Last week, we highlighted how The Hill went with a "Republicans pounce" headline when it comes to the stock market. And as we get even closer to the midterms, it doesn't look like the outlet plans to ease off any time soon. On Wednesday, they went with publishing Alex Gangitano and Amie Parnes' piece on how "GOP seizes on Biden gaffes to attack competence." Gangitano had been a co-author on the "Republicans pounce" piece as well.
This one is arguably even worse, since Biden's competence, or lack thereof, is even more plain for the average American to see with his or her own eyes. Last week, Biden had questioned whether Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-IN) was at the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health, where he was speaking. The congresswoman died on September 3 in a car accident, though, almost two months before the event in question where Biden was asking for her.
The text of the piece itself makes the headline all the more unfair, given how it acknowledges Republicans are not the only one worried about Biden's age and his competence levels.
Here's what Gangitano and Parnes write early on in their piece:
The Republican National Committee (RNC) included the gaffe in a list of their top Democrat fails from last week, criticizing the White House’s refusal to say if Biden would apologize for his remarks as “tough to watch.”
The RNC did not make Biden’s age a central part of its criticism, but it is an implicit and sometimes explicit part of the attacks from various Republicans, who see perceptions of Biden’s age and competence as a potentially fruitful line of attack.
The very next paragraphs, though, acknowledge the following:
Democrats who themselves are wondering if Biden will stick with his stated intensions of running for reelection at the age of 81 acknowledge they are worried that attacks could swing some voters.
“It’s not a great look,” one Democratic strategist acknowledged. “And we all know it only feeds into the criticism of the president and his age. [Biden] has to be really careful to not give the other side easy fodder.”
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That being said, the piece mostly includes statements from Democrats who bolster the president, including within his own administration. It's also how Gangitano and Parnes choose to end the piece:
In response to this story, White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates pointed to the Biden administration’s accomplishments, including that it has “made NATO the strongest it has ever been, and taken unprecedented action to fight climate change and bring manufacturing back from overseas.”
...
Some Democrats, for their part, don’t think Biden’s gaffes will make much of a difference.
“The RNC may have some fun with it, they may be giving themselves high fives, but in the end I don’t think it makes much of a difference at all,” said Democratic strategist Jim Manley. “Everyone knows he has a habit of misspeaking from time to time.”
A second Democratic strategist agreed: “It’s already baked in,” the strategist said. “People elected Joe Biden knowing he can put his foot in his mouth. It’s like pointing out that Donald Trump lies. People know this about him and I don’t think it makes much difference.
“Sure, Republicans will use this against him and they should,” the strategist added. “But it won’t matter.”
And, the piece couldn't help themselves from going after former President Donald Trump, by bringing one of his advisers, Stephen Miller, into the conversation:
The harshest public criticism of the Walorski comment came from former Trump White House adviser Stephen Miller, who said that Biden should be in “assisted living” and “is not cognitively present.”
Miller, however, made no public criticisms when his boss, former President Trump, made numerous gaffes while in office, most notably when he suggested the idea of ingesting disinfectant to fight COVID-19 during a press briefing early in the pandemic or when Trump displayed an altered map with Sharpie markings of a hurricane’s path.
There was also no further mention of the details of how overall voters, including Democrats don't want Biden running again, which is evidenced in polling of which there is no shortage of. Many are concerned with his competency and his health.
An Issues & Insights/TIPP poll from August found that a majority of adults were either "very concerned" or "somewhat concerned" about "President Biden's Mental Health," at 36 percent and 23 percent, respectively.
The September poll from Harvard CAPS/Harris found that a majority of voters, at 56 percent, say they "have doubts about his fitness for office." Further, 63 percent said they think "he is showing he is too old to be president."
A poll from The Washington Post/ABC News found that among those who are Democrats and lean Democratic, 56 percent of respondents, wanted the Democratic Party to nominate someone else for 2024.
This is not the only piece that The Hill has published on the gaffe since Biden's remarks last week. Although on Wednesday the outlet also published an opinion piece from Joe Concha highlighting the hypocrisy of the media's coverage, others focused on those criticizing the GOP.
As was the case with the "Republicans pounce" piece being shared to Twitter, the "GOP seizes" got much more attention as other posts from The Hill. There were close to 1,200 replies calling out such hypocrisy, and of the 291 retweets, 214 were quoted retweets doing the same, with our friends at Twitchy highlighting some of the best ones.
NEW: GOP seizes on Biden gaffes to attack competence https://t.co/RaJjFrkEQi pic.twitter.com/ey9LPhJPn1
— The Hill (@thehill) October 5, 2022
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