And once again the winner for “Taking Things Wildly Out of Context”
THE US MEDIA
Biden gave a press conference a few days ago. When asked about his sanctions toward Russia, he replied, “No one expected the sanctions to prevent anything from happening.”
Now, mind you, VP Harris had JUST SAID three days prior, “The purpose of the sanctions has always been and continues to be deterrence.”
I gave Biden a pass on his answer. I’m not unreasonable, people. I gave him a pass on that statement because I KNOW what he meant, namely, no one expected the sanctions to “kick in” right away and Putin would tuck tails and leave.
He said it the wrong way. The words came out wrong. Fair enough.
Now, that soundbite could have been plastered everywhere, but it wasn’t. The majority of news outlets let it slide. Looked the other way. Ignored it.
The media gave him a pass on this. I’ve seen the quote echoed throughout Twitterville and on a few sites, but nowhere a casual news-reader would see it. Okay, fair enough.
Compare that to Trump’s response when asked about Putin’s invasion of Ukraine:
Question: “In the last 24 hours we know Russia has said that they are recognizing two breakaway regions of Ukraine, and now this White House is stating that this is an “invasion.” That’s a strong word. What went wrong here? What has the current occupant of the Oval Office done that he could have done differently?”
Trump: “I went in yesterday and there was a television screen, and I said, “This is genius.” Putin declares a big portion of the Ukraine — of Ukraine. Putin declares it as independent. Oh, that’s wonderful.
So, Putin is now saying, “It’s independent,” a large section of Ukraine. I said, “How smart is that?” And he’s gonna go in and be a peacekeeper. That’s strongest peace force… We could use that on our southern border. That’s the strongest peace force I’ve ever seen. There were more army tanks than I’ve ever seen. They’re gonna keep peace all right. No, but think of it. Here’s a guy who’s very savvy… I know him very well. Very, very well.
By the way, this never would have happened with us. Had I been in office, not even thinkable. This would never have happened. But here’s a guy that says, you know, “I’m gonna declare a big portion of Ukraine independent,” he used the word “independent,” “and we’re gonna go out and we’re gonna go in and we’re gonna help keep peace.” You gotta say that’s pretty savvy. And you know what the response was from Biden? There was no response. They didn’t have one for that. No, it’s very sad. Very sad.”
That is the entire quote. Nothing left out.
It is almost EXACTLY what I said to the DH when I heard Putin’s justification for the Ukranian invasion. I think my words were, “OMG. That’s pretty smart. ‘Hey, we’re not technically “invading.” We’re just here to help those who need our help.”
And yet, the media has RUN with the “Trump is praising Putin over the invasion” story. I mean, these folks are working round-the-clock to spin the story.
Here’s the NYT doing a load.
CNN joining the mix, as if they didn’t have enough dirty laundry of their own to spin (looking at you, Cuomo and Zucker.)
WaPo putting the story in the cycle and pushing “heavy duty wash.”
And yet, one more load from CNN. They love doing wash.
Now, I knew as soon as I heard the soundbite this was not going to go well for Trump. Trump’s personality is Joy Behar. They are New Yorkers; there’s no denying it. Blunt, outspoken, and neither is concerned with mincing words.
That trait is both refreshing and infuriating, all at the same time. In the words of "‘The Office’s” Kelly Kapoor:
““Who says exactly what they’re thinking? What kind of a game is that?”
But back to Putin. Let’s compare and contrast, shall we?
Now, not even a year ago, Biden spoke with reporters in Brussells after a day of NATO meetings. In his response, Biden characterized Putin as “bright” and “tough” and a “worthy adversary.”
Putin compliments all, right?
Did the US media run with the “Biden Praises Putin” story?
<crickets>
I mean, journalists are allowed a personal bias. They are people, after all. But they used to put that aside and refuse to allow it to creep into their reporting.
Now, op/ed stories are all spun as “US news,” which is why I take pretty much most of what I hear and read with a grain of salt…
and some lime
and some tequila.