NY Times Accuses ‘Xenophobic’ GOP of ‘Weaponizing’ Baby Formula Crisis

The current baby formula shortage crisis was predictable, notwithstanding President Biden’s claim about having to be a mind-reader to see it coming: A story warning of shortages appeared in the Wall Street Journal Return in January

You can also predict: New York Times circling the wagons to protect the Democratic president’s reputation from unfair, even “xenophobic” Republican attacks.

Congressional correspondent Annie Karni on Friday covered the White House’s modest response in “Pressed to Act, White House Says It Will Address Formula Shortage.”

It was made on Republicans, who were stepping up their attacks against Mr. Biden, Democrats, and before the midterm congressional election, attempted to exploit the shortage of baby formula.. This was yet another evidence that their claims of unified Democratic rule in Washington led to high gas prices, inflation and other economic difficulties.

Karni did exactly what she accuses Republicans of doing: She politicized a serious topic.

Although the focus of the event was on human basic needs, the hard-right Republicans turned it into an opportunity to air their favourite attacks on Mr. Biden. They tried to link the shortage of formula to his border policies, and even to try to decrease drug overdoses.

Karni used an overheard argument to resurrect the paper’s botched attempt to fact-check a damaging (to Biden) story broken by the Washington Free Beacon and backed up with hard physical evidence.

[Rep. Mike Waltz (R)] was apparently referring to a debunked claim, stoked by a conservative news website, that the Biden administration planned to pay for crack pipes as part of a drug overdose prevention program.

The paper’s fact checker Linda Qiu joined in.

Republicans have used the shortage as a political attack platform., who have fused the issue with criticisms of the administration’s immigration policies. Democrats have countered that those opposed to providing migrant infants with formula belong to a “pro starvation caucus,” as one lawmaker put it.

Isn’t it also “inaccurate” (and tasteless) to throw around terms like “pro-starvation caucus”? Are there any fact-checks?

Karni followed up on the formula issue Saturday, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s move to address the crisis, barely noting that the White House should have been prepared.

“We have to move with caution as well as speed,” Mr. Biden said at the White House on Friday, when asked whether the The administration responded fast enough to the shortage which began in February. This was his most urgent problem.

Karni tried to focus on Republican “weaponizing,” perhaps to distract from the actual shortage crisis.

[Biden’s] quick timetable and Ms. Pelosi’s plans reflected a growing urgency to address the shortage, which has become a national crisis This is both a challenge for Republicans as they attempt to make the issue more politically-friendly before the midterm elections.

The reporter really stretched the plain meaning of “xenophobia” to neutralize GOP criticism of Biden’s slow response.

Republicans have latched onto a xenophobic talking point, amplified by Fox News and other conservative outletsThat Mr. Biden prioritized undocumented immigrant over Americans, by providing baby formula pallets to the border detention centers at the southwestern boundary.

This is despite the fact that legal immigrant parents have greater access to baby formula than most U.S citizens. Maybe a bit of liberal empathy is in order.