TV news pundits have been hard at work over the past 24 hours, attempting to spin Thursday's sky-high inflation report as something other than a disaster for Democrats.
When they weren’t harping on about the January 6 committee, liberal journalists on CNN, MSNBC, and the broadcast networks searched desperately for some “silver lining” in Thursday’s ugly inflation report. On Thursday morning, MSNBC’s José Díaz-Balart hyped the increased cost of living adjustment for social security recipients: “Benefits will rise by 8.7 percent next year, the largest increase since 1981!”
The Social Security hike also prompted this absurd line from ABC’s George Stephanopolous on Friday’s Good Morning America: “Inflation is, in some ways, good news for social security recipients.”
Meanwhile, NBC News Now host Joshua Johnson wondered where all the gloom and doom was coming from: “The dollar is surging, employment is very high. Like, on paper, a lot of things look pretty decent.”
It’s not hard to figure out what’s motivating all of this spin. Polling has consistently shown that inflation and the economy are top of mind for a plurality of voters, and Republicans have made the cost of living a key issue heading into the midterms.
MSNBC’s Willie Geist summed up the liberal media’s concerns rather nicely on Thursday's Morning Joe:
[Republicans] are going to talk about this number. And they’re going to say: “Everything else that you’re hearing from the Democrats is meaningless, because you can’t afford to pay your rent, you can’t afford your health insurance anymore, and because a loaf of bread costs so much.”
