It’s rare when CNN seems to get it right or when they appear to do actual journalism.
We had one such rare occasion during Jake Tapper’s interview with Jen Psaki, White House Press Secretary.
On Friday night, Tapper grilled her over Joe Biden’s legislative agenda, and he actually punctured the White House’s frequent claim that the Biden spending bonanza bill, Build Back Better, is popular. Tapper noted that in a CNN poll this week, only a quarter of the people thought that the bill would leave them better off — more people, 32 percent, thought it would leave them worse off and 43 percent thought they wouldn’t be affected. That’s hardly a ringing endorsement of what Americans think about the bill.
“The White House has not convinced” the voters, Tapper said.
Psaki claimed it was because people really didn’t know what was in the bill. On the contrary, it’s the people who don’t know what’s in the bill who are for it, because they don’t know better. It’s the people who know what’s in the bill who are against it — when they realize what it all means and how badly it would affect the economy and their lives. Tapper observed that progressives seem to be more concerned with bashing moderates than they are about promoting the supposed benefits.
Then Tapper put Psaki on the spot over inflation, pointing to their ridiculous take on how inflation was somehow a “good sign” and mentioning the disdainful tweet of the White House chief of staff, Ron Klain, who retweeted a post calling inflation a “high class problem.”
Jen Psaki defends rising prices: It’s a ‘Good Thing,’ because it means that ‘More people are buying goods’ pic.twitter.com/IaKVYVSCbR
— Jason Rantz on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) October 15, 2021
“Inflation is skyrocketing,” Tapper said. “The prices for home heating costs, cars, groceries, furniture, rent, gasoline are hitting Americans right in the wallet. The White House response has been generally to say, hey, inflation shows that we’re coming out of the recession, so it’s a good sign. President Biden’s chief of staff, Ron Klain, enthusiastically retweeted an economist who had said, in part: “Most of the economic problems we’re facing, inflation, supply chains, et cetera, are high-class problems.”
Now, I get the larger point that, when we’re talking about economics, we’re coming out of recession. But doesn’t it seem tone-deaf to say that rising prices and empty grocery store shelves are high-class problems? Isn’t that a bit dismissive?” Exactly.
Psaki then did her best to spin, claiming it wasn’t “exactly” what the tweet or retweet said. As we reported, Jen was correct.
This 👇👇 https://t.co/ymh53nEHAg
— Ronald Klain (@WHCOS) October 14, 2021
Psaki also argued that what was happening now was a “good thing,” because people were buying goods. Just forget about the fact that it costs them more for everything, and they have less in their wallets at the end of the day, because she says all this is a “good thing.” It’s a good thing we all have to pay more and get less under #EmptyShelvesJoe.
Tapper then pulled out an older tweet from Ron Klain, in which Klain lambasted Trump for his rising prices. “There are a lot of people out there who might say, why did Ron Klain think that rising prices was a serious concern under Trump, but not under Biden?” And President Donald Trump never had anything close to the inflation that Biden has now, with the highest numbers in years. Psaki basically avoided answering for the obvious hypocrisy of the White House’s position on the issue.
Tapper concluded the interview with a question about her complaint by CREW (a leftist watchdog organization) alleging that she violated Hatch Act by recommending Terry McAuliffe for Virginia governor. Tapper asked Tapper to explain. The Hatch Act bars executive branch employees from using “official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with or affecting the result of an election.”
Here’s what she said which was the focus of the Hatch Act complaint. The tweet also notes that this isn’t the first time that she’s done it, saying something similar when California Governor Gavin Newsom was also running during his recall election.
One more day to go before another Hatch Act violation. @presssec @jrpsaki
PSAKI: “Again, we’re going to do everything we can to help former governor McAuliffe, and we believe in the agenda he’s representing.” https://t.co/7jGMPEha3j pic.twitter.com/196GDDLvae
— Matthew Foldi (@MatthewFoldi) October 14, 2021
Psaki responded to Tapper, “I take ethics seriously. As does the president. According to my understanding, it would have been no problem for me to say he instead of we. Next time, I’ll be even more cautious with what I say. Words certainly matter.”
Translate? Translation? If Biden actually took ethics seriously, he wouldn’t have all the issues he’s had with his son, the questions about influence peddling, and the concerns about connections to foreign governments. If he took it so seriously, you wouldn’t have people like George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley calling for the need for a special counsel to address all the questions.
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