But there was no mention of Tara Reade's rape allegation.
After noting that Biden had punched a “bully” like President Trump in the face when she was a little girl, Braver gushed about how her subject “got a doctorate in education and has worked as a community college teacher for years, even as second lady.”
Meanwhile, the opposition press has railed against Second Lady Karen Pence for teaching art at a religious private school.
At the suggestion that Biden would continue to teach as first lady, Braver exploded with excitement:
BRAVER: Do you think you'll keep teaching if you become first lady?
BIDEN: I hope so.
BRAVER: Really?!
BIDEN: I would love to. If we get to the White House, I'm going to continue to teach. It is important. And I want people to value teachers and know their contributions and lift up the profession.
BRAVER: So, you're really planning to do it as first lady?!
BIDEN: Yeah. Yeah.
BRAVER: Wow!
“Biden says, if she becomes first lady, she'll advocate for free community college tuition, funding for cancer research, and support for military families, as she did as second lady,” she boasted.
As the segment wrapped up, Braver turned to gush about a prank Biden had played on Air Force 2 as second lady:
BRAVER: But she will always make time for a little fun. And still laughs about a practical joke she played years ago, when she was the first to arrive at Air Force 2 one day.
BIDEN: I opened the overhead bin, and I jumped into there. And then as soon as they went to open the bin, I “yah,” and I jumped out. And I scared everybody. I think we laughed for, like, a half an hour.
“Now, will we see unconventional things from you,” Braver wondered, hinting at Biden being a prankster in the White House (as they stood on a Delaware beach, in the middle of a pandemic, with other people around, and no masks).
Biden assured Braver that she would. “I hope so. Why not,” she said. “You know, things are so serious, and these times are so tough, sometimes it takes a little levity, a little laughter to lighten things up. A little joy.”
When Trump was running for president, there was no CBS Sunday Morning puff piece for Melania. In fact, they didn’t do a segment on her until June of this year and the segment was about a book someone else had written about her.
This Jill Biden love fest was possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Sleep Number, Swiffer, and Chevron. Their contact information is linked if you want to tell them about what they’re funding.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CBS Sunday Morning
August 9, 2020
9:30:50 a.m. EasternJANE PAULEY: With the Democratic convention just over a week away, presidential candidate Joe Biden will announce his choice for a running mate any day now, and he has vowed to choose a woman. Helping him to make that decision, a woman that has been at the former Vice President's side for more than 40 years. Rita Braver is talking with Jill Biden.
[Cuts to video]
RITA BRAVER: It is one of the most striking scenes of campaign 2020, Jill Biden fending off a heckler who goes after her husband. But then, Jill Biden has always stood up for her family.
(…)
BRAVER: When it comes to President Trump's taunts of her husband at Sleepy Joe.
Would you call Donald Trump a bully?
JILL BIDEN: I am not going to call Donald Trump names because then I’m doing the exact same negative thing that he does to other people, and I won't stoop to that.
BRAVER: That combination of grace and grit was forged here in Hammonton, New Jersey, where Jill Jacobs was born in 1951.
(…)
BRAVER: But as much as Jill Biden loved being a mom, she also wanted a career. She got a doctorate in education and has worked as a community college teacher for years, even as second lady.
BIDEN: I teach a lot of immigrants and refugees. I love their stories. I love who they are as people. And I love the fact that I can help them on their path to success.
BRAVER: Do you think you'll keep teaching if you become first lady?
BIDEN: I hope so.
BRAVER: Really?
BIDEN: I would love to. If we get to the White House, I'm going to continue to teach. It is important. And I want people to value teachers and know their contributions and lift up the profession.
BRAVER: So, you're really planning to do it as first lady?
BIDEN: Yeah. Yeah.
BRAVER: Wow.
At virtual campaign events, like this one from her dining table...
BIDEN: This pandemic has really shown a light on the inequities throughout the United States.
BRAVER: “Dr. B," as her students and staff call her, often speaks to teachers' groups.
Do you see yourself as someone who would be an advisor to the president?
BIDEN: It’s a marriage, and you listen to one another, you talk things out with one another.
BRAVER: Have you weighed in on who you think would be a good vice president for him and who might not be so great?
BIDEN: Well, you know, we’ve talked about the different women candidates, but it’s got to be Joe's decision, who he feels most comfortable with, who shares his values. And that's what he has always said that he and Barack had.
(…)
BRAVER: Biden says, if she becomes first lady, she'll advocate for free community college tuition, funding for cancer research, and support for military families, as she did as second lady.
So, Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, this is your refuge?
BIDEN: Yes. Isn't it beautiful? Look at this.
BRAVER: It is gorgeous.
But she will always make time for a little fun. And still laughs about a practical joke she played years ago, when she was the first to arrive at Air Force 2 one day.
BIDEN: I opened the overhead bin, and I jumped into there. And then as soon as they went to open the bin, I “yah,” and I jumped out. And I scared everybody. I think we laughed for, like, a half an hour.
BRAVER: And if Jill Biden becomes first lady—
Now, will we see unconventional things from you?
BIDEN: I hope so. Why not?
BRAVER: Yeah?
BIDEN: You know, things are so serious, and these times are so tough, sometimes it takes a little levity, a little laughter to lighten things up. A little joy.
(…)
