By Tim Graham
In President Donald Trump’s briefing room, Politico chief Washington correspondent Ryan Lizza defined himself as a furious competitor for the title of Rudest Journalist. He asked White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, “Does President Trump believe that it was a good thing that the South lost the Civil War?” Earlier in the year, when the official count of coronavirus deaths reached 100,000, he asked her, “What does the White House view as the number of dead Americans where you can say that you successfully defeated this pandemic?”
So, it was fascinating when Lizza started getting abuse on Twitter on Nov. 10 for observing “discouraging signs about the Biden team and press access so far.” He wrote for Politico: “Beat reporters covering Biden tell me that the basement strategy of the 2020 campaign has continued into the transition. … The press is being kept in the dark about what exactly the president-elect is doing most of the day beyond vague descriptions of ‘internal meetings.’”
Should we feign a shocked face? This underlines what every conservative and liberal and squishy centrist should have known: Biden and his handlers would like to curtail access to the press to exactly the degree that his voters (including all his voters in the press corps) will allow.
This becomes downright comical when a measure of access is granted, such as his Nov. 10 press briefing. As Lizza noted, “a press aide controlled who got to ask questions, which were limited to five outlets.” There were no Jim Acosta-like disturbances from Fox News.
Marvel at that mauler Mike Memoli of NBC, who asked Biden, “I wonder if you have a message for the president, who may well be watching right now, and how do you expect to be able to work with Republicans when so many have thus far refused to even acknowledge your victory?”
And that gladiator Jeff Zeleny of CNN: “Have you spoken to your longtime friend in the Senate Mr. McConnell? And what do you make of his specific comments over the last 24 hours?”
And that karate-kicker Mary Bruce of ABC: “How will you move ahead if the president continues to refuse to concede?”
Could Biden handle the fists of fury from Josh Jamerson of the Wall Street Journal? “During the lame duck, will you be coordinating with Speaker Pelosi on how she should be negotiating with Republicans?” he asked.
The finishing blows came from a local assassin, Meredith Newman of The News Journal: “What do you say to the Americans that are anxious over the fact that President Trump has yet to concede and what that might mean for the country?”
Oh, and if that punishing blow wasn’t enough, there was more: “How do you expect to work with Republicans if they won’t even acknowledge you as president-elect?” a reporter asked.
one must realize that the media and pussy journalist are all snowflakes. pedophile joe is not the president. WOW! a pedophile and whore in the wipe house.
Cmon, man! Really? Did someone expect something different? Recall how the media would not press Obama on scandalous behavior or utter failures. Hillary avoided them, roping them off, and they just merrily accepted and when they got to ask questions, they made sure not to do anything that would get them roped off further away. The media has babied Biden up to this point, even shielding him from damaging evidence of massive corruption, much less mental defectiveness, and would not dare hammer him with hard questions (i.e., like EVERY time Trump approaches the media) for fear his mental mainspring would snap.
This is dog bites man. What else is new?