When I covered the White House for more than a decade, members of the press office would alert reporters before a press conference if they were going to be called on to ask a question.
Apparently, the Biden White House is going one step further — getting the question in advance.
At Thursday’s press conference with the British prime minister, President Joe Biden called on a Public Broadcasting System (PBS) reporter, who — despite all the crises in the world — asked the dumbest question ever.
“All over the country, Mr. President, Republican-led states are passing laws — passing anti-LGBTQ, anti-transgender laws that restrict rights and medical care,” Laura Barrón-López said. “Intimidation is on the rise. This week, anti-LGBTQ protestors turned violent in California.”
“And also recently, I spoke to the parents of a transgender girl in Texas who told me that they’re afraid and that they are considering leaving not just their state, but the country,” she said. “Sir, why do you think this is happening? And what do you say to parents, like the ones that I spoke to, to those families who are contemplating leaving the country because they don’t feel safe anymore?”
Now, here’s what’s happening in America right now: Soaring inflation, unaffordable housing, rampant drug abuse and overdose deaths, a mental health epidemic, a student loan crisis, skyrocketing federal debt (it rises $1 million every 24 seconds), an absurdly expensive health care system, wealth inequality, a crumbling infrastructure, escalating crime, illegal immigrants storming across the border, unrestrained price gouging, mounting poverty and homelessness, school mass shootings, political polarization, teen pregnancies, and a biased media.
But no, White House reporters don’t ask the president about that — instead, LGBTQ.
Biden, of course, hit the softball question hard. “Our fight is far, far from over because we have some hysterical and, I would argue, prejudiced people who are engaged in all that you see going on around the country. It’s an appeal to fear, and it’s an appeal that is totally, thoroughly unjustified, and ugly,” he said.
The exchange drew immediate scorn on the interwebs. Fox News Radio host Guy Benson said there is “much to say about his answer, but her ‘question’ is quite a thing to behold.”
In a Twitter post, NewsBusters managing editor Curtis Houck called the question “Fake News” with the hashtag “DefundPBS.”
Houck went further, saying, “Notice how Biden read from prepared remarks in answering PBS reporter Laura Barrón-López’s ‘question’ about ‘anti-LGBTQ’ views in America, saying those who believe men are men & women are women are ‘prejudiced,’ ‘ugly’ people.” He added, “ZERO question this was pre-screened. ALL scripted.”
The Republican National Committee research team also claimed the president is “once again using a list of pre-selected reporters to call on at his press conference. Does he have the reporters’ questions again, too?” they asked.
Libertarian filmmaker Anna Zetchus Smith, said of the “scripted” question and answer: “Tier reached: North Korean puppetry.”
Biden routinely has printed lists of White House reporters he must call on — in a press conference in March, he even had cards with reporters’ pictures on them.
And he uses cheat sheets in answering questions. In that March presser, one card said this: “Tough Putin Q&A: Talking Points.”
“1. If you weren’t advocating for regime change, what did you mean? Can you clarify?” the sheet said.
Shockingly, the White House press office correctly picked the first question reporters would ask. And then they gave Biden the answer on the cheat sheet. The answer:
- “I was expressing the moral outrage I felt toward the actions of this man.”
- “I was not articulating a change in policy.”
Maybe we should just stop the kabuki theater that is a White House press conference nowadays. If reporters are going to give Biden their questions in advance and staffers are going to write out his answers, the whole exercise is pointless.
No comments:
Post a Comment