• March 28, 2024

The Press Confronted Biden’s Gatekeeper And She Giggled Like A….

When America is confronted with an octogenarian president who acts like he’s his own Madame Tussaud’s wax figure — and yet insists he’ll run for re-election next year — the country desperately needs assurance that it isn’t dealing with a wax figure.

The presidential news conference is, of course, one way to accomplish this. And that is precisely what the 80-year-old 46th President of the United States, Joseph Robinette Biden, does not want to do.

He also refuses to speak to the media. In fact, he answers so few reporter questions that even his ally press is turning on the White House press secretary over Biden’s lack of availability.

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Her reaction? She’s giggling like a child reading a dirty joke.

The topic at hand was Biden’s meeting with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar on Friday, St. Patrick’s Day, as most of you are probably aware.

Nobody was concerned, however, about whether the press corps would be able to raise a pint of Guinness and toast “sláinte” for the president’s continued good health at the event — and not just because the president’s health isn’t exactly stellar, or because he’s a teetotaler.

Instead, a reporter noted during press secretary Karine Jean-briefing Pierre’s on Thursday that she had “laid out a very detailed schedule for the president tomorrow with the prime minister of Ireland,” but it did not include a two-and-two news conference.

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“Can you say why not and whether that might be added to the schedule tomorrow? This is kind of becoming a pattern with a lot of the world leaders who are coming to the White House,” she said, as Jean-Pierre attempted to talk over her.

“Look, I’ve spoken to this many times when it comes to diplomatic … these are diplomatic conversations that happen with the countries that are visiting, and it is something that is decided in that way.

“But there will no — there will not be a two-plus-two tomorrow, as you just noted. But, again, this is in coordination with — with the country that comes to visit here at the White House.”

“Your colleagues will have an opportunity to ask questions during the pool spray,” Jean-Pierre continued, “that happens every time a head of state visits.”

For the uninitiated, a “pool spray” has nothing to do with a spring break tradition in Florida. Instead, it’s a term that refers to how, after a politician delivers prepared remarks, reporters yell questions at them, and they occasionally respond.

Unless they’re Joe Biden, as the White House press corps noted during Thursday’s proceedings.

“Karine, he never answers questions during those pool sprays,” a reporter said.

“That’s not true. He has — he’s answered,” Jean-Pierre responded.

Then, a Greek chorus of unhappy reporters began shouting their laments:

“Very seldom!” “We get shouted at!” “We get shoved out!” “We get yelled at! ‘Press, thank you! Thank you!’”

A giggling Jean-Pierre seemed to be having fun with this while she tried to get a word in edgewise, albeit half-heartedly: “It’s not — here’s –”

Continueth the Greek chorus: “We get yelled at during those!” “The press is normally shouted down when we’re in the Oval Office!” “You shout at us to get out!”

“I hear you guys,” Jean-Pierre said, continuing to laugh. “I hear you guys.”

Gendered language, anybody? Hello?

Again, this isn’t Peter Doocy performing Richard vocal impersonations and pretending to be a half-dozen reporters at once. These are the same people who enable the Biden administration on broadcast and cable networks, wire services, and liberal newspapers on a daily basis.

They’ve noticed something that can’t be hidden: Biden dislikes answering questions, whether in a joint news conference or on his own.

When it comes to foreign leaders, here’s Trump trashing the American press on a hot mic with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, advising him not to take any questions from the domestic press:

During his meeting with then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, there was no hot-mic moment — but there were also no questions, as reporters were shooed away like drunken guests at the end of a birthday party:

Following the Modi incident, then-White House press secretary Jen “Circle Back” Psaki performed even worse than Jean-Pierre did on Thursday, claiming that the reason Biden didn’t take questions was that the media (no, seriously) wasn’t asking about what he wanted to answer.

However, this is part of a larger issue that involves more than just foreign heads of state.

Biden held nine news conferences in his first year as president, the fewest of any president in recent memory. According to Axios, George H.W. Bush had 31, Bill Clinton had 38, George W. Bush had 19, Barack Obama had 27, and Donald Trump had 21.

In other words, he held 10 fewer press conferences than the next-lowest on the list, George W. Bush, who was constantly underestimated due to his occasional verbal gaffes.

Despite the fact that there was never any evidence that Dubya’s occasional Dubya-isms were the result of some kind of cognitive deficiency in an otherwise healthy Yale graduate and Harvard postgraduate who left office at the age of 62, CNN types continued to speculate that he was mentally unfit for the job.

Those same CNN types now vehemently defend the commander-in-abilities, chiefs despite his refusal to answer media questions:

Now, keep in mind, Biden’s handlers know who they’re handling — and what’s still rattling around inside his brain.

As Australia’s The Conversation noted in a February article: “It took Biden until late March 2021 to hold his first press conference, more than two months after his inauguration – the longest a new president had gone without holding a press conference in 100 years.”

“While Biden doesn’t trash the press the way Trump did, he hardly speaks to the public,” wrote University of Georgia professor David E. Clemenston.

The White House press secretary routinely refuses to answer questions from reporters. Jean-Pierre repeatedly responded to questions about classified documents discovered in Biden’s home and former office “by essentially not responding,” according to Washington Post media reporter Paul Farhi in January 2023. Which is not uncommon, at least in this White House.

There has been a quiet press revolt as a result of this. “In June, nearly 70 White House reporters wrote a letter to Jean-Pierre demanding that the White House lift its COVID-19 restrictions and give the press increased access to the president’s events,” the Daily Caller reported.

I’m guessing Jean-Pierre responded with a quiet laugh as she touched up the wax around Biden’s jowls.

After all, the year 2024 is rapidly approaching.

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