After a week in which members of the New York State Assembly have been telling about how Gov. Andrew Cuomo bullied and threatened to destroy them if they didn’t back him up after he was found to have underreported COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes to avoid scrutiny by federal investigators, the media is reporting on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his latest scandal: Critics are accusing him of playing politics with the COVID-19 vaccine, setting up pop-up vaccination sites in areas that primarily vote Republican.
Florida Gov. DeSantis stands accused of using the Covid-19 vaccine to reward powerful political supporters and developers by setting up pop-up vaccination sites in planned communities they developed and where Republican voters predominate. https://t.co/Ove38xDtCw
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) February 20, 2021
Florida’s governor was slow to respond to the pandemic and his Covid-19 vaccine distribution plan has been marked by chaos, but critics say he’s been quick to recognize the political gold in those precious doses.
Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, ignored federal guidelines and prioritized getting senior citizens — one of Florida’s most potent voting blocs — vaccinated first.
When Holocaust survivors and Cuban survivors of the Bay of Pigs debacle — revered members of two other key Florida voting blocs — got their first shots, DeSantis made sure he was there for the news conferences.
Did anyone notice that second paragraph? “Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, ignored federal guidelines and prioritized getting senior citizens … vaccinated first.” But “critics say” he’s been politicizing the vaccine rollout.
I cannot believe this is a real paragraph in a real news story. pic.twitter.com/WuqTYNBYqL
— Sonny Bunch (@SonnyBunch) February 20, 2021
What a jerk, treating the most vulnerable like that
— Matt (@mloehrer) February 20, 2021
OUT: #KillingGrandma
IN: #PleaseKillGrandma— I got your #Unity right here (@jtLOL) February 20, 2021
“most potent voter bloc”
As opposed to “most vulnerable to hospitalization and death” https://t.co/nrsVkxUrVH
— Jay Caruso (@JayCaruso) February 20, 2021
He's vaccinating the most at-risk people to try and reduce the death toll as quickly as possible? This is unspeakable evil and politics before science. – said the mentally deficient partisan hacks
— Physics Geek (@physicsgeek) February 20, 2021
this whole “scandal” is insanely stupid but I did lol hard at this bit. Typical crowd eating the story up tho https://t.co/eJKHyqQfBC pic.twitter.com/I2xwjpGvKy
— Joe Gabriel Simonson (@SaysSimonson) February 20, 2021
“Desantis favors Jews” is something you can only write about a Republican it’s amazing
— Joe Gabriel Simonson (@SaysSimonson) February 20, 2021
Considering other states are *openly* favoring the vaccination of minority groups for “equity” reasons, I assume that’s an even bigger angle. Maybe a cynical reporter at NBC could think of a political angle there as well
— Joe Gabriel Simonson (@SaysSimonson) February 20, 2021
DeSantis is favoring old people. I realize New York Times columnists hate the elderly, but unfortunately the elderly are disproportionately white and Republican. Florida is disproportionately old and Republican
— Joe Gabriel Simonson (@SaysSimonson) February 20, 2021
These neighborhoods also coincidentally happen to be where the most elderly populations reside. Yes, older people tend to vote more Republican. Basically the scandal is that DeSantis is making sure the most at-risk populations get vaccinated. https://t.co/gvNSG9s0MJ
— AG (@AGHamilton29) February 20, 2021
Yes, DeSantis could have been less dismissive and left out the shot about complaints, but the whole scandal is just another smear by the press that has spent a year smearing him and getting things wrong. Governors getting needles in arms of elderly are doing their jobs.
— AG (@AGHamilton29) February 20, 2021
If you want to see how criminally biased the American "news" media is, simply compare the way @CNN and @MSNBC, America's PRAVDA, have covered @NYGovCuomo and @RonDeSantisFL
This is a vicious hit piece to take down a highly popular and successful Republican. Nothing more.
— Bonk (@BonkPolitics) February 20, 2021
Florida’s death rate per 100,000 is still **more than 100 people** lower than New York’s AND has a higher percentage of its population vaccinated (one shot rate and two) and yet this is how @NBCNews covers each state’s governor. pic.twitter.com/xbYepBiKO7
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) February 20, 2021
He set them up in predominately elderly areas. You know, the people who we should be prioritizing.
— Rohan Cassanova (@irishswamp) February 20, 2021
How dare he *checks notes* protect old people against the disease that is most lethal to old people! How dare he!
— Michael Watson (@MichaelWatsonDC) February 20, 2021
Vaccinating the elderly first is bad?
— Straight Out of Compton (@mcompton78) February 20, 2021
Can you be a little less obvious with the “must stop DeSantis for 2024” narrative from the news editors?
— Doctor of Coding Thinkology (@bradcundiff) February 20, 2021
“Most potent voting blocs..” but also the most vulnerable to COVID.
What an absurd botched hit piece. pic.twitter.com/HiANfkuYXT
— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) February 20, 2021
Alternate headline: DeSantis prioritizes those most at risk for Covid.
— Daddio (@MusingDave) February 20, 2021
Such journalism much wow
— Tyler Weber (@tmweb95) February 20, 2021
Related:
Ask your bro about those 1000s of elderly people he KILLED: Clay Travis DECIMATES Chris Cuomo with old tweet of him trashing DeSantis https://t.co/xu3vj0OjKh
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) February 12, 2021
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