We Fact-Checked Biden's Prime-Time White House Address - The New York Times
Have missed these the last couple of months. But in the tradition of equal time, I thought it would be a good idea going forward. Was used to POTUS getting checked every damned day.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
March 11, 2021, 9:44 p.m. ETMarch 11, 2021, 9:44 p.m. ET
By Linda Qiu
President Biden walking away from the podium after his first prime-time address from the White House.Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times
President Biden, in a prime-time address on Thursday night, exaggerated elements of the coronavirus pandemic along with his, and his predecessor's, response to it. Here's a fact-check.
What Mr. Biden Said
"A year ago we were hit with a virus that was met with silence and spread unchecked, denials for days, weeks, then months."
This is exaggerated. It is true that President Donald J. Trump downplayed the severity of the coronavirus pandemic for months. But he was not exactly silent and did not fail to respond completely. One year ago, on March 12, 2020, Mr. Trump delivered an address from the Oval Office acknowledging the threat and announced new travel restrictions on much of Europe.
What Mr. Biden Said
"As of now, total deaths in America, 527,726. That's more deaths than in World War I, World War II, the Vietnam War and 9/11 combined."
This is exaggerated. According to estimates from the Department of Veterans Affairs, a total of 392,393 died in combat in those three wars. Combined with the 2,977 people who died in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, that figure would be indeed smaller than the coronavirus death toll Mr. Biden cited. It would also be lower than the 529,000 death figure tracked by The New York Times. But factoring in deaths that occurred in service but outside of combat, the toll from the three wars (more than 610,000) would be higher than the current total number of virus-related deaths Mr. Biden cited.
What Mr. Biden Said
"Two months ago this country didn't have nearly enough vaccine supply to vaccinate all or anywhere near all of the American public. But soon we will."
This is misleading. By the end of last year, the Trump administration had ordered at least 800 million vaccine doses that were expected for delivery by July 31, 2021, the Government Accountability Office reported. That included vaccines undergoing clinical trials as well as those not yet approved by the Food and Drug Administration. According to Kaiser Health News, that would have been enough to vaccinate 200 million people with authorized vaccines, and more than enough for 400 million once all the vaccines were cleared for use. The current U.S. population is roughly 330 million. And, contrary to Mr. Biden's suggestions, both administrations deserve credit for the current state of the vaccine supply.
What Mr. Biden Said
"When I took office 50 days ago, only 8 percent of Americans after months, only 8 percent of those over the age of 65 had gotten their first vaccination. Today, that number is 65 percent."
This is misleading. When Mr. Biden took office on Jan. 20, the vaccination effort had just begun, after the F.D.A. authorized Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use in mid-December.
Moreover, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that people between ages 65 and 74 receive the vaccine only after it has been administered to health care workers, residents of long-term care facilities, frontline essential workers and people over the age of 75.
It's also worth noting that about 62.4 percent of people over 65 have received one vaccine dose, but just 32.2 percent are fully vaccinated, according to the C.D.C.
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Ahhh the old fact checkers............
Note the date: March 12. The virus had been in the United States since at least January and there were quite a few deaths by March 12. He still didn't suggest wearing masks or social distancing. He announced travel restrictions on Europe, which I applaud, but he should have restricted travel from China especially when he first learned about this virus.
Dr Fauci told us they were useless. This is about Biden, remember?
Why do you keep repeating that lie?
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, continues to be criticized for saying in a March 2020 interview that “there’s no reason to be walking around with a mask.” But his comments were in line with CDC guidance at the time. The CDC recommended the use of face masks by those who had COVID-19 and their caregivers.
Then, in April, after health officials learned more about how much the virus was being transmitted by people without symptoms, the CDC reversed course and began recommending that everyone wear face coverings in public. At that point, Fauci, too, began encouraging universal mask use.
How can it be a lie when the linked quote provides confirmation?
The left needs to recognize that Joe Biden in the White House has made their talking points obsolete. Is the left going to throw Biden under the bus to defend Fauci? Who is in charge and who is expendable?
No where in it does Fauci state masks are useless. Perhaps you can highlight where he is stating that masks are useless.
Dr. Fauci was wrong about a great many things from December 2019 to present.
Yes Fauci made some mistakes. Considering this was mostly an unknown pandemic "Unprecedented" as it was/is called that's actually not too surprising.
Being able to recognize right from wrong, truth from lies is half the objective as far as I'm concerned.
WHY was I told something that I now know isn't truth is an important part of when I find I was not told the truth.
Everyone one makes mistakes, (the first day I don't make a mistake I figure is the first day I am dead)
WHAT I cant stand is when I'm probably told something untrue for the benefit of another.
Like if someone was to tell me a highly contagious deadly illness was just going to disappear just to benefit that person in being reelected.
....................................
The sad part for MAGA MAGA was trump blew it. IF Trump would have "embraced" the pandemic from day one and made it HIS fight all out "at any cost" trump would still be president.
He knew what the pandemic was going to do to the economy and so he was wanting to really just not really acknowledge the pandemic's scope till after the election.
trump really wasn't/isn't too good at planning anything in detail.
Yes Fauci made some mistakes. Considering this was mostly an unknown pandemic "Unprecedented" as it was/is called that's actually not too surprising.
It’s funny how quick the people who are to waive away dr. Fauci’s mistakes despite his being one of the foremost public health experts in the world will turn around and blame trump, a politician, for not having perfect foresight into an unprecedented situation.
As you can see I'm not one of them.
trump... "he knew what the pandemic was going to do to the economy and so he was wanting to really just not really acknowledge the pandemic's scope till after the election."
trump had foresight, it scared the shit out of him.
The sad part was trump blew it. IF Trump would have "embraced" the pandemic from day one and made it HIS fight all out "at any cost" trump would still be president.
trump trumped trump
Donald Trump was wrong just about every time he mentioned the virus, only 5 people had it, only 15 people had it and they will be home before... the virus will disappear by Easter, or Summer or...the election.
People tend to wrong very often, or God forbid, change their opinions when challenged with the fats from every ICU in the USA about PPE like masks...
Trump's travel ban on China raised concerns because the World Health Organization had not announced an emergency and would not declare a pandemic until six weeks after the travel ban was put in place.
Joe Biden wouldn't have acted as quickly. And Joe Biden won't lift restrictions without clearance from the World Health Organization.
It's really sad when a group of people see what they want to see in a story or a statement and ignore the obvious.
US citizens were free to return to the US unimpeded for many months. Direct flights brought back 40,000 US citizens to LA & NYC in the first month.
By April almost 430,000 people had arrived in the US from China.
The ban was incomplete and full of holes.
Americans can still travel to and from China.
The Chinese cannot come here. It doesn't seem to have mattered.
Balderdash. What a cheap partisan thing to surmise.
You may as well say George Washington, or Abe Lincoln.
“What a cheap partisan thing to surmise”
lol, so flipping ironic.
The left is never right. These were distributed in March, 2020.
What DATE, NermL?
The announcement of the "Slow the Spread" campaign and distribution of the CDC guidelines on a post card was issued on March 16, 2020. Mailing the post cards to every address began on March 26, 2020.
At the end of March, 2020, Trump's handling of the coronavirus crisis received 60 pct approval, according to Gallup.
The World Health Organization declared a pandemic on March 11, 2020. That's why yesterday marked the one year anniversary of the pandemic.
What happened in January and February, 2020, wasn't a pandemic or a crisis.
There were deaths, but not very many. I think Trump should have done a number of things differently, but when was the last time we freaked out, as a nation, over a few deaths? Several politicians, at that time, were urging people to go about their normal daily lives.
He did - at the end of January. It wasn't a total ban, of course, but he was already being criticized for what little he did. He also got grief later on, when he restricted travel from Europe. There's no pleasing all people.
I give President Biden credit for tackling this his first day in office and every day.
I give no credit whatsoever to the former occupant of the White House because he didn't do shit regarding the pandemic to help anyone. Just made sure he and his wealthy donors were able to benefit from the impending crisis/pandemic.
In what way?
Yeah, Biden started right in as if nothing at all had been done under the previous administration, and he deserved all credit for any vaccinations. That was kind of distasteful posturing.
The truth is almost all of the really important moves to acquire vaccine were made long before he took office.
Urging people to certain behaviors they are already doing - like wearing masks or keeping to small groups - is like telling people to lock their doors long after they have buttoned up the house and gone to bed. Barring some radical new variation in the virus that ignores vaccines, the need for any of that will be disappearing in the months to come, thanks in no part to anything Biden has done.
Nothing at all had been done under the previous administration.
So you disagree with both Dr. Fauci and the New York Times, then?
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Give credit where credit is due, to the scientists and lab technicians behind each and every vaccine. They are today's greatest generation; politicians of any stripe rarely if ever belong on the victory platform.
Context Joe, context is important. Please don’t start acting like your fuck stain predecessor and start exaggerating for no reason, or just start making shit up.