CNN's energetic switch from Trump Derangement to Biden Exceptionalism runs roughshod over their supposed devotion to "Facts First."
On Sunday, reporters Michael Warren and Arlette Saenz blatantly boosted Joe Biden as a man of devout faith, touting he would be the only president in decades to attend church. Decades? Really? Did CNN not remember that President George W. Bush was well known as a very religious man who attended church?
Oops! Well, apparently somebody pointed out that obvious fact overlooked by CNN and they updated their story which was originally titled, "Biden's Catholic faith will be on full display as the first churchgoing president in decades" to add in the lame caveat "publicly" so it now reads "Biden's Catholic faith will be on full display as the first publicly churchgoing president in decades."
In addition an equally lame correction was provided to the story:
CORRECTION: An earlier version of the headline and this story understated how often past presidents have attended church services. President George W. Bush attended church at Camp David and intermittently in Washington, DC, and Texas.
Therefore the correction pretty much upended the entire premise of the story. Oh, and lamely adding "publicly" to the title really doesn't change its premise.
Despite it supposedly being about the "devout" Biden, the real target of the story is in the third paragraph:
That's a level of devotion to regular religious services not seen from recent presidents, who were professed Christians but intermittently attended church or worshipped privately while in office. Donald Trump has not had a habit of attending church services weekly, though he made several appearances at the Episcopal church in West Palm Beach near his resort as well as at various evangelical churches across the country.
In contrast to Trump, the CNN writers emphasize that Biden is a regular and devout church-goer.
But for Biden, who next month will become the second Catholic president in US history, attending weekly Mass is expected to be a fixed part of his schedule. And while it's unclear whether he will adopt a permanent parish in Washington during his term, Biden's churchgoing will not only provide a window into his spiritual side. It will also be core to his political brand -- apparent not just in the pursuit of his policy agenda but even in his schedule as President.
"For Joe, faith is both a private devotion -- he prays regularly, he goes to church. But it's also public. He's open about and proud that he's a Catholic," said Fr. Kevin O'Brien, a friend and spiritual adviser to Biden and his wife Jill.
It took 19 paragraphs for CNN to acknowledge that Biden's devout support for abortion and contraception are at odds with his church's teaching, and that he nominated Xavier Becerra to run Health and Human Services, a man who sued nuns to force them to fund contraception for their employees. But hey, Pope Francis called to congratulate him, so only the "conservatives" have a problem.
Yes, Biden is such a devout churchgoer that despite his regular attendance somehow missed the proper way to pronounce "psalm" after hearing it repeated from the pulpit on a frequent basis.
