The first hundred days of the Biden administration has seen unprecedented productivity. Along with delivering on – and doubling – a campaign promise to get 100 million Americans vaccinated for COVID, Biden has presided over the passage of a $2 trillion pandemic relief and stimulus bill, restored Obamacare, rejoined the Paris Climate Accords and the World Health Organization, introduced a comprehensive immigration reform bill, and drafted new infrastructure and jobs legislation.
On virtually every one of these issues Biden has managed to secure majority support from the American people. On many of these issues that includes majority support from Republican voters. And despite that overwhelming popularity, the Republicans in congress have responded by objecting to anything and everything put forward by Biden and the Democrats to move the country forward. It’s knee-jerk obstructionism in the most poisonously partisan way.
That disparity between the negatively charged Republican Party and their hapless constituents was illustrated perfectly during Monday’s White House press briefing. Press Secretary Jen Psaki had to, once again, field questions from determined right-wing hacks posing as journalists. It’s becoming a routine spectacle that invariably results in what is now known as the “Psaki Bomb.” The latest example occurred when David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network initiated this exchange with Psaki:
Brody: [Biden] has not met with House minority leader Kevin McCarthy. What does that say about unity? And also there are some other legislative issues as it relates to HR 1, and a commission studying on packing the Supreme Court, as you would say. And there’s a lot of other lists as well. Budget reconciliation. So there’s a lot of folks – you talk about tens of millions of people – they’re concerned that this doesn’t seem like unity at all.”
Psaki: Do you think tens of millions of people are concerned about him not meeting with Kevin McCarthy?
Brody: No. I think tens of millions of people are concerned about HR 1 and budget reconciliation and going that fifty vote threshold.
Psaki: I’m not sure the polling bears that out. but I will say that the President’s view is that bringing the country together is bringing the American people together.
Psaki: Do you think tens of millions of people are concerned about him not meeting with Kevin McCarthy? pic.twitter.com/UmdysVn4e6
— Acyn (@Acyn) April 26, 2021
Psaki wasted no time in shooting down Brody’s suggestion that “unity” is somehow dependent on whether or not Biden meets with the minority leader of the House, Kevin McCarthy. Particularly when Biden’s policies are better liked by Republican voters than McCarthy is (He currently has a 20% approval rating, while Biden’s is in the mid-50s). Psaki pointedly noted that voters don’t really care about whether Biden meets with McCarthy, and that Biden is more focused on bringing together the American people than on uniting members of Congress when the GOP has no intention of playing nice.
Brody’s phrasing of his question revealed his bias when he referenced the commission that Biden formed to study judicial reforms. Brody called it a study “on packing the Supreme Court.” That, of course, is right-wing talking point. But he came closer to matters that voters actually care about when he tweaked his question to direct it to HR 1, the House-passed voting rights bill. There really are tens of millions of Americans who are concerned about getting this bill passed and signed in order to block the efforts by Republicans to make voting more difficult in many GOP-run states.
Psaki continues to impress with her sharp intellect and her gentle snark. Or is that her gentle intellect and her sharp snark. Either way she is an effective communicator and not someone these half-witted right-wing shills should be challenging. But they just don’t seem to learn that.
NOTE: Twitter recently suspended the News Corpse account after 11 years without giving a reason. So if anyone wants to tweet articles from my website, please feel free to do so often and repeatedly. Also, Be sure to visit and follow News Corpse on Instagram. Thanks for your support.
How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.
I love Jen Psaki!
Me too! She’s exactly what’s needed ~ whether it’s answering legit questions from real journalists, or answering the assholery of the phony reporters (hacks) from right-wing propaganda outlets passing themselves of as “news”.
Maybe the President is concerned that McCarthy first condemned Trump for fomenting the Capitol attack and then said he didn’t do it. You never know which McCarthy you’ll get.