TRANSPARENT AS MUD
Biden’s team falls flat when the questions get slightly tough
The Biden White House’s pledge to be the most transparent administration in history has been a massive fail.
Snippy White House press secretary Jen Psaki, who made the original promise in her first press briefing, is now resorting to snarky non-responses whenever she gets a tough or specific question.
Her condescending and elitist attitude could become a political problem for Biden and it’s just what Democrats don’t need as they head into the midterm elections.
When asked this week about the supply chain crisis that’s adversely affecting consumers and businesses, Psaki resorted to a flip and dismissive answer.
“The tragedy of the treadmill that’s delayed,” she said. When asked why Biden hadn’t moved earlier to address the crisis, Psaki challenged the accuracy of the question.
“Well, that’s not actually true,” she said. “The president formed a task force at the very beginning of the administration.”
This “let them eat cake moment” came right after the White House chief of staff retweeted a post that suggested inflation and problems with supply chains are “high-class problems.”
And here’s the recent exchange between Psaki and a reporter about the White House’s dubious claims that Biden’s “Build Back Better” program won’t escalate the national debt or trigger middle-class tax increases to pay for it.
“Does the president still believe that Build Back Better will not add a dime to the national debt?”
“Correct, it won’t,” Psaki replied.
The reporter persisted. “Why should Americans believe that?”
“Because it won’t,” Psaki snipped.
Oh, OK.
“The cost of the Build Back Better Agenda is $0,” the White House tweeted.
“The president’s plan won’t add to our national deficit and no one making under $400,000 per year will see their taxes go up a single penny. It’s fully paid for by ensuring big corporations and the very wealthy pay their fair share.”
This despite the fact that many analysts believe the $3.5 trillion cost figure of Build Back Better is wildly optimistic. Congress’s own taxation committee estimates the bill will actually be $1.4 trillion short of the cost.
Cut back to Jan. 2021. In her first press conference of the Biden presidency, Psaki went overboard to try and prove to the world that the White House wouldn’t lie anymore — making a deliberate comparison with Donald Trump’s presidency.
Psaki told reporters she has a “deep respect for the role of a free and independent press in our democracy” and planned to “bring transparency and truth back to the government to share the truth, even when it’s hard to hear.”
What complete garbage. From the beginning of the administration, Psaki has taken a dismissive, smug tone toward uncomfortable questions, especially from Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy.
“Why is the administration flying thousands of migrants from the border to Florida and New York in the middle of the night?” Doocy asked this week, even providing exact flight times after midnight.
“Well, I’m not sure that it’s in the middle of the night,” Psaki insisted.
Sigh. It’s enough to make you wish for Kayleigh McEnany again