It's hard for Democrats to use their usual "Republicans Pounce" excuse for the criticism aimed at President Biden and his administration this week as the latest volley of incoming was launched by mainstream media normally committed to carrying water for Democrats.
Across networks on Sunday morning, mainstream network anchors, panels, and reporters didn't hold back in their criticism of President Biden's ailing performance amid multiple crises at home and around the world, tempering their normally lavish praise to point out there are serious concerns over how the country is being run and where we go from here.
"What he has done so far, hasn't really worked," remarked This Week host Martha Raddatz on President Biden's attempts to unify Americans and meet his Wuhan coronavirus vaccination goals.
"One of the things you hear him doing is redefining what 'unity' means you know, he came into office talking about the way of unity and sort of appealing to this idea that we might find our way back together again," responded The New Yorker's Evan Osnos. "The blunt reality is, that's not happening."
The New Yorker’s @eosnos tells @MarthaRaddatz that Pres. Biden “came into office talking about way of unity and sort of appealing to this idea that we might find our way back together again.”
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) September 19, 2021
“The blunt reality is, that's not happening.” https://t.co/3DPaIeobIe pic.twitter.com/KqU8hc1OSt
When Raddatz raised the FDA's torpedoing of the Biden administration's plan for booster shots, Jonathan Karl pointed out that the Biden administration — which touts the importance of listening to experts and following science ad nauseam — "was getting ahead of the science" and "getting ahead of health experts."
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"This is important because Biden's credibility on COVID has been what has driven his level of his popularity," Karl noted. "This is what he is trusted most on and what he needs to be trusted most on and we've seen it eroded over the past several weeks."
“It looked like the White House was getting ahead of the science, that the White House was getting ahead of health experts,” @ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent @JonKarl tells @MarthaRaddatz after FDA advisers reject Pres. Biden’s booster plan. https://t.co/jlJWEqtOQS pic.twitter.com/JjPaVztA79
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) September 19, 2021
"It's been a rough six weeks and it seems as if it's only getting worse," said Meet The Press host Chuck Todd on NBC. "They're soldiering on, they're trying to say 'we've got this, we're going to roll through it,' but it's a tough time," remarked Reuters' Jeff Mason.
"They have continued to stumble here," added Punchbowl News' Anna Palmer. "They don't have the messaging right, they don't necessarily have the policy right. There's a lot of questions on Capitol hill now that these members are coming back where they're going to face investigations on Afghanistan. What happened there? It's not going away and I think this is something where this White House is really not kind of gotten its feet underneath it and we're weeks into this," Palmer added.
The libs on the Meet the Press panel today were flummoxed by Biden's incompetence with managing multiple crises. "The mood [at the WH] is one of soldiering on," one said. "They have continued to stumble here," said another. Yet another seemed to blame misinfo on the perception. pic.twitter.com/uN6HkMJRv0
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) September 19, 2021
Joining Sunday TODAY with Willie Geist on NBC, Chuck Todd failed to come up with anything positive to say about President Biden.
"He's got a pretty big credibility crisis on his hands because all of these problems in some ways, showed up after he said something basically the exact opposite," Todd said. "Afghanistan withdrawal: Wasn't going to be messy, this wasn't going to look like Saigon. The booster shots: He came out and essentially said eight months and even indicated maybe we should start it as soon as five months now we're not sure if anybody under 65 is going to get a booster shot. Of course the border... it's pretty clear we have a bigger problem now than we've had in years and these policies have turned into becoming a magnet."
And those are just the credibility issues on the domestic level, Todd pointed out before explaining Biden has a heavy lift ahead when he addresses the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday. "The UN speech, look, he's got some credibility issues on the world stage to make sure people still view America as not just a stable democracy but a competent leader of the free world right now," Todd said. "He's got a lot on the line here this month."
Not one positive thing to say about the Biden admin. Not Fox News, folks. pic.twitter.com/Qp50E6djFe
— Greg Butcher ???? (@GregButcher_) September 19, 2021
On Face The Nation, CBS News' David Martin threw cold water on President Biden's claims that his plans to use "over the horizon" capabilities would allow the United States to monitor any reconstitution of Al Qaeda or other extremist groups in Afghanistan following Biden's disastrous withdrawal.
"What happens in Afghanistan matters here in the U.S. only if Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups there are able to make a comeback," Martin explained. "The U.S. says it's going to prevent that with surveillance conducted from outside the country, drones flying from outside the country... and that they will be able to detect a plot in the works and then be able to disrupt it with a drone strike. But you have to say this mistake made in Kabul is not an encouraging precedent," noted Martin of the botched drone strike that killed ten innocent civilians, including seven children. "They had six drones over Kabul that day, six, so now everybody's gone, they have to operate these drones from outside the country. Are they really going to be able to sustain that many drones?"
CBS News’ David Martin questions whether the U.S. will be able to sustain their plans to combat terror groups from making a comeback in Afghanistan by using surveillance drones outside the country. pic.twitter.com/kwk5YotQCG
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) September 19, 2021
When DC's liberal media elite fail to come up with a silver lining or an explanation as to why Biden continues to fail from one crisis to the next, it's clear that things are going poorly at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Of course, President Biden is not at the White House this weekend amid the chaos his leadership has wrought, he's at the beach in Delaware.
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