On NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday, host Scott Simon sounded like state-run radio as he touted Biden's latest physical showed "a strong and vigorous man" as Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley "openly played the age card" in her announcement. NPR political analyst Ron Elving insisted "any kind of dissing of old folks is a risky strategy and likely to backfire." Liberals parade around their hopes as "news."
It began like this:
SIMON: White House released results of the president's annual medical exam this week. This is a strong and vigorous man.
ELVING: Yes. Low cholesterol, decent blood pressure, good BMI - something we could all envy.
"We could all envy...decent blood pressure?" The "good BMI" line could be a knock on Donald Trump.
Elving shamelessly touted Biden's lies about Republicans wanting to "sunset" Social Security and Medicare as just "new restraints." Restraints would be accurate, but that's not at all what the president said. Biden's lies -- his "aggressive use of that speech" -- is proof of his vigor!
SIMON: And it's the week that, of course, Donald Trump's former U.N. ambassador, Nikki Haley, openly played the age card when she made her announcements for president.
ELVING: Yeah, she seemed to be tweaking both Biden and her former boss. America is not past our prime, Haley said, it's just that our politicians are past theirs. Well, OK. She proposed mental competency tests for politicians over 75, and she has a point. Of course, you don't have to look too far to find examples of office holders past their sell-by date. But any kind of dissing of old folks is a risky strategy and likely to backfire.
Take, for example, those suggestions that budget balancing this year might entail new restraints on Social Security and Medicare. That issue - that came up in the State of the Union earlier this month when everybody got up and cheered and stood. You know, that issue's just gone, Scott. The idea's principal sponsor in the Senate, Rick Scott of Florida, officially backed off that idea yesterday.
SIMON: Yeah.
ELVING: So score one for Biden and his aggressive use of that speech.
They also mentioned Senator John Fetterman's depression, hoping we're "wiser" now about mental health:
SIMON: Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman admitted himself to a hospital to receive treatment for clinical depression. Some of us remember when politicians would be reluctant to reveal that. Is the political climate wiser now about mental health?
ELVING: Yes, let's hope so.
And since NPR hates Fox News, they wrapped up with enjoying how the Dominion lawsuit against Fox ended with juicy revelations that hosts didn't believe in the election-fraud stories they were promoting after the 2020 votes were cast. "Did it surprise you, Ron, that they just deliberately lied to their own viewers?" Elving wasn't surprised, that "Some of these conversations among the Fox stars suggest they knew better, but thought it was their job to play to the sentiments of the people they perceived to be their audience."
NPR has absolutely no time to talk about how they misled their own audience (playing to liberal sentiments) in October 2020 that the Hunter Biden laptop was Fake News, a "pure distraction."
