08.30.23
Democratic Custodial Services – NEW YORK MAGAZINE
- Doing the dutiful cleanup as soon as the White House delivers its diversion.
It finally occurred to the administration that President Biden came off looking horrendous after he was asked about the Hawaii wildfire death toll and managed only a “no comment” response. Nearly two weeks after that foible, the White House issued an excuse: the President, goes the claim, never actually heard the question. Uh-huh, suuurrrrrrre he did not.
What is more pathetic than that dismissive explanation is the amount of media players who are unquestionably going along with this lame spin job from the administration. Showing absolute disregard for his reputation as a valid voice in the media, Jonathan Chait rises up and makes the defensive declaration on behalf of the administration, with no shame present to be found.
Absolutely not what the WH is saying. Their position is that Biden heard something shouted at him but couldn't make out the question, and said "no comment." https://t.co/syELRP23Fn
— Jonathan Chait (@jonathanchait) August 28, 2023
Race to the Bottom – MSNBC
- It becomes so inconvenient to the narrative when a Republican does the very thing they are accused of not doing!
It has been a rather disgusting display from many in the media regarding the shooting this weekend in Jacksonville; the desire to rush in and blame the murders on Ron DeSantis and his school policies has been as debased as it gets. To see how much the fix is in that the governor is to be blamed no matter what, note how CNN accused DeSantis within hours of not going to the city, while at the same time defending Biden for going on vacation and taking two weeks to make it the deadly disaster in Hawaii.
Then after being scorched for allegedly not going, DeSantis was criticized when he arrived in Jacksonville, and the pathetic double standard stretched even thinner regarding his comments. DeSantis was attacked for not condemning the shooter and the attached racism, but after it was shown that he had been blatantly critical of the man who murdered three people, his comments were said to be improper.
Andrea Mitchell welcomed Trymaine Lee to discuss the DeSantis comments, and in regard to the governor referring to the killer as “a scumbag,” Mr. Lee concluded that this was not a proper condemnation. Seriously. After he was accused of not condemning the killer now the narrative becomes that he did not condemn him in an appropriate manner.
You know, for so many folks, the issue with that language is it places the onus on one individual and the actions of one individual as opposed to a nationwide sickness of White supremacy in the country and the violence it fuels. As so long as he is a scumbag or as long as there's a mental health issue you don't have to engage with the idea that there are, you know, co-conspirators online, co-conspirators who create legislation that divide and other people.
The only conclusion to be drawn from this is that no matter what he says and does, these figures need to have the narrative in place to call DeSantis a racist and to blame these murders on him.
Now they are mad at DeSantis for calling the racist who killed black folks in #Jacksonville a "scumbag."
— Jeff Charles, An Awful Pundit� (@jeffcharlesjr) August 30, 2023
"It places the onus on one individual and the actions of one individual as opposed to a nationwide sickness of white supremacy in the country and the violence it fuels."… pic.twitter.com/RFT42YSEQ6
Gilded Reframe – THE DAILY BEAST
At her Libs Of TikTok account, Chaya Raichik detailed how a California school was holding a social function and was intentionally excluding white students from attending.
A California elementary school reportedly held a race segregated “playdate social” for all students except the white kids.
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) August 28, 2023
A parent blasted the school on social media, “we’ll look back and cringe so hard that we tried to beat racism by segregating kids of color from white kids” pic.twitter.com/LhBMCtwSEq
Facing this potential news story of blatant discrimination taking place at a public school, The Daily Beast arrived and did the only appropriate thing – it blamed Raichik for a negative response.
It turns out that the school received a voicemail where a caller phoned in a bomb threat, and this became a dose of convenience for the outlet. Now it did not have to cover the particulars of the inconvenient news item and instead could level accusations that Libs Of TikTok was responsible for inciting violence...somehow.
The bomb threat, which was emailed to the principal Chabot Elementary School in Oakland, came a day after notorious right-wing Twitter account Libs Of TikTok tweeted about the school holding a playdate for children of color. https://t.co/uzDQltEtY7
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) August 29, 2023
DNC PR Firm – POLITICO
- If the Biden campaign ever ends up flagging in the polls, they can call on Heidi Przybyla to come to the rescue.
The sad news came out that the unintentional national figure Joe The Plumber recently passed away following a bout with cancer. CNN’s Dana Bash had a panel discussing the news and the details surrounding the Ohio resident and his impromptu interlude with then-candidate Barack Obama that launched him into the national consciousness, and the discussion turned to the current conditions of Joe Biden’s emerging campaign. Guest and political analyst Nia Malika-Henderson made the obtuse comment that Biden faced the challenge of battling against the “white identity politics” that Joe The Plumber represented. Try wrapping your mind around this; white identity politics is a factor...with Joe Biden.
Then they turned to Politico pundit Heidi Przybyla, and she went on a tangent on how to help out Biden in the upcoming presidential race.
What needs to happen now from Biden's perspective is he needs a "Joe the Plumber" because Joe confronted Barack Obama about taxes there. But what's happened since then is that when Trump got in, one of his first policies was to cut taxes in a way that primarily benefited corporate stock buybacks.
Whereas Joe Biden's done this policy of like hard hat proposals like infrastructure. And yet, somehow the Democratic Party really struggles with this segment of the population that really believes that they're aggrieved and that the economic policies of the Democratic Party has hurt them for the worse, when in fact, you have this huge accomplishment, for instance, with infrastructure.
We here at RFTH have tried to think back to the last time we saw a journalist on CNN or from Politico digging deep to come up with positive solutions for a Republican candidate who needed particular help with their campaign or public image regarding policy. We, for the record, have come up empty.
During CNN's segment on Joe the Plumber's passing, Nia-Malika Henderson says "this was kind of the emergence" of "the sort of grievance politics, the white identity politics." Heidi Przybyla laments Dems are struggling despite "this huge accomplishment" in the infrastructure bill pic.twitter.com/S6lT6ruczR
— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) August 29, 2023
Reporting on the Mirror – CNN
Following the forced departure of CEO Chris Licht in June, CNN has been helmed by a committee until a new boss could be found to take over the foundering network. After the search, it is now announced that they have landed a name, as Mark Thompson is set to take over the reins of CNN International.
Thompson’s resume has him arriving after serving as CEO at The New York Times and previously in that role at the BBC. Discovery-Warner boss David Zaslav had this to say about his new hire:
There isn’t a more experienced, respected or capable executive in the news business today than Mark, and we are thrilled to have him join our team and lead CNN Worldwide into the future. Mark is a true innovator who has transformed for the digital age two of the world’s most respected news organizations. His strategic vision, track record in transformational leadership and sheer passion for news make him a formidable force for CNN and journalism at this pivotal time.
Mark Thompson better not have any funny ideas and attempt to move CNN back towards the center. For if he does, let another mutiny begin! https://t.co/6VXfj8OBCo
— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) August 30, 2023
Body Checking the Fact Checkers – SNOPES
At least this time they have it categorized as a joke. Snopes, while avoiding any serious investigations into what Joe Biden or the Democrats might be saying, saw an item floating around social media it just had to address.
Breathe easy gang, the claim is not at all accurate that Bud Light has suffered billions of dollars of losses after hiring Whoopie Goldberg as its new brand ambassador.
How preposterous is this "breaking news"? Let us count the ways. https://t.co/P3i15hLZXG
— snopes.com (@snopes) August 30, 2023
