Jen Psaki says the quiet part out loud about Joe Biden
Category: News & Politics
Via: texan1211 • 3 years ago • 25 commentsBy: Joe Concha, Opinion Contributor (MSN)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Jen Psaki made a stunning admission in a patently flippant way last week during a conversation with CNN's David Axelrod. The White House press secretary openly admitted that President Biden's handlers often tell him they prefer he not speak to reporters outside of controlled settings.
© Getty Images Biden press secretary Jen Psaki speaks with reporters at the White House
"He takes questions nearly every day he's out [with] the press," Psaki told her former CNN and Obama administration colleague and friend Axelrod on "The Axe Files" podcast.
"A lot of times, we say, 'Don't take questions,'" she continued. "But he's going to do what he wants to do because he's the president of the United States."
Think about that for a moment, and ask yourself this: Isn't it amazing, almost disturbing, that the leader of the free world, a man who received more votes than any other candidate in U.S. history, is being told when he's allowed to speak to reporters outside of the desired controlled environment?
For giggles, picture former White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany saying it's "not something we recommend" regarding President Trump taking impromptu questions from reporters, which he did more often than any of his predecessors by a country mile. Then imagine the reaction of, say, Jim Acosta or any other journalist upon hearing it. Smelling salts and/or a defibrillator come to mind.
That is why, of course, the president only calls from a pre-determined list of reporters who rarely challenge him. Hostility toward the previous president has been replaced with hospitality toward the current one.
An extensive study by the non-partisan Pew Research Center found that two-thirds of media coverage of Biden has focused on his policy agenda, while nearly three-quarters of Trump coverage in his first 100 days focused on... Trump himself, specifically framed around his ability to lead. Biden's positive coverage is also double that of Trump, with Biden receiving just 32 percent negative coverage.
And when the president does take questions, his answers are often misleading or outright wrong, particularly during the one press conference he's done in more than 100 days.
For example, when Biden says, "we're sending back the vast majority of families who are coming" to the border, "vast majority" apparently is defined as just 13 percent of families being turned away, according to Axios.
Or when the president says, "The idea that I'm going to say, which I would never do, if an unaccompanied child ends up at the border, we're just going to let them starve to death and stay on the other side, no previous administrations did either, except Trump," that's a lie, as there's zero evidence to support such a reckless claim.
As it pertains to the border, this is by far the least transparent, least forthcoming administration we have seen from Bush 43 to Obama to Trump. Those administrations didn't impose media blackouts that would have never been accepted by the press during the previous administration. Unfortunately for those who advocate for transparency and holding the powerful accountable, the loudest voices during the Trump era are quietly accepting Biden's media blackout.
The Psaki-Axelrod interview also perfectly underscores the revolving door that drives the public crazy about the media.
Here we have Psaki, formerly of the Obama-Biden administration, talking to David Axelrod, formerly of the Obama-Biden administration.
Obama leaves office, so both Psaki and Axelrod go to work for CNN, as do multiple other former Obama officials.
When Biden takes the White House, Psaki departs CNN to go back in government as the president's press secretary. She proceeds to do an interview with Axelrod, which was really more of a chat between old friends. Psaki then reveals that the president is being told not to speak to the press, and Axelrod doesn't challenge her whatsoever. We saw the same revolving door between media and government under Trump as well and Obama before him. Such is "media" in 2021.
Here's why it matters: You can be sure that President Xi of China and President Putin of Russia and other adversaries, from Iran to North Korea, are taking note that the U.S. president has a team around him who seems to have no confidence in his ability to speak outside of scripted remarks and extensive note cards.
If there was ever a time when a president and his administration needed to be scrutinized, this is certainly it, given the trillions upon trillions of dollars in new spending being proposed on top of the trillions over budget we're already spending.
$1.9 trillion in "COVID relief" that entails less than 10 percent going toward anything pertaining to COVID.
$2.3 trillion toward "infrastructure" with just 6 percent addressing fixing our roads and bridges.
$1.8 trillion for an "American Families Plan" that invests in universal preschool.
All of this sounds nice until considering how $6 trillion in additional spending will be paid for.
As Margaret Thatcher once said, "The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money."
As for accountability, if you'd like to hear the president take questions on transforming the country in ways we've never witnessed with unprecedented government spending - all while not working with the opposition party to get it passed - be prepared to be very patient. Because as we've seen and heard from Biden's press secretary, that's something his team strongly recommends against.
Joe Concha is a media and politics columnist for The Hill.
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Isn't the US media just grand, shilling for Democrats?
1. Trump would have been a lot better off if he had listened to anyone who told him not to take questions every day. He made a fool out of himself daily to the extent that no other president has in the 245 year history of this country.
2. Biden is not "told" to not take questions, it is suggested by his aides who want to protect him from ambush by media opponents. It is SOP for White House communications staff in any administration.
Your little quips about Trump would have been on target IF the article was about Trump, but sadly for you, the article is NOT about him at all.
Seriously, with the literally hundreds of articles you have seeded here about Trump, can't you go there and vent your venom?
Biden is being controlled.
And probably justifiably so.
What would he do left on his own?
Everything Biden is doing now just months since the Trump Presidency ended is in comparison to Trump. Bashing Biden for his staff recommending he not take media questions but giving Trump a pass for the last four years of his handlers doing the same is obviously partisan bias bullshit. Not mentioning Trump on this topic would be obviously a partisan attempt to hide his record when compared to Biden.
You obviously need a little help in determining topics.
Biden is the topic, not Trump. There are plenty of Trump articles for you to vent on.
Move along or please at least try to stay on topic.
If Biden did the same things Trump did, made the same number of misleading statements etc., the media would be praising him to no end for his availability, his willingness to mix it up and excuse any misstatements as the natural result of his extraordinary accessibility and willingness to engage.
And just imagine if Trump acted like Biden. My god, the media and popular culture would be calling for his removal for his mental decline, mercilessly mocking his hiding and the embarrassing gaffes when he's left off the leash etc..etc.. Imagine the field day they would have had if Trump said vaccines dot cum...
There's nothing Biden could do or say (so long as he politically hews to the far left's line) that would cause sustained MSM media criticism. There job is to protect him and control the narrative around him.
I am not interested in moronic right wing conspiracy theories.
I know, moronic left wing conspiracy theories are more your speed.
This is the only conspiracy theory I believe about Trump
GOP Congressman Kinzinger Says Trump Is Running Around Looking For Women's Clothes To Wear So He Can Get Into The First Lifeboat
I have flagged this post as off topic.
Seems odd that an off topic post survives for more than 7 hours.
Must be dependent on who you know or which side of the aisle you are on.
This is just more spin designed to further the partisan tale that Biden is being led around by his nose. More partisan bullshit parsing words and spinning them to the extreme.
I would advise EVERY PotUS to not take questions unless the environment was controlled. The reason is that our news media is partisan too and they will frame questions to best enable spin fodder and will then attempt to spin the answers to their advantage. If we had a real news media (like in the days of Walter Cronkite) I would be less concerned.
One word is all it takes for the spinners to do their work. Pretty pathetic state of affairs.
No "spin" at all.
A nuh'uh rebuttal .
A well-deserved rebuttal.
There is no evidence that Biden isn't being controlled
There is no evidence that Leprechauns do not exist.
There is no evidence that Perrie is not a CIA operative.
There is no evidence that extraterrestrials are not living among us.
That should be enough for you to do the math.
But, but, trump said so...
That seems to be enough for a bunch of people.
Here's why it matters: You can be sure that President Xi of China and President Putin of Russia and other adversaries, from Iran to North Korea, are taking note that the U.S. president has a team around him who seems to have no confidence in his ability to speak outside of scripted remarks and extensive note cards.
They just consider Biden to be an addle-brained and empty headed puppet, with the radical left pulling the strings.
It’s “all hands on deck” to protect this president and he is grateful for the coddling.
Apparently not because she said he's not listening to them.
"But he's going to do what he wants to do because he's the president of the United States."
Answering a few softball questions lobbed to him by a compliant media hardly means he doesn't obey!
I might accept that if I hadn’t seen lots of other presidents and how much they talked to the media - especially the last one.