As Stephen L. Miller likes to say, President Joe Biden can’t fail — he can only be failed. We the public, along with the press and even other Democrats have all gotten in the way of Biden’s success. Never Trumper Tom Nichols in June wrote for The Atlantic a piece called, “Leave Joe Biden Alone.” This month, the Washington Post’s Dana Milbank published a column entitled, “Give Biden a break.” Being the president is hard work, you know.
Now we have Brookings senior fellow Marvin Kalb stepping in to defend Biden from the media. “Bothsideism” has failed Biden, we writes, claiming that the mainstream media is trying a little too hard to be “fair and balanced” when there is no balance.
"By living on negativity, the press has only compounded the inherent problems of governing a democracy already spinning out of control," Marvin Kalb writes https://t.co/Xx9W1f7say
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) July 25, 2022
Check out this garbage:
The American press corps struggles every day to prove to readers and viewers that it is “fair and balanced,” the slogan cleverly adopted by Fox News. If it strongly criticized Donald Trump during his presidency (and since), then it follows that it must also strongly criticize Joe Biden, which is exactly what it’s done.
Fair, isn’t it? Balanced, too, right?
Wrong.
Not only does criticism not come in equal shapes and sizes, appropriate for all presidents and both political parties (a journalistic curse called “bothsideism”), but, when unfairly applied, as it has been in covering Biden, it runs the serious risk of further damaging our still free press and weakening our already shaky democracy.
The press image of Biden, president of the United States of America, has been whittled down to that of a doddering old man, wobbly on his feet and barely able to articulate a single thought without slurring.
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Excuse us, but it’s Democrats who are struggling with the proposition of Biden running again in 2024. They know he’s a doddering old man. The press can only do so much to prop the guy up, like when he says he has cancer from oil slicks on his windshield.
Stelter has learned how to shut off replies and he seems to prefer it that way, but there are always the quote tweets.
Protected tweets mean you know the opinion is utter shit and still decided to post it anyway https://t.co/8u6ODvSPOp
— CajunTexan (@CajunTexan_) July 25, 2022
Biden can’t fail. He can only be failed. Example 1 million. https://t.co/DnkvsIhTSk
— Brother Seamus (@WaynePelota) July 25, 2022
"The press has failed Biden"
There it is. https://t.co/XIjO8F5Cda
— IncognegroNeville 🇯🇲🇺🇸 (@FormerlyCBM) July 25, 2022
TRANSLATION: the press isn't partisan enough. https://t.co/hI7fiLuoPj
— Jiggery-Pokery (Who's The Big Guy?) (@BiffGizmo) July 25, 2022
Yes, the Biden presidency is a failure because the media is just too darn fair to Republicans. https://t.co/jsbXybCw9O
— Karol Markowicz (@karol) July 25, 2022
This argument is quite literally that the press is too fair. https://t.co/Ewo5OVw2wB
— Noam Blum (@neontaster) July 25, 2022
NOW negativity in media is bad! https://t.co/r1i460NroQ
— NewsBusters (@newsbusters) July 25, 2022
This is a remarkably incisive story about how Biden started off as popular but then — get this — fucked up a bunch and became unpopular. https://t.co/VaCpc2bW2e https://t.co/ngCbyxMu29
— Jarvis (@jarvis_best) July 25, 2022
The press is too negative on Biden, that the line people are trying for. https://t.co/r6yX4sRMBS
— Mitch 🇺🇸🇺🇦 (@mitdont) July 25, 2022
"Bothsideism"? In other words, objectivity and journalistic integrity vs being state run Pravda? https://t.co/4pF17a9hav
— Pam D (@soirchick) July 25, 2022
You are the villain you are looking for, Tater. We remember your lies about Trump and pimping of Avenatti. https://t.co/9pXuSSPyXo
— Ben Peterson (@jazzfan71) July 25, 2022
Stelter was the one who made it a crusade to prove that President Donald Trump was mentally unfit to serve. Biden? Here’s Stelter playing a clip of Biden on a vigorous bike ride to show how virile he is. Fair and balanced.
The press has FAILED Biden.
Only a simp like Brian could promote this trash. https://t.co/T3oeLlkDHG
— RedPups (@PleasantPups) July 25, 2022
Oh Brian. The press has made itself irrelevant on many topics. Whatever is wrong with the country is occurring independent of what any media outlet says. Largely because those media outlets (national) and the people working for them are immune to these issues. https://t.co/Bw98f26G1u
— sg (@latteconsrtve) July 25, 2022
Lol this has "leave Biden alone" vibes. https://t.co/GPQV5n9bwo
— Javier Vasquez (@JavierVasquez85) July 25, 2022
We’ve literally seen “Leave Joe Biden Alone” in print — that’s the press Kalb is complaining about.
Related:
WaPo fact-checker comes to the rescue after RNC Research quotes Biden verbatim https://t.co/KWSGwY9D6m
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) July 20, 2022
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