President Biden may have avoided a "total collapse" without "drooling," but his evening press conference was not a "big boy" event. The questions were soft, and the list of reporters guaranteed lighter questioning.
CBS reporter Nancy Cordes offered one of the biggest softballs, asking the president to describe Kamala Harris’s best qualities and qualifications. NPR reporter Asma Khalid also seemed to be boosting Kamala by asking Biden where his promise to be a "bridge" to a new generation of Democrats went.
Old New York Times hand David Sanger ate up 11 minutes of the event with three soft questions on China. This was the part where some journalists touted Biden's command of foreign policy.
Still, some bizarrely claim the media are pro-Trump. At a Friday panel discussion at The Washington Post, Jonathan Capehart was reading angry messages about the alleged anti-Biden press, that “gives the distinct impression that Biden’s health is a greater threat to American democracy than Trump’s criminal activity,” so “how can the mainstream press correctly prioritize the issues?”
Jen Rubin added, “We are on the brink of going down the road of a dictatorship. That is more important than anything else." She complained "People have gotten used to Trump. Why?...Because the press has gotten used to Trump, because the press does not cover his insanity,” like riffing on sharks at his rallies.
Brett Meiselas of the hardball-throwing Meidas Touch podcast painted a picture of a supinely pro-Trump press: "They are going to amplify every little gaffe while they ignore every Trump gaffe… Any sort of slip up that Biden makes is going to amplified 100 times by the media who wants to be so incredibly vindictive. You can see it in these people. You can see it in their tweets. You can see it in their smiles.. Let’s talk about immunity, Trump gets media immunity. They let him say whatever he wants and when he messes up, they treat it like a joke and they do not give Biden a single ounce of grace."
That sounds like a man who needs a drug test. Enjoy the podcast below, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
