Paul Waldman, WaPo: Lay off Joe Biden's gaffes

[highplainsdem]

Waldman's tweet about his new column this morning

Link to tweet

I temporarily set aside my criticisms of Joe Biden to write this piece on why we should lay off him about the "gaffes":

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/08/12/lay-off-joe-bidens-gaffes/

His tweet yesterday:

Link to tweet

I'm hardly Joe Biden's biggest fan, but his entire candidacy is starting to be covered through the prism of what gaffes he committed today and whether his gaffes will gaffe his gaffe gaffe gaffe gaffe, and it's absurd.

This is among the dumbest kinds of campaign coverage.

Tweet about the column from Biden's deputy campaign manager and communications director, Kate Bedingfield:

Link to tweet

Crazy idea: instead of applying Donald Trump’s frame to this race, let’s cover the substance of what the candidates are saying and let voters make their decision that way.

And from Walter Isaacson, former CEO of CNN, former CEO of the Aspen Institute, former editor of Time:

Link to tweet

Smart piece by ⁦@paulwaldman1⁩ on the media falling into the trap of creating a narrative about Biden’s gaffes. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/08/12/lay-off-joe-bidens-gaffes/ …

[Cha]

1. Apparently the punditry does Not have more important things to worry about or report on

Like Andrea Mitchell et al on #But Her Emails in the 2016 General Election.

Thanks, highplains!

.

[Kahuna7]

3. Andrea Mitchell is the worst. She was orders to bleat out ad nauseam...

about how, 'people just don't like Al Gore.' Then it was, Hillary Clinton's emails. Now we're onto Bidens gaffes.

[Cha]

9. Just think if the US m$$$$media

weren't like Andrea Mitchell but more like Walter Cronkite!

[Kahuna7]

10. Yeah. Just imagine.

[stonecutter357]

2. good let's go Joe !

[IADEMO2004]

4. Every mouth saying Biden gaff should be stuffed with Hillary's e-mails.

Lazy lazy lazy time filling.

[treestar]

7. lol +1

[Gothmog]

13. What about trump's gaffes?

Biden's so-called gaffes will not be an issue in the general election https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/meet-the-press/democrats-battle-each-other-trump-s-greatest-ally-time-n1042191#anchor-Whatabouthisgaffes

But if Biden’s gaffes were substantial news, why wasn’t there the same level of discussion on what President Trump said yesterday in Pennsylvania?

“That’s a lot of people back there for a — like an 11 o’clock speech. That’s a lot of people. (Laughter.) That’s a lot.” (In fact, the speech was after 2:00 pm ET.)

“This Shell petrochemical plant in Beaver County, Pennsylvania — I did very well here. We did very well. How many points did we win by? Does anybody know? I'll tell you. Isn't it, I think, 28 points?
That's a lot.” (Trump won Beaver County by 19 points in 2016.)

“I got sued on a thing called ‘emoluments.’ Emoluments. You ever hear the word? Nobody ever heard of it before. They went back. Now, nobody looks at Obama getting $60 million for a book.” (Obama signed his book deal in 2017, after leaving office.)

Trump’s two and a half years in office definitely have changed the political and media world.

Shouldn’t they also change how we cover gaffes and misstatements?

[Thekaspervote]

5. Gaffes or emails... hummm will have to give some serious thought to which is worse??!!

[peggysue2]

6. Which means, of course, the media has learned nada

Though the media is loathe to admit their culpability in electing Trump, this gaffe du jour focus is the same garbage that was directed toward Hillary Clinton: but, but her emails or Benghazi, Benghazi.

If they want a scandal narrative, the lens should be on Trump and his 10,000+ lies, his malignant narcissism and incompetence.

I can barely listen to these people anymore because they're no better than the meme-driven tweets I frequently read and discard.

This is the House that Access, Corporate Journalism Built. It's bad for everyone.

[Gothmog]

8. Joe Biden is the most electable candidate that the Democratic Party has available

[Gothmog]

11. Symone Sanders-"I want to be very clear: this is a press narrative, not a voter narrative."

Link to tweet

[Gothmog]

12. Opinion: There are more important things to worry about than Biden's gaffes

Link to tweet

My response to both was the same, as it was when I was asked about the Biden issue on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports.” There is a racist sitting in the Oval Office implementing a white supremacist policy agenda. So, you focus on Biden’s mouth marbles, and I’ll keep my eyes on the prize. The prize being the eviction of Trump from the White House.

As Waldman also wrote, Trump “is waging a reelection campaign based on racism and fear,” not to mention being “the most prolific liar in American political history (he just passed 12,000 false or misleading claims).” And what makes the focus on Biden’s mouth extra aggravating is how it wipes our memories of the moronic things said by this president, as my follower @absolut_irish was so kind to remind Biden’s critics.

Link to tweet

Some of these are funny. Some are worthy of a cocked eyebrow. But they are not nearly as consequential as the racist and white supremacist beliefs parroted by Trump and the right-wing echo chamber that found their way into the manifesto of the suspect in the El Paso mass shooting, who told police his target was "Mexicans.” The atmosphere of menace and danger is now indisputable. Your time would be better spent worrying about the shredding of our values, ideals and the rule of law than the flubs of a particular candidate who would put an end to this shameful chapter.

[NYMinute]

14. It's plain "what about her emails" type of stuff

Great piece. Thanks for posting.

[Gothmog]

15. And they worry about Biden's verbal gaffes? The president is a category 5 disaster

Link to tweet