<mediadc-video-embed data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1655753668916,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"00000162-07b3-de22-a173-2ffbab450000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1655753668916,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"00000162-07b3-de22-a173-2ffbab450000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"rawHtml":"
var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_55738051", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"1036615"} }); rn","_id":"00000181-829b-ddcb-a3e1-cfdbe6ca0000","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video Embed
This week’s Liberal Media Scream features CNN’s John Harwood defending President Joe Biden against claims he is too old to govern, even from liberal sources such as the Atlantic and CNN’s Brian Stelter.
On Stelter’s media show, Harwood tried to blame conservative media for pushing the age story, even after Stelter showed him an Atlantic story by a liberal journalist begging Biden to give up talk of a reelection campaign.
<mediadc-iframe data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1655753099166,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"00000162-07b3-de22-a173-2ffbab450000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1655753099166,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"00000162-07b3-de22-a173-2ffbab450000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"iFrameEmbedCode":"","_id":"00000181-8293-df44-ad8b-c3fb30bc0000","_type":"00000161-b425-d761-a563-f7e77e270000"}”>iFrame ObjectFrom Sunday’s Reliable Sources on CNN:
BRIAN STELTER: Where are Biden’s critiques about the media legitimate, where are they justified? And where would you say they’re not justified?
JOHN HARWOOD: Well, look. Let’s talk about the age thing, to begin with.
STELTER: Let’s put up Mark Leibovich’s column. Mark Leibovich, top writer for the Atlantic, saying Biden should not run for reelection. It’s not just Sean Hannity talking about Biden’s age, it’s the Atlantic magazine.
HARWOOD: That’s right. It was an outstanding piece by Mark. Without taking a stand on whether he’s too old to run for reelection, let me just run through what’s true, what’s false, and what gets conflated. What’s true is the presidency is a hugely taxing job. Mentally and physically. And Joe Biden is old. He doesn’t talk or walk as smoothly as he once did. That suggests challenges. When you get into your 80s, which he’s about to do, the risk of health problems grows with every year.
On the other hand, what’s false is that he is not capable of doing the job right now or he’s not mentally in tune with the demands of the job. Anybody, any aide who engages with him or reporters, we can see this. The gears of his mind are working. That’s an issue pushed by right-wing media. But it’s not correct.
And what gets conflated is this. President Biden is in a weak political position right now, and because he’s old, people think he’s weak because he’s old. His biggest political problem right now is $5-a-gallon gas. Gas is not $5 a gallon because Joe Biden’s old. His legislative program is not stymied in Congress because Joe Biden is old. It’s because he got a 50-50 Senate. And one of the members of that Democratic Senate comes from a Trump +39 state.
Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “Many Democrats and liberals have begun to show concern for Biden’s mental abilities as he ages, with even a front-page New York Times story on Democrats who don’t want him to run for reelection, as well as the Atlantic piece Stelter highlighted. Yet Harwood sees the world in black and white: liberals striving for what’s best and so must be defended, conservatives always malevolent and so must be denounced.”
Rating: THREE out of FIVE SCREAMS
