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Hey, He's Irish!

Brad Slager
Brad Slager  |  Mar 29, 2022
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.

"Riffed from the Headlines" is Townhall's daily VIP feature with coverage of the deeply flawed aspects of journalism in the nation. We'll look to bring accountability to the mishaps, malaprops, misdeeds, manipulations, malpractice, and manufactured narratives in mainstream media.

03.28.22

Anti-Social Media – CNN

  • So is this kind of commentary racist, or is that no longer a thing?

First off, a reminder that Leon Panetta has favoritism toward Joe Biden. He was, after all, one of the big names who signed on to the letter from the intelligence community that provided every excuse for the press to avoid reporting on the Hunter Biden laptop fiasco. 

Undeterred, CNN had Panetta come on and offer more defense of Biden in light of his weekend of perpetual disastrous comments. So how does Leon explain away Joe's tendency to speak in hand grenades? Panetta got to the heart of the matter.

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- "Joe Biden…is Irish."

News Avoidance Syndrome – VARIOUS OUTLETS

Anyone who witnessed the Biden tour in Europe had to approach migraine-inducing levels of head shakes, and then the press tried selling us on his historic speech. Biden was actually compared to Kennedy and his Brandenberg speech and Ronald Reagan's "Tear down this wall" message – and then the White House had to rush out and essentially disavow most of his major points. Whoops. 

Yesterday, a press conference was called to repair the messaging damage, and Biden managed to screw things up even more, and that was when he was found to have been given the questions and the answers from some members of the press ahead of time. His cheat sheet was photographed, and the fact that he still fumbled when fed the responses is all the more troubling. 

Legalized Press-titution – PUBLIC BROADCASTING SERVICE

  • Not only was Joe expecting spoon-fed questions, but the press was given the spoon.

It is a bad enough sign that the president needs to have his entire answer set given to him ahead of a press conference, but what can be said of the journalists who play along with the charade?

Look over that first question on Joe Biden's list, then watch as Lisa Desjardins of PBS – while paraphrasing – essentially delivers the very question, and Biden nearly answers her verbatim from the printed answers. This is a completely shameful display. 

DNC PR Firm – NBC NEWS

  • When confronted by evidence, the gaslighting is not working.

Andrea Mitchell provided a peek behind the curtain, unintentionally. She noted a comment made by recent network addition Yamiche Alcindor, who looked over recent dismal poll results for President Biden and noted some troubling data – troubling for the press. 

So you are surprised that Americans are able to discern that rising gas prices and inflation, which had been spiking for a full year, were not blamed on Putin's invasion, which only started one month ago? This show of surprise/befuddlement/disappointment is a sign that Alcindor fully expected the press narrative of blaming Putin to have been swallowed by the general public. 

News Avoidance Syndrome – CNN

  • Yes, that's a great point you made that we will now completely discard as we move on…

On "Reliable Sources," Brian Stelter was confronted with an uncomfortable set of facts regarding the press – and he could not be more disinterested in exploring a problem with news outlets not named Fox News.

S.E. Cupp was in the studio, and in response to the tabling of the story of Clarence Thomas' wife becoming enmeshed in the January 6 drama, she had the temerity of bringing up Hunter Biden as an equally valid story, which is not being covered. Faced with this reality, Brian turned to Jane Mayer of The New Yorker, and she played the part of the cooperative deflector. Mayor's daft contention was that Hunter is being investigated by the government, so his story does not need to be covered, but Ginni Thomas has not even been called in by the January 6 Committee, so she does need to be covered.

Watch at the end, as Cupp properly states that a government investigation should warrant journalism interest, and Stelter completely runs away from the subject as quickly as his girth will allow.

Glossary Over Things – ASSOCIATED PRESS

The media struggles with addressing the sucker-slap that Will Smith delivered at the Oscars, what with the fact that this involved minorities, celebrities and behavior that the press normally accuses as coming from the right, even without evidence.

In covering the story, the AP went with the calmest euphemism to describe Smith's attack on Chris Rock. 

Pre-Written Field Reports – CNN

  • Well, I think we all knew it had to be HIS fault…

Many in the press struggled when faced with explaining how cherished celebrities were seen behaving exactly like they love to accuse those on the right and in MAGA nation of behaving –...

Wait a second - THAT'S IT! This isn't Will Smith's fault at all!!

After getting mocked rightfully over this insipidness, Rangappa came back with an equally daft explanation.

Oh, the audience comprised of Hollywood players who have actively resented Trump are today somehow affected by the man who has not been in office for over a year. This would be where I ask what happened to the promise heard from members of the press like Rangappa that Joe Biden was going to usher in a new era of decency and heal this country of its Trump-borne ills?