After an FDA advisory panel shot down the White House’s prospect of rolling out COVID vaccination boosters for everyone, it was apparent that President Biden had gotten ahead of the science we were being told to worship. But instead of questioning why the President would do that during Sunday’s This Week, ABC’s so-called “powerhouse” panel was more concerned with Republicans “pouncing” and “seizing” on the opportunity to criticize Biden.
“The FDA committee's recommendation on the booster was more narrow than President Biden wanted … but he is being criticized for jumping the gun. What happened,” wondered fill-in host Martha Raddatz.
According to chief Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl, “it looked like the White House was getting ahead of the science, that the White House was getting ahead of the health experts.” Referencing an interview Raddatz did with Dr. Anthony Fauci shortly before, Karl pointed out that “Dr. Fauci seems to be in a little bit of a spin mode; him saying, ‘Look, we just wanted to be ready by this date.’”
Fearing for Biden’s popularity numbers, which were already underwater, Karl noted: “And this is important because Biden's credibility on COVID has been his -- has been what has driven the level of his popularity. This is what he is trusted most on, and what he needs to be trusted most on, and we've seen it eroded over the past several weeks.”
Asked by Raddatz to expound on how Biden’s “poll numbers are falling and Republicans are just pouncing on this and everything else,” congressional correspondent Rachel Scott warned that not only were Republicans “pouncing,” they were “seizing” as well.
“Republicans really do see an opening here,” she cautioned. “They know that his approval ratings have dropped when it comes to his handling of the pandemic and they're really seizing on this opportunity, bringing up some of the past comments that President Biden has said.”
After suggesting “both sides [were] accusing one another of playing politics when it comes to the virus,” Scott ignored the data that showed many African Americans were not getting vaccinated as she targeted the right as the sole problem.
“And at this point, you still have a lot of Republicans – polls show a lot of Republicans are still questioning whether even doctors and scientists are biased when it comes to their judgments on this virus,” she whined.
As noted above, Raddatz did question Fauci about Biden’s disregard for the science and largely let him sidestep it. “I know he said it depends on the FDA, but isn't a timeline like that just confusing to people,” she wanted to know.
“I'm not necessarily thinking that's the case, Martha, because we wanted to be ready. These are the kinds of things that when you make a decision, you don't snap your finger and it gets rolled out the next day, and that's, I think, the thing that the people in the United States need to understand,” Fauci argued.
Adding: “So, getting that data I don't think was confusing. We needed a date to be able to say, let's get ready to roll this out pending the decision and the deliberation by the FDA and ultimately the CDC.”
This distraction and downplaying of Biden’s booster blunder was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Amazon and Verizon. Their contact information is linked so you can tell them about the biased news they fund.
The relevant portions of the transcript are below, click "expand' to read:
ABC’s This Week
September 19, 2021
9:09:54 a.m. Eastern(…)
MARTHA RADDATZ: You know, you yourself have said how important consistency is, and you mentioned earlier President Biden talked about planning for September 20th rollout for all Americans. I know he said planning, I know he said it depends on the FDA, but isn't a timeline like that just confusing to people?
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI: I'm not -- I'm not necessarily thinking that's the case, Martha, because we wanted to be ready. These are the kinds of things that when you make a decision, you don't snap your finger and it gets rolled out the next day, and that's, I think, the thing that the people in the United States need to understand.
The plan was that we have to be ready to do this as soon as a decision is made. And when you have a plan, you put a date on it, and you say, we want to be able to get ready to roll out on the week of September the 20, and as it turns out, when the FDA makes their final determination and very soon thereafter this coming week, you're going to see the advisory committee on immunization practices that advises the CDC to perhaps even fine-tune that, so it can be implemented expeditiously.
So, getting that data I don't think was confusing. We needed a date to be able to say, let's get ready to roll this out pending the decision and the deliberation by the FDA and ultimately the CDC.
(…)
9:13:00 a.m. Eastern
RADDATZ: The FDA committee's recommendation on the booster was more narrow than President Biden wanted. You heard Anthony Fauci's explanation of that, but he is being criticized for jumping the gun. What happened?
JONATHAN KARL: Well, it looked like the White House was getting ahead of the science, that the White House was getting ahead of the health experts and, you know, Dr. Fauci seems to be in a little bit of a spin mode; him saying , “Look, we just wanted to be ready by this date.”
But make no mistake, Martha, when the White House rolled this out, the expectation was you would begin the process of boosters for everybody on September 20th. That was not the recommendation of the FDA advisory panel. It will not be what FDA go forward within all likelihood.
And this is important because Biden's credibility on COVID has been his -- has been what has driven the level of his popularity. This is what he is trusted most on, and what he needs to be trusted most on, and we've seen it eroded over the past several weeks.
RADDATZ: And boy, Rachel, you're sure seeing that on the Hill. His poll numbers are falling and Republicans are just pouncing on this and everything else.
RACHEL SCOTT: And to Jon's point, I think, Republicans really do see an opening here. They know that his approval ratings have dropped when it comes to his handling of the pandemic and they're really seizing on this opportunity, bringing up some of the past comments that President Biden has said.
Look, on July 4th he said we were closer than ever to declaring Independence from the virus, that we had the upper happened. We saw guidance come back for indoor masking and few weeks later we saw vaccine requirements get rolled out when it comes to the federal government workers as well as private businesses.
At this point, you have both sides accusing one another of playing politics when it comes to the virus. We know the virus does not discriminate along party lines, but the bottom line here is that we know that Republicans at this point are less likely to be vaccinated. And that is the challenge that’s going to be for President Biden. He came in, he said he’d be the president to get this under control.
And at this point you still have a lot of Republicans – polls show a lot of Republicans are still questioning whether even doctors and scientists are biased when it comes to their judgments on this virus.
(…)
