The media usually runs cover for the Biden administration. But those days may be coming to an end.
Because one Biden official blew up at a reporter for asking this incriminating question.
White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates complained about the media’s recent portrayal of President Biden’s mental acuity after Special Counsel Robert Hur criticized his recall as “poor.”
Bates took to X on Thursday to criticize journalists for becoming more dubious about Biden’s age and cognitive ability in the aftermath of the Hur article.
Hur declined to prosecute Biden with mishandling sensitive data, citing his “poor memory” as a reason why a jury would not convict him.
The letter struck shockwaves across Washington and the media, with prominent sources casting Biden’s cognitive abilities in a more suspicious light than ever before.
Biden’s supporters in the Democratic Party and his own administration, on the other hand, maintain that he is fine and that any proof to the contrary is “right-wing propaganda.”
Bates attacked the journalists, claiming that their own “collective memory problems” hindered them from recalling Biden’s strong traits and previous “rightwing age attacks.”
The deputy press secretary said this while sharing an X post from Puck News senior correspondent Dylan Byers, which said, “NEW @PuckNews: The Age of Biden: Many in WH press corps have spent the last couple years noticeably avoiding the topic of the president’s agility and acuity because it felt indelicate or irrelevant. Now, the Hur report has stirred some soul-searching.”
The corresponding news article detailed how Byers noticed – post Hur’s report – “members of the White House press corps—reporters, on-air correspondents, photographers, etcetera” emphasizing “that the symptoms of Biden’s age had become more noticeable in recent months and a frequent discussion topic at the desks behind the Brady briefing room.”
Byers stated that while there was discussion regarding Biden’s age before Hur’s revelation, it “was not reflected” in their coverage, “often due to the sense that it was sensitive or unseemly.”
He continued, “The Hur report has obviously given the press corps greater license to cover the issue—in the same way, one journalist noted, that the Monica Lewinsky scandal gave the White House press corps greater license to talk about the flirtatious behavior they’d witnessed Bill Clinton exhibiting toward some women, but never felt like they had the freedom to write about in their pages.”
The journalist added, “Whatever the case, Biden’s age is now a thing, an enduring thing, a challenge for the administration and campaign.”
Bates took issue with this reality, arguing that the debate about Biden’s age and memory has been ongoing for years and is old news.
The White House official commented on the post, saying, “Bolsters my theory that starting in 2019 some in the press began suffering from collective memory problems. Can’t remember their own coverage. Can’t remember even 1 of the historic Biden wins since then. Can’t remember that the rightwing age attacks they treat as novel are… old.”
Bolsters my theory that starting in 2019 some in the press began suffering from collective memory problems
Can't remember their own coverage
Can't remember even 1 of the historic Biden wins since then
Can't remember that the rightwing age attacks they treat as novel are… old https://t.co/uUQks4dNNI
— Andrew Bates (@AndrewJBates46) February 15, 2024
Last year, Bates was revealed to be involved in disseminating a now-discredited letter signed by 50 retired intelligence officers claiming that Hunter Biden’s laptop and its content were a fabrication perpetrated by Russian disinformation agents.
"Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo, dozens of former intel officials say" https://t.co/IxbSzPbtSG
— Andrew Bates (@AndrewBatesNC) October 23, 2020
Stay tuned to the Conservative Column.
