Over the last several days, Joe Biden has repeatedly muddled his non-position on court packing, at one point declaring that voters “don’t deserve to know” what he would do. On Monday, the Democrat declared himself “not a fan” of adding justices. That was enough for MSNBC to declare the issue dead and concluded. Reporter Geoff Bennett on Tuesday hailed the “moderate” Biden and insisted that Democrats were “warranted” in packing the Supreme Court anyway.
Bennett played a clip of the presidential candidate sputtering, “I've already spoken on -- I'm not a fan of court packing. But I don't want to get off on that whole issue. I want to keep focused.” Strictly speaking, this isn’t a definitive answer. But it was enough for Bennett. He cheered: “Joe Biden is a moderate. He's an institutionalist. He's campaigned on restoring normalcy, such that it exists. Restoring civility.”
Biden is not a moderate. The former Vice President and Senator is an extreme liberal. His lifetime American Conservative Union score is 12 and the Democrat has drifted farther left as the years go by. His 2008, 2007 and 2006 scores are, respectively: 0, 0, 4. (Last November, CBS also falsely called Biden a “moderate.”)
Talking to Chuck Todd, Bennett bluntly declared that, should the Democrats want to pack the Supreme Court, it would all be “warranted.”
Although as we know, there are progressives in the party have said the only way to preserve landmark cases like Roe V. Wade is to expand the court and frankly it is a warranted action, given, as Democrats see it, the last seat and potentially two seats now have been stolen, as they say, from Democrats, Chuck.
"Frankly, it is a warranted action." No hesitation. Just presented as a fact. That's the Democratic spin MSNBC daily provides. On a separate point, Biden has not, in fact, answered the court packing question simply by saying he “isn’t a fan of it.”
If journalists repeatedly press Donald Trump on condemning white supremacy (something he has done multiple times), reporters must force Biden to give a clear, unequivocal answer on packing the Supreme Court.
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A partial transcript is below.
Andrea Mitchell Reports
10/13/2020
12:33 PM ET
GEOFF BENNETT: Then on this issue that you were speaking with Senator Durbin about, Joe Biden now giving his clearest position yet on this issue of court packing. I'm told we have sound that have, if we do we can hear that now and talk about it on the other side.
JOE BIDEN: I've already spoken on -- I'm not a fan of court packing. But I don't want to get off on that whole issue. I want to keep focused. The President would love nothing better than to fight about whether or not I would in fact pack the court or not pack the court, et cetera. The focus is why is he doing what he's doing now? Why now? With less than 24 days to go in the election. And the hearing is going to take place, it's only going to be ten days or whatever it is before the vote takes place. That's the court packing the public should be focused on.
BENNETT: So the unwritten rule of campaign politics is that if a candidate decides that he or she won't talk about something, that then becomes the question that he or fields the most often. Joe Biden has been asked this question time and again about so-called court packing. And then last night in this interview with an Ohio affiliate, he said he's not a fan of it. Joe Biden is a moderate. He's an institutionalist. He's campaigned on restoring normalcy, such that it exists. Restoring civility. So he says this is not something he’s a fan of. Although as we know, there are progressives in the party have said the only way to preserve landmark cases like Roe V. Wade is to expand the court and frankly it is a warranted action, given, as Democrats see it, the last seat and potentially two seats now have been stolen, as they say, from Democrats, Chuck.
