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A Super-Sized Riffed from the Headlines for Taco Tuesday, with Extra Jill Biden

Brad Slager
Brad Slager  |  Jul 12, 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.

Following her quixotic comments about Hispanics being like breakfast tacos, there is a full serving of media-related menu items.

07.12.22

Anti-Social Media – NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF HISPANIC JOURNALISTS

  • Add them to the list of journos now pushing the Bidens "to go."

It has been revealing how, over the weekend, we suddenly saw a number of journalists and news outlets willing to come forward with negative stories about Joe Biden, highlighting his negative numbers and indicating how the party might be pushing him aside. 

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We might be able to add to the list the NAHJ, which came out with a strong rebuke of Dr. First Lady Jill's reductive fast-food references. 

Reporting on the Mirror – UNIVISION

  • When the normally sympathetic Spanish-language channels weigh in…

The internet has been expectedly unforgiving on Taco-gate, but the news division of Univision decided it was going to pile on, and the laughs translate to any language. 

DNC PR Firm – WASHINGTON POST

  • Just send out the "Leave Jill Alone" meme, and get it over with.

WaPo's White House Bureau Chief Ashley Parker was dutiful in delivering deflection for Dr. First Lady. She listed off the various departments in the administration that approved of her speech. Of course, this does not exonerate her but actually shows the level of ineptitude inside the White House. It is not hard to see how this speech was approved, given the history that we have with the communications team in the White House. 

News Avoidance Syndrome – VARIOUS OUTLETS

  • Maybe noticing the comment is racist…?

Let's briefly flash back to how often Melania Trump was scorched for years over everything from her accent to her decorating schemes at Christmas. She wore a jacket while boarding a flight with words printed on it that caused a news cycle to spin out of control for weeks.

Yet, Jill Biden can make a painfully cringe-worthy speech about "bo-gah-DUHS" and taco-people, and the main news networks will act as if she was some unconnected rando account seen on Parler. Nothing to see here… 

Both Kinds Of Standards – CNN

  • Meanwhile, concerning the deplorable Hispanics…

You cannot chalk this one up to bad timing, as it would have been insensitive on some level, no matter when delivered. Well, okay…you cannot chalk it up to just bad timing. 

But CNN attempting to diminish Hispanics winning elections and primaries for the Republicans as being outside the margins is still dense, as CNN pretends there are no Latinos with conservative values. 

Hoax And Change – VARIOUS OUTLETS

  • What is the Spanish word for "perspective"?

One fun detail is to weigh these outlets refusing to cover the Dr. First Lady taco gaffe against the sheer number of newsmakers who have been pimping the January 6 committee hearings. The level of interest in these topics is actually measurable…leading to more details they will refuse to cover.