With the emergence of the new Omicron Covid variant out of South Africa that’s reportedly more transmissible than Delta, the liberal media’s initial reaction on Sunday was to fret for the future – not in terms of how it could hurt people, but how it could hurt President Biden’s agenda. ABC’s Good Morning America worried about the midterm elections and NBC’s Sunday Today wanted Biden to “use the bully pulpit” against Republicans.
ABC congressional correspondent Rachel Scott was filling in as co-anchor of GMA when she asked deputy political director Averi Harper about how the new variant could be a wet blanket for Biden. “Nearly 150 days ago the President said we were closer to declaring independence from the virus. Now we see this new Covid variant. How much of a challenge does this pose for the President,” she wondered.
“[W]e saw the markets took a nosedive on Friday all because of the omicron variant. So, I would say this poses a significant challenge to the Biden administration, particularly on the economic front,” warned Harper.
Her biggest concern was reserved for how Omicron could damage Biden’s and Democrats’ chances in the midterms:
Last week, we heard the President urge Americans to have confidence in the progress of the economy has made. Well, the omicron variant could pose a significant threat to that progress. And heading into an election year for the Biden administration, which is critical, it could spell trouble.
And what economic “progress” was she talking about? Inflation is soaring to a 30-year-high. Talk about living in a bubble or echo chamber.
Over on NBC, host Willie Geist called on political director and Meet The Press moderator Chuck Todd to discuss how the new variant is “a reminder that Covid is with us and with this President as he tries to get other things done.”
After admitting that Biden’s July claim that we were declaring “independence from the virus” was “obviously prematurely,” Todd was itching for Biden to strike back against Republicans as if their policies were responsible for the variant’s genesis in South Africa:
Does he take this opportunity to sort of push back at all of the Republicans particularly in various states, that have been anti-vaccine mandate, anti-mandates in general, hesitant on the vaccines? Because if we do find out that certainly vaccinated individuals are in a much better shape with this new variant than unvaccinated individuals, does the President use this as an opportunity to basically use the bully pulpit, push back at all this vaccine misinformation that's out there and grab a hold of this.
And as with ABC, Todd’s concern was how this could harm Biden’s ability to push his agenda. “Because, Willie, the social spending bill, all of his other political problems, none of them can be solved until Covid is behind us,” he whined.
With both these messages coming from each network’s political coverage leadership, it shows how in sync the liberal media are in pulling in the same direction.
This misplaced priority of the health of President Biden’s agenda over the health of people was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from WeatherTech on ABC and Progressive on NBC. Their contact information is linked so you can tell them about the biased news they fund.
The transcripts are below, click "expand" to read:
ABC’s Good Morning America
November 28, 2021
8:10:51 a.m. Eastern(…)
RACHEL SCOTT: For all the others, let's bring in our deputy political director Averi Harper. Averi, I want to start with the pandemic. Nearly 150 days ago the President said we were closer to declaring independence from the virus. Now we see this new Covid variant. How much of a challenge does this pose for the President?
AVERI HARPER: We mentioned those travel restrictions earlier. We know that New York's governor has declared a state of emergency and we saw the markets took a nosedive on Friday all because of the omicron variant. So, I would say this poses a significant challenge to the Biden administration, particularly on the economic front.
Last week, we heard the President urge Americans to have confidence in the progress of the economy has made. Well, the omicron variant could pose a significant threat to that progress. And heading into an election year for the Biden administration, which is critical, it could spell trouble.
(…)
NBC’s Sunday Today
November 28, 2021
8:07:12 a.m. EasternWILLIE GEIST: Chuck, good morning. So, the President took a few days off there in Nantucket. He comes back to this big legislative fight over the social spending package that passed through the House, and now that big mountain to climb in the Senate. And this new variant – we should underline what the doctors and the scientists are saying – we don’t know much about it yet. No documented cases in the United States. Maybe we get lucky and we hope that it passes. But it's a reminder that Covid is with us and with this President as he tries to get other things done.
CHUCK TODD: And Willie, it was already on the rise, right. We’ve been watching a slow and steady rise of Covid cases particularly in the northeast and the upper Midwest as winter is getting ready to set in and all of that.
Look, I think what I'm going to be curious to watch here with the President is, I think, one of the things about his Covid response over the last couple of months is one could argue he – HE has not been the face of the Covid response. Not in some time. Not really since we declared our – back in July, when he declared our independence from the virus, obviously prematurely.
Does he take this opportunity to sort of push back at all of the Republicans particularly in various states, that have been anti-vaccine mandate, anti-mandates in general, hesitant on the vaccines. Because if we do find out that certainly vaccinated individuals are in a much better shape with this new variant than unvaccinated individuals, does the President use this as an opportunity to basically use the bully pulpit, push back at all this vaccine misinformation that's out there and grab a hold of this.
Because, Willie, the social spending bill, all of his other political problems, none of them can be solved until Covid is behind us. And I think this is a reminder that he needs to be more front and center on the Covid response than he has been so far.
GEIST: We'll see if he changes his posture.
