Joe Biden may still hold the office of President of the United States, but the media are treating him like he's anything but a newsmaker. For much of Biden's presidency, reporters were much more energized to cover the apparent menace of Donald Trump than agitate the officials that were always hiding Biden. Now he seems invisible.
On Dec. 15, the president spoke to a Democratic National Committee holiday party. Any reporter would expect a pep talk, with all the echoes of "we'll get them next time." Biden simply lied about the state of the country. In discussing PolitiFact's latest Trump-trashing "Lie of the Year" campaign, Matt Kittle of The Federalist re-racked this doozy:
"One thing I've always believed about public service, especially about the presidency, is the importance of asking yourself, 'Have we left the country in better shape than we found it?' Today, I can say without, with every fiber of my being, with all my heart, the answer to the question is a resounding yes," Biden said.
That sounds like dementia, not truth. Yes, the pandemic ended ... and all of Biden's policy failures began. A few sentences later, he added, "I fully believe that America is better positioned, because of all of you, to lead the world today than [at] any point in the last 50 years of my career ... Again, not hyperbole!"
None of the broadcast networks covered this oratorical face-plant on air -- ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS or NPR. It came on a Sunday, a slow day. But ABCNews.com published what sounded like a sterile press release from Michelle Stoddart. She repeated this blatantly false quote -- that Biden left the country in better shape -- and helpfully added, "Biden did try to make the pitch that many of the benefits of his actions in office won't be fully felt by Americans for some time." Keep hope alive, Joe.
In all my searching, I couldn't find an Associated Press dispatch on these remarks. The Monday papers didn't have it -- not The New York Times, The Washington Post or USA Today. But the Post and USA Today both quoted from Biden's self-defense the previous Tuesday at the Brookings Institution. Both must have been written before Sunday's DNC speech.
In his "Biden touts his legacy" piece, Post reporter Cleve R. Wootson captured this similar claim 19 paragraphs deep in his dispatch:
"I know it's been hard for many Americans to see, and I understand it. They're just trying to figure out how to put three squares on the table," Biden said at Brookings. "But I believe it was the right thing to do, not only to lift Americans out of economic crisis caused by a pandemic, but set America on a stronger course for the future. And we did that."
Like Carter-style inflation never happened? "Many Americans" are blind to reason?
Wootson added that Biden recounted an insanely supportive quote from Time magazine: "President-elect Trump is receiving the strongest economy in modern history, which is the envy of the world." That came in a November 14 piece, headlined "Don't Give Trump Credit for the Success of the Biden Economy." It was an opinion piece by Yale officials Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and Stephen Henriques. Fun fact: Sonnenfeld donated $2,800 to Biden in 2019.
This piece also mangled the facts, as they claimed under Biden, "prices continue to fall as wages rise." Prices haven't fallen. The rate of inflation has, but not prices.
The American electorate rejected Biden's policies at the polls. The distraught Democrat reporters would rather forget that happened. So Biden can lie about his legacy without consequence.
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