This is a WONDERFUL article on President Biden's accomplishments. Gift article. No pay wall.

[riversedge]

This is a WONDERFUL article on President Biden’s accomplishments.

Gift article. No pay wall.

Biden has succeeded all along. The media can’t ignore it.

Link to tweet

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Biden has succeeded all along. The media can’t ignore it.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/10/27/biden-performance-media-israel-gaza-war/?pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJyZWFzb24iOiJnaWZ0IiwibmJmIjoxNjk4NzI0ODAwLCJpc3MiOiJzdWJzY3JpcHRpb25zIiwiZXhwIjoxNzAwMTEwNzk5LCJpYXQiOjE2OTg3MjQ4MDAsImp0aSI6IjgxOWFiN2IyLTA2NWYtNGQ1NS04YTRiLTBiM2FmYTMyMmVjNiIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lndhc2hpbmd0b25wb3N0LmNvbS9vcGluaW9ucy8yMDIzLzEwLzI3L2JpZGVuLXBlcmZvcm1hbmNlLW1lZGlhLWlzcmFlbC1nYXphLXdhci8ifQ.9_IuT2cWuonDETnxU5IND_yGhDh6vKLMaADjiZMO72c
By Jennifer Rubin
Columnist|
October 27, 2023 at 9:00 a.m. EDT
President Biden addresses the nation in the Oval Office of the White House on Oct. 19. (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post)
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This week, I’ll look at evolving coverage of President Biden, pick the pol of the week and share something off the (political) beaten path.
What caught my eye

Until recently, the gulf between President Biden’s performance in office and the coverage of his presidency was as vast as it has been in any modern presidency. Biden has steered the country out of a recession and pandemic, gotten through a slew of critical legislation (some bipartisan), avoided a default on the debt, set the stage for about 14 million new jobs and overseen a resurgence of manufacturing. Internationally, he has restored the United States’ image and solidified and expanded NATO in defense of Ukraine. Nevertheless, mainstream media coverage has been incessantly negative, dwelling on fears of recession, pointing to failure to “unite the country” (as if unity were possible in the MAGA era), obsessing over premature polling of dubious value and regurgitating MAGA talking points about his age.

Jon Allsop at the Columbia Journalism Review captured the cycle of negativity that has distorted coverage of Biden. “If Republicans are pushing a But her emails! media strategy in an attempt to tar Biden, the primary motivation, as I see it, is to foster cynicism; the aim is not a false equivalence that equally apportions credit, but one that conveys a sense that everyone in politics is just as old, just as corrupt, just as bad as each other, and that consequently, integrity doesn’t really matter and anything goes,” he wrote. “Journalists who indulge this effort can convince themselves that they’re only asking questions, or covering what voters think or what politicians are saying.” He added, “It’s the logical endpoint of a media ecosystem that approaches every story through the prism of elections — an approach that has always been cynical itself.” And worse, it legitimizes unacceptable Republican behavior and distorts the threat MAGA forces pose to democracy.

Then came the horrific pogrom in Israel in which Hamas murdered at least 1,400 men, women and children and kidnapped about 220. Biden stepped into the role of consoler-in-chief for American and Israeli Jews, distinguished between the Palestinian people and Hamas terrorists, negotiated privately with Israel to allow humanitarian aid to get through to Gaza and, in an impressive Oval Office address, explained why supporting Israel and Ukraine against barbarism is essential to our own security.

Now, the media declares Biden has reached an “inflection point.” Politico, in keeping with its habit of turning every event into a content-neutral political horserace, declared that Biden’s allies are “leery of appearing to politicize the Middle East crisis” but “see the opportunity presented by an unexpected crisis to feature Biden’s strengths.” Actually, the voices quoted simply reaffirm their belief he is doing an impressive job, defying critics’ characterization of him. (Sen. Christopher A. Coons, a Democrat from Delaware, said, “This is a real leader, and I think the American people are not ready to retreat from the world.”) Politico, not Biden allies, is framing this in political terms............................

[Docreed2003]

1. K&R

[Lonestarblue]

2. The media wants a horse race, so they will give Biden no credit,

Media like the Times and the Post do not seem to realize that a trump win in 2024 means that he will go after anyone who criticizes him. Maybe they think they’re protected, but who protects journalists in a dictatorship? No one.

[shrike3]

3. Bingo. I just shake my head.

What is going to happen to media during Trump 2.0? I know. You know. I'm starting to think they won't figure it out until it's all upon them.