Dems assault transparency
Donald Trump infamously called the press the “enemy of the people” but lately it’s the Democrats who are acting like it.
Whether it’s the familiar image of President Biden struggling to find his way off stage while ignoring reporters’ questions, or Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg taking photos of a reporter to intimidate them, or Boston Mayor Michelle Wu sharply curtailing her public schedule, liberal Dems who claim to be transparent are actually doing the opposite.
Trump regularly bashed the mainstream media but he was at least accessible. He held long press conferences and regularly took questions from reporters at rope lines and leaving or entering the White House.
The Democrats’ new contempt of the press is personified by Biden running from questions or the bumbling Buttigieg and his inept press secretary, who spent the week trying to deflect questions before and during his visit to the train disaster in East Palestine, Ohio.
“I don’t want to be on camera, please,” DOT press secretary Kerry Arndt pleaded with one “aggressive” reporter trying to video Arndt’s answer to questions.
Earlier, Buttigieg actually snapped a photo of a Daily Caller News Foundation reporter attempting to question him on a public sidewalk and refused to answer questions, saying he was taking “personal time.”
Buttigieg also used the latest liberal tactic to avoid questions — referring the media to past softball interviews rather than simply giving an answer himself. Wu’s office has done this recently also.
Another tactic? Just disappear from public sight. That’s what Wu did this week. She did not have a single public event. The week before she only had a few public events and had no public schedule the rest of the time.
Was Wu on vacation? Spending time with her kids? No.
“The mayor is in town and working,” Wu spokesman Ricardo Patron emailed to the Herald. “Although there haven’t been any public events during the February school break, she’s been in various internal meetings and conversations over the course of the week. (On Thursday) she attended a COMPSTAT meeting at BPD headquarters with Council President Flynn and an event honoring the pioneers of Roxbury Community College.”
Wu has limited her access to the media even before this week, but generally she has at least a few public events a week where the media can ask questions.
Therefore it was unusual to see no public events at all during this week.
Then there’s President Biden, who often is seen walking away from the media’s questions or letting his clueless press operation handle the questions.
Karine Jean-Pierre has proved herself adept at batting away questions in her brief tenure as Press Secretary — except when she’s making gaffes like calling Biden “Obama.”
“So today, as you all saw just an hour or so ago, President Obama announced that…pardon me, President Biden, whoa,” Jean-Pierre said as the press corps cracked up. “Ahem, that is news. I know, we’re going back, not forwards. We’ve gotta go forward.”