Say, didn't the New York Times focus most of its energy on explaining away Joe Biden's stumbles as "cheap fakes" ... until a week ago? As late as June 21, just six days before the presidential debate undeniably exposed Biden's cognitive decline, the Paper of Record told readers not to believe their own lyin' eyes when it came to Biden's stumbles. Those videos were "misleading ... edited or lacking context," the Gray Lady assured them:
President Biden has many adversaries in this year’s election. There are his Republican opponent, former President Donald J. Trump, and the independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
And then there is the distorted, online version of himself, a product of often misleading videos that play into and reinforce voters’ longstanding concerns about his age and abilities.
In the last two weeks, conservative news outlets, the Republican National Committee and the Trump team have circulated videos of Mr. Biden that lacked important context and twisted mundane moments to paint him in an unflattering light.
A fortnight later, and suddenly those stumbles don't need much context after all. Suddenly the gaffes are res ipsa loquitur:
President Biden sought to steady his re-election campaign by talking with two Black radio hosts for interviews broadcast on Thursday, but he spoke haltingly at points during one interview and struggled to find the right phrase in the other, saying that he was proud to have been “the first Black woman to serve with a Black president.”
He also stumbled over his words during a four-minute Fourth of July speech to military families at the White House, beginning a story about former President Donald J. Trump, calling him “one of our colleagues, the former president” and then adding, “probably shouldn’t say, at any rate” before abruptly ending the story and moving on.
Mr. Biden made the mistake on WURD radio, based in Philadelphia, as he tried to deliver a line that he has repeated before about having pride in serving as vice president for President Barack Obama. Earlier in the interview, he boasted about appointing the first Black woman to the Supreme Court and picking the first Black woman to be vice president.
The president also made a mistake earlier in the interview when he asserted that he had been the first president elected statewide in Delaware. He appeared to mean that he was the first Catholic in the state to be elected statewide, going on to speak admiringly of John F. Kennedy, a Catholic.
Why the sudden change in standards? The NYT could have just waited for conservatives to clip and pass these along and then covered them as a "Republicans Pounce®!" story. Or they could have gone full apologist by claiming that the WURD quote wasn't really a gaffe at all. In fact, there's an argument to be made here about contexr, if the NYT was interested in making it:
@EuropeInvasionn At Radio station - #Biden says that he is "proud" to be "the first black woman to serve with a black president." pic.twitter.com/yuPakBWMUF
— Sanjiv K Pundir (@k_pundir) July 5, 2024
BIDEN: By the way, I'm proud to be his pres -- as I said, the first vice president, the first black woman, to serve with a black President, proud to [appoint] the first black woman to the Supreme Court. There's so much that we can do, because together we -- there's nothing -- look, this is the United States of America.
Well, okay, it's not going to be much of an argument, but here it is anyway. Biden sounded better than he did at the debate but he still can't complete his thoughts, and in some cases can't complete his sentences. It seems as though Biden was talking about himself being a VP to the first black President and then choosing a black woman to be his VP, but he muddled it up. As usual, because he's simply no longer capable of operating extemporaneously.
Nevertheless, on June 21, the NYT would have bent over backwards to explain that Biden simply got his argument in the wrong order, that of course everyone could understand what he meant, and only cruel MAGA radicals would claim that Biden claimed to be a black woman. Instead, that's their lead today.
The Washington Post also seems a bit less charitable than before the debate. Earlier last month, the Post ran not one but two "cheap fakes" stories to explain away Biden's aphasiac moments:
Today, however, Dan Balz reports that Biden now has to step up publicly, or else. And he also points out that the early efforts are going awry, although he oddly remains non-specific about the latter:
Amid calls for him to end his candidacy, President Biden faces twin challenges: He must publicly show that he has the physical stamina and mental sharpness that were visibly lacking in the Atlanta debate. He must also demonstrate to alarmed Democrats that he has a viable path to victory.
In the week since his disastrous debate performance, he has done neither. If anything, he has gone backward. ...
More events are on his schedule later this week, including the Stephanopoulos interview. But allies say one TV interview is a fraction of what he will have to do to show his ability to handle unscripted situations. Governors told Biden they want to see much more.
“They’ve got to take the chance,” said one governor who attended the meeting. “I’m adamant about this. Do the town hall and take the questions.”
Balz could have used this part of Biden's speech yesterday, actually:
Nothing better caputres the spirit of July 4th and America itself than the stirring oratory of President Joe Biden yesterday pic.twitter.com/vb60D0QCrq
— Jesse Singal (@jessesingal) July 5, 2024
THE PRESIDENT: Ho, ho, ho! Happy Independence Day!
Did the president confuse July 4th with Christmas?
At any rate, the media narrative seems to be building that Joe Biden is failing and must be replaced. Why? I'll have more on that shortly.
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