During an interview with Fox News Monday night, Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis blasted 60 Minutes, a CBS News program, for deliberately editing his comments about vaccine distribution. They did so to make it look like DeSantis was engaged in a pay-for-play scheme, which never happened. As Leah writes, there are a number of problems with their "reporting."
"Lost in this is we've vaccinated now 3.5 million senior citizens. We were the first state to say we're doing seniors first. We're not going to follow the CDC recommendation and what we have done has worked. They didn't want to discuss that and obviously they selectively edited the background. They tried to act like their was a conspiracy with Publix," DeSantis said. "They didn't tell you that we were doing African-American church vaccination drives before Publix ever gave a single shot. They didn't tell you that. They didn't tell you that hospitals were doing shots, starting in the first week of December because it did't fit the narrative."
"They don't believe in facts. It was a political narrative. It was done with malicious intent and a reckless disregard to the truth," he continued. "They were in Florida for three months, 60 Minutes, trying to drudge up any dirt they could use to smear me and the best they could come up with is a baseless conspiracy theory that was easily debunked. Not just by me, which they had to edit out, but by two very prominent Democrats in the state of Florida."
Yesterday Palm Beach County Democratic Mayor Dave Kerner publicly defended DeSantis and accused 60 Minutes of deliberately editing their story without relevant facts.
Mayor Kerner says that he offered to talk to 60 Minutes but CBS declined. He says Palm Beach County asked for the Publix relationship, and that CBS knew that but “left it out because it kneecaps their narrative.” And he says that the media is “hellbent on dividing us.”
— Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) April 5, 2021
Publix also defended the Governor.
— Publix (@Publix) April 5, 2021