We’ve reached another unspinnable moment in the gaffe-prone administration of Joe Biden. Even the liberal network newscasts on Sunday and Monday hammered the President’s “shocking” call (and then withdrawal) for regime change in Russia, highlighting it as a “horrendous gaffe” with growing “backlash.”
ABC, CBS and NBC usually attempt to ignore the newest miscue or horrendous polling for Biden, but sometimes reality can’t be ignored. On Saturday during a speech in Poland, the Commander-in-Chief called for regime change against Vladimir Putin: “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power.”
On Monday’s Good Morning America, Terry Moran explained, “That declaration was immediately met with backlash. The administration insisting removing Putin from power is not their goal.” A few minutes later, reporter Mary Bruce described the administration as in “clean-up mode.”
She then lectured Biden as though he was a wayward school boy: “But words matter, especially the words of the president of the United States. There's concern whether intentional or not this comment could be seen as an escalation and could undermine diplomatic efforts to end the war.”
On Monday’s CBS Mornings, Tony Dokoupil conceded, “The White House is in damage control mode after President Biden goes off script about Vladimir Putin.” He portrayed the moment as baffling: “This morning people are asking what President Biden intended to express when he said that Russia's president, quote, ‘cannot remain in power.’”
Reporter Weijia Jiang highlighted strong GOP condemnation: “Idaho Senator James Risch, the ranking Republican member of the Senate Foreign Relations committee, called president Biden's comment a, quote, ‘horrendous gaffe.’”
Over on Sunday’s Today, Willie Geist referred to the comments as “an off-the-cuff remark about Vladimir Putin that shocked the diplomatic world.” On Monday’s Today, Peter Alexander reminded, “It was the latest in a string of unscripted comments by President Biden that put him at odds with his administration’s own messaging.”
Alexander added that the gaffe “led French President Emanuel Macron to distance himself from President Biden’s words. Saying, ‘If we want to do this, we must not escalate – neither with words, nor with actions.’”
Sometimes, even the liberal journalists at ABC, CBS and NBC can’t even fix the latest gaffe from the President. But not everyone has given up. CBS correspondent Mark Knoller absurdly tweeted this on Saturday:
Memo to CBS: The Regan White House didn’t have to come out and say, “Please disregard what the President said about the Berlin Wall. He wants to keep it up.”
Partial transcripts are below. Click “expand” to read more.
CBS Mornings
3/28/2022
7:10
TONY DOKOUPIL: The White House is in damage control mode after President Biden goes off script about Vladimir Putin.JOE BIDEN: For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power.
DOKOUPIL: We do move on this morning to the latest on the war in Ukraine. This morning people are asking what President Biden intended to express when he said that Russia's president, quote, “cannot remain in power.” The President ad-libbed that remark during a speech Saturday where he met with Ukrainian refugees. Mr. Biden and other officials say he did not mean to call for regime change in Moscow. His increasingly strong rhetoric, however, has the global community concerned about what may come next in the war in Ukraine. Weijia Jiang is following all of this and is at the white house this morning....
SENATOR JAMES RISCH: Please, Mr. President, stay on script.
WEIJIA JIANG: Idaho Senator James Risch, the ranking Republican member of the Senate Foreign Relations committee, called president Biden's comment a, quote, horrendous gaffe.
RISCH: Any time you say or even suggest, as he did, suggest that the policy was regime change, it's going to cause a huge problem.
JIANG: Critics worry it will empower Putin at a crucial time when peace talks are already fragile, and that the fiery rhetoric overshadowed the president's main mission of his visit to Europe to emphasize that western nations will remain united against Russia.
Good Morning America
3/28/20227 AM tease
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Fierce resistance. Ukraine reclaiming territory, forcing Russian troops back after President Biden's passionate speech in Poland.
JOE BIDEN: For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power.
STEPHANOPOULOS: The President now saying he was not calling for regime change in Russia.
...
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: We're getting the latest on the war in Ukraine entering its second month. Russia stalled, but still pummeling Ukraine cities. President Biden’s aides scrambling to walk back his impromptu declaration that Vladimir Putin cannot remain in power.
...
MORAN: All this comes on the heels of President Biden's major speech in Warsaw where he reiterated U.S. support for Ukraine, called Vladimir Putin a war criminal and then, perhaps caught up in the moment, he went a step farther.
JOE BIDEN: For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power.
MORAN: That declaration was immediately met with backlash. The administration insisting removing Putin from power is not their goal.
...
STEPHANOPOULOS: A weekend of scrambling at the white house.
MARY BRUCE: They are certainly in clean-up mode. It does seem this was an unscripted moment of pure frustration from the President. But words matter, especially the words of the president of the United States. There's concern whether intentional or not this comment could be seen as an escalation and could undermine diplomatic efforts to end the war. Biden is being criticized for this and key allies are being forces to respond. French President Macron said he wouldn't use these kind of word and that the President must not escalate the situation. Now, the White House was quick to walk this back, reiterating they don't have a policy of regime change.
Good Morning America
3/27/2022GIO BENITEZ: Walking it back. This morning, President Biden facing fallout over his fiery words about Vladimir Putin.
MARY ALICE PARKS: Experts worry that one line could have significantly damaged chances for a diplomatic end to this war.
Today
3/27/2022WILLIE GEIST: President Biden meanwhile is back at the White House this morning returning overnight from a trip to Europe that ended with a fiery speech in Warsaw, including an off-the-cuff remark about Vladimir Putin that shocked the diplomatic world.
Today
03/28/22
7:01 AM
(...)
HODA KOTB: Damage control, President Biden forced back to walk back at his own comment aimed at Vladimir Putin during a fiery speech.
JOE BIDEN: For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power.
(...)
7:08 AM
CRAIG MELVIN: Meanwhile, the White House is walking back an off-script remark from President Biden against Russia’s President Vladimir Putin during a weekend speech in Poland. That controversy overshadowing efforts to rally more support behind Ukraine.
(...)
PETER ALEXANDER: But for President Biden, who campaigned on the idea that the words of a president matter, it was nine words not in the script that critics worry could escalate an already tense standoff with Moscow.
(...)
ALEXANDER: The provocative comment was off-script and off-message.
(...)
ALEXANDER: Still, the off-the-cuff remark quickly ricocheted around the world, Putin’s spokesman immediately firing back. “That’s not for Biden to decide. The president of Russia is elected by Russians,” he said. The push-back among senior lawmakers here in the U.S. was equally swift. A top Republican slamming it as a “horrendous gaffe” in an otherwise good speech.
SEN. JAMES RISCH [R-ID]: My gosh, I wish they would keep him on script.
(...)
ALEXANDER: It was the latest in a string of unscripted comments by President Biden that put him at odds with his administration’s own messaging. Speaking to American troops, suggesting they could be headed to Ukraine, though the White House later reiterated the U.S. is not sending any troops there. And later, while visiting with Ukrainian refugees, offering this blunt assessment of Putin.
BIDEN: He’s a butcher.
ALEXANDER: That led French President Emanuel Macron to distance himself from President Biden’s words. Saying, “If we want to do this, we must not escalate – neither with words, nor with actions.”
