When she is not hosting her own show on MSNBC, Stephanie Ruhle doubles as the network's senior business correspondent and it was in that role that she lamented to MTD Daily host Chuck Todd that the Biden Administration is not telling their supposedly "great economic story."
On Wednesday it was reported that inflation has reached a 31 year high, which led Todd to declare: "So, bottom line is, this is something that it, this has got to just work itself out, and, you know, the Democrats are the ones in charge so they're going to pay the price of this sort of short term economic frustration."
Ruhle agreed with the political logic of Todd's claim, but added "it's unfortunate" because "the Democrats don't do a great job of telling their economic story."
She then tried to hype up Biden's alleged accomplishments: "Yes, this inflation number is not a good one. But they've got a great economic story to tell, right? Five million jobs created, 200 million people vaccinated. Those vaccine numbers tie directly to the economy. You couldn't open the economy without getting America healthy again."
Of course jobs increased after months of shutdowns and of course vaccinations increased once they became available. That would have been true regardless of who was in the White House. What would not have been true regardless is the amount of spending that has been authorized this year. That is solely on the Democrats and Ruhle's evaluation of Biden's economic performance seems to change based on whether it could be spun as good news or bad news.
Ruhle wrapped up her praise by declaring that "We are seeing economic recovery. What the Biden administration isn't doing is selling that, and they can." Maybe Democrats do not need to tout their own record, they can just have Ruhle do it for them, as she has done repeatedly this week.
This segment was sponsored by Humana.
Here is a transcript for the November 10 show:
MSNBC
MTP Daily
1:54 PM ET
CHUCK TODD: So, bottom line is, this is something that it, this has got to just work itself out, and, you know, the Democrats are the ones in charge so they're going to pay the price of this sort of short term economic frustration.
STEPHANIE RUHLE: And it's unfortunate, but the Democrats don't do a great job of telling their economic story. Yes, this inflation number is not a good one. But they've got a great economic story to tell, right? Five million jobs created, 200 million people vaccinated. Those vaccine numbers tie directly to the economy. You couldn't open the economy without getting America healthy again. We are seeing economic recovery. What the Biden administration isn't doing is selling that, and they can.