On Friday morning, CBS and NBC had their morning shows join in the effort ABC launched Thursday on World News Tonight to pick Biden up off the proverbial floor following his fall at the U.S. Air Force Academy, lamenting “Republican critics...were quick to pounce” on something that could have happened to “anybody.”
World News Tonight’s morning equivalent, Good Morning America, remained in the tank for Biden with chief White House correspondent Mary Bruce doing what she does best in simping for Biden and insisting there’s nothing to worry about.
After fretting on World News Tonight that the GOP “capitaliz[ed]” and “pounc[ed] on” the tumble, she bemoaned on Good Morning America how Biden’s “political rivals have been quick to seize on this” even though “the White House says he’s doing all right” with Biden “laugh[ing] this off.”
NBC’s Today had chief White House correspondent Peter Alexander there to catch Biden’s fall, boasting the President “actually even jogged a little bit into the residence” and “aides say he’s doing just fine.”
Nonetheless, he added, “his Republican critics, including the former President, Donald Trump, they were quick to pounce. The fall is drawing some extra scrutiny, of course, because of voters’ concerns about the President’s age.”
“At 80, he is the oldest president ever to serve. But the President was in good spirits. He joked about it with reporters, saying he got ‘sandbagged,’” he concluded.
And over on CBS Mornings, co-host and Democratic donor Gayle King piped up in Biden’s defense after correspondent Ed O’Keefe gave a brief summation of the fall, which came amid “concern” from voters about Biden’s age “and this scene didn’t help.”
“Ah, well, at least he’s making a joke about it,” she boasted before arguing this could have happened to any one of us (presumably of any age: “[C]ouldn’t anybody have tripped? Honestly, couldn’t anybody have tripped over a sandbag? You could have done it. I could have done it.”
Fill-in co-host Errol Barnett also put points on the board for Biden: “I can see those Republican attack ads being edited as we speak.”
O’Keefe didn’t seem fully sold on King’s spin: “Sure. Sure. But they’re not an 80-year-old president, the oldest that’s ever served amid concerns from voters that somebody that old may not be able to serve as president.”
King huffed back, “Okay, alright.”
Before moving on, Barnett offered one last thought (as someone who drew out this infamous Biden comment): “And he doesn’t like questions about his physical mobility. Take it from me. But you can certainly see a narrative coming up.”
Friday morning’s coverage lamenting GOP reaction to Biden’s fall was made possible thanks to advertisers such as Amazon (on ABC), Consumer Cellular (on CBS), and Golf Galaxy (a specialty store from Dick’s Sporting Goods).
To see the relevant transcripts from June 2, click here (for ABC), here (for CBS), and here (for NBC).
