In an audacious display of courage, the Biden campaign submitted their candidate to questions from the array of flatterers, sycophants, and patsies they call the Biden press corps. For his entire term, President Trump has faced a heckling squad of abusive, screaming Acostas, and now everyone can settle in for the calming foot massages and thoughtfully perfumed air of the "objective press" at work in Wilmington, Delaware.
Naturally, Biden asked a press servant to read names off a list, and they started with Edward-Isaac Dovere of The Atlantic, the exquisitely partisan source of today's anonymously-sourced anti-Trump hit piece that claims Trump called American war dead a pile of "losers" and "suckers."
Inquired Dovere: "Thank you, sir! This morning in reference to that article in The Atlantic and a call convened by your campaign, Khizr Khan said the comments demonstrated that President Trump's life is a testament to selfishness, and his soul is that of a coward. You've talked about this as a different view of how you see the job as president. But when you hear these remarks -- suckers, losers, recoiling from amputees -- what does it tell you about the president's soul and the life he leads?"
What kind of question is this?!?!? pic.twitter.com/JJ02CuoGV2
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) September 4, 2020
Trump adviser Jason Miller joked on Twitter "I think Joe Biden found his new press secretary." Oh, get in line!
Dovere followed up with another beachball about Q-Anon kooks: "On a somewhat related topic, what would you say to the supporters of the Q-Anon, the people that believe in that conspiracy, what they think is true about America, that there's sex trafficking and a conspiracy against President Trump and what would you say to President Trump for not rejecting that conspiracy and the people that believe in it?"
CNN's MJ Lee was no one's idea of Jim Acosta (at least Acosta in front of Trump): "Last night, President Trump mocked you for wearing a mask and said this is a sign that you must have some quote ‘big issues.’ He says this, even though he knows that according to scientists and public health officials, wearing masks saves lives. I wonder if you worry that this kind of language that comes from the president of the United States could deter some Americans who are tuning in to him to not wear masks."
CNN correspondent MJ Lee, doing her part for The Party today pic.twitter.com/yvoDJhGGcK
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) September 4, 2020
CNN quickly and happily put on its chyron that Biden called Trump "idiotic" for mocking masks. Lee did ask Biden if he's been tested for coronavirus. He said yes, only once. Then she cued Biden up to denounce Bill Barr for thinking China is a threat.
Next up? CBS reporter Ed "No Beef" O'Keefe cued up another Trump-bashing answer. "Let me ask you about another thing the president said last night. He once again suggested to his supporters that they should consider voting twice if they're in one of those states that can allow you to request an absentee ballot. Fill that out and then go try voting again in person. State officials have said it's a felony in some cases. Just curious what you make of it."
Who needs an actual question mark? It's just "have at it, Joe."
But that wasn't as awful as the follow-up: "You said today is the angriest you've been as a presidential candidate. But you said you're trying to restrain yourself. There's a lot of people out there that are supporting you or inclined to not vote for the president who would say why isn't Joe Biden angrier about all of this?"
Ugh. But CBS News happily tweeted out the answer, as if they were making news, instead of making nice.
"Presidents of the United States should be presidential," Joe Biden tells @edokeefe, explaining why he doesn't show more anger on campaign trail. He says he doesn't want to get "down in the gutter" like Trump: "The job of a president is to set an example" https://t.co/Nj065CIsxp pic.twitter.com/nkFNoPEkcv
— CBS News (@CBSNews) September 4, 2020
Remember the old days, when Dan Rather attacked the idea of reporters playing "Kiss ass, move with the mass"?
ABC's Mary Bruce then followed up on No-Beef, cueing up Biden again to denounce Trump for denouncing mail-in voting -- just like the Russians, she said. How helpful. Send her a Thank You note.
An angry rebuttal came on Fox News right after the presser from their politics editor Chris Stirewalt:
Video: Fox's @ChrisStirewalt absolutely SCORCHES the media for their questions at the Biden campaign event, calling it "frustrating to see" such an "embarrassing display" for journalism. He specifically calls out the questions from CBS's Ed O'Keefe as particularly maddening. pic.twitter.com/gTjGabQNW3
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) September 4, 2020
CHRIS STIREWALT: Maybe you'll indulge me in a little bit of professional outrage. So seldom do reporters get to ask Joe Biden questions. So seldom do -- this is the second time really in quite a while. The reporters have had a chance to ask Joe Biden questions. And that was shamefully embarrassing.
I mean, there were two questions in there, maybe that could have been considered adversarial. But tThat was as bad as when Trump calls on some niche pro-Trump publication to ask him how magnificent his magnificence is. That was sustained, from reporter after reporter, asking for Joe Biden for more dumping on Donald Trump. The reporter starts out, dumps on Donald Trump, go ahead and dump on him now.
My favorite question was… I know you're angry about the things that the president said about those killed in war. Why aren't you showing more of your anger, aren't you afraid that your supporters won't think you're angry enough?
And I'm just sitting here listening here thinking, don't you want to know about his plans, don't you want to know about the controversy surrounding his plans? Don’t you want to know anything? The closest we got to adversarial question is when they were asking whether he got his coronavirus test up his nose, or whatever. It was just a real missed opportunity. It was frustrating to see.
Hat tip to Curtis Houck for making all these shocking video tweets.
Feel free to address these so-called journalists who might claim they hold people accountable on Twitter:
@IsaacDovere
@MJ_Lee
@Edokeefe
@MaryKBruce