It's been less than a week since President Joe Biden had his "where's Jackie" moment as he looked for Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-IN) while giving remarks at the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health. While the event was certainly near and dear to the congresswoman's heart, she passed away about two months ago now in a car accident. White House Press Secretary Karine-Jean Pierre had a particularly awful time spinning the situation, but it also looks as if the mainstream media has had some equally if not worse takes on Biden searching for a dead congresswoman.
On Thursday, the following day after Biden's remarks, USA Today published an op-ed by Jill Lawrence, "What Joe Biden's memory lapse about the late Jackie Walorski really told us."
In it, she used it to not only gloss over the president's "memory lapse," but praised him in contrast to former President Donald Trump.
The "Key Points" at the top are particularly absurd:
- President Joe Biden calling out late congresswoman Jackie Walorski seemed like a memory fail.
- At White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health, he was trying to commend her work, crossing party lines.
- After a Trump presidency that lacked empathy, let's put this moment in perspective.
The only thing that needs to be put "in perspective" is how obsessed the media is when it comes to not only defending Biden, but throwing his predecessor under the bus.
Lawrence also goes on to throw the congresswoman under the bus, despite how she can no longer defend herself:
Yet there’s another way to look at this: Biden was trying to credit the late Indiana Republican Rep. Jackie Walorski – a lawmaker who voted on Jan. 6, 2021, to object to his presidential victories in Arizona and Pennsylvania and who this March labeled his agenda “radical & reckless” – for her good work on nutrition and hunger.
It’s unfortunate that he made the mistake. At the same time, it demonstrated a generosity and professionalism that was also present in Biden’s Tuesday conversation with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a frequent and harsh Biden critic, as Hurricane Ian bore down on his state.
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Another obsessive move from the left is to mention Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), someone so hated by them and their allies in the media that they've even politicized the recent hurricane. In addition to praising Biden for how he wondered aloud if a dead congresswoman was at the event he was speaking at, Lawrence brought up how Biden got in touch with DeSantis.
This is what led Lawrence to argue was an example of "what we normally expect from national leaders," under the header of "No blue or red states, just the United States." The whole section was a gag-inducing attempt at portraying Biden as a unifying savior.
When it comes to DeSantis, there was no mention of how he didn't do so until after unexplained delays, and that he had called mayors in the state first. There's also no mention of how Biden has demonized fellow Americans, those "MAGA Republicans" he considers to be political enemies.
Lawrence doesn't address Walorski's death again until the final paragraphs, which acknowledge that Biden himself was aware of Walorski's death when it happened and that he offered condolences in a statement.
Her final two paragraphs include what may be the understatements of the century, too:
As so many of us know from our own lives, with age come memory lapses, and that’s often the least of it.
I am already on record as a fan of Biden’s presidency while also hoping he won’t run for reelection in 2024. But let’s put this moment in perspective. You need only look back a couple of years to remember that some things are more important than age and a perfect memory.
The op-ed is actually pretty short, but it's also completely pointless, other than to show how biased Lawrence is and the outlet for publishing it. It's also telling that Lawrence highlighted such criticisms against the dead congresswoman in her tweet, as a final dig at her.
New from me: Biden's memory fail on Jackie Walorski was embarrassing, but also a reminder of his decency and 'duty to care' ethos. He was trying to praise a lawmaker who objected to his 2020 win and called his agenda reckless. https://t.co/oFJMNYOHFT @usatoday @usatodayopinion
— Jill Lawrence (@JillDLawrence) September 29, 2022
Not only did Lawrence retweet countless takes from fellow liberals singing her praises, she also shared it herself, resulting in over 1,000 replies and a skewed amount of quoted retweets calling her out. Our friends at Twitchy also highlighted other tweets calling out the absurdity that was Lawrence's piece.
Lawrence isn't the only one to go after Walorski even in death. Eugene Scott wrote up a piece about her for The Washington Post, during which he scrutinized her record and received particularly well-deserved backlash for this paragraph, not only because of how it applied to Walorski, but how it miscategorized the events of January 6, 2021 as well:
A Donald Trump supporter, Walorski voted against impeaching the former president in 2021 for his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, which resulted in the deaths of one police officer and four others and injured more than 100 law enforcement officers. She also voted against confirming Democrat Joe Biden’s victories in Arizona and Pennsylvania in the 2020 presidential election.
As Jean-Pierre repeated to reporters on Wednesday when emphasizing that Walorski was "top of mind" for Biden, which is why he was calling out to the dead congresswoman, the president was going to be meeting with her family. Ultimately, it ended up being a private event on Friday and was not listed on the schedule.
The bill signing event today with the family of Rep. Jackie Walorski was not included on a public schedule.
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) September 30, 2022
"This was a personal moment." pic.twitter.com/CQG2kOmAt9
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