By Dave Andrusko
For starters, that there’s been a ferocious backlash from the Biden campaign against a Wall Street Journal article headlined “Behind Closed Doors, Biden Shows Signs of Slipping” that recounted the president’s oft-time shaky performance in private meetings.
Siobhan Hughes, one of the two authors, along with Annie Linskey, defended their reporting when she appeared on “CNN News Central.” She said
“Democrats feel the piece is slanted, and I would encourage folks to get away from the politics of this. And before we jump to a conclusion about motivation or slant, read the story and look at what the facts say and you decide for yourself.”
But the story resonated because it affirms what the public sees with their own eyes in many of President Biden’s public appearances. The lead reads
When President Biden met with congressional leaders in the West Wing in January to negotiate a Ukraine funding deal, he spoke so softly at times that some participants struggled to hear him, according to five people familiar with the meeting. He read from notes to make obvious points, paused for extended periods and sometimes closed his eyes for so long that some in the room wondered whether he had tuned out.
What else?
The New York Times’s David Leonhardt argues the culprit is voter amnesia—they don’t appreciate pro-abortion President Biden many accomplishment. “It’s a dangerous reprise of the (greater) confidence that Democrats felt about Hillary Clinton back in 2016,” Leonhardt wrote. “And look how that turned out.”
Frank Bruni, also of the New York Times, can’t fathom how people could vote for pro-life Trump. Writing about those voters who are not “attuned,” Bruni writes bitterly.
These shallowly and sporadically engaged voters might just gasp at the prices of groceries and houses, dismiss the verbal crossfire between Biden and Trump as a more intense version of familiar political warfare and choose Trump.
In addition to the battleground states—competitive states that are up for grabs and will likely decide the election—there is the all-important swing voters. Zeeshan Aleem of MSNBC writes, “The surprising results of a focus group of swing voters ought to keep Biden humble.”
Aleem is merciless in his condemnation of Mr. Trump and is, like Bruni, politely bashing the “less politically engaged” voter:
To win the affection of those voters, Biden cannot rely on fear of Trump’s autocratic aspirations. He must instead demonstrate how he’ll make the country a better place to live.
Well… of course. No matter how many times Trump is clobbered by the media, to win Biden has to show the “less politically engaged” voter that he can make the United States a “better place to live.”
Have a great weekend!