In 1971, Justice Hugo Black opined in New York Times Co. V. United States, “The press was to serve the governed, not the governors.” So, how can legacy media, such as the Times and Post, report only dirt on President Trump and give Joe Biden a pass? Regardless of left-right politics, Biden’s mental acuity and evidence he abused power should be vetted on behalf of “the governed” in an election year. At a minimum, he isn’t presidential if his mind is unaware and forgetful.
Biden routinely forgets the issue or audience. He recently forgot THE issue at a Coronavirus Town Hall: “1,000 meatpackers got sick, got cor-err-err, got the virus and died.” On Friday, he forgot THE audience on a black talk-radio show: “if you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black.” How fair and balanced is a press that tested young Bush’s diplomacy chops in 2000 (name foreign heads of state), but won’t test old Biden’s mind in 2020?
Even when Julian Castro questioned Biden’s memory – “Are you forgetting what you said two minutes ago? You said two minutes ago that they had to buy in, and now you’re saying they don’t have to buy in” – the legacy media rescued Biden. Politico: “the lowest polling candidate reached up the ladder and tried to yank Biden off it.” New York magazine: “The implication was clear, but Castro was wrong.” NBC News: “he took a disrespectful shot at an elder candidate.”
It is one thing to show sympathy for a 78-year-old man’s mind, and quite another to lack curiosity as to whether Biden abused his office for his son’s financial gain. The Biden-Poroshenko quid pro quo begs questions, at least as much as Trump-Zelensky quid pro quo; but, in spite of three government investigations into Biden-Ukraine, New York magazine opined, “Ukraine’s president finally delivers favor Trump was impeached over…Biden was supporting the pro-reform agenda” (emphasis theirs).
Mind you, it isn’t JUST THREE investigations. In Ukraine, a high-court judge ordered the State Bureau of Investigation to probe Biden and the firing of Viktor Shokin, and the president ordered an investigation into President Poroshenko’s calls with Joe Biden and John Kerry. Back home, the Senate will question Blue Star Strategies (retained by Burisma) about influencing John Kerry through the Biden relation. And now, leaked audio invites more – not less – scrutiny of Biden and Burisma.
It might have been possible to dismiss Mr. Biden’s earlier video boast (he forced out Ukraine’s prosecutor general) as an exaggeration of his diplomatic power, but his quid pro quo is corroborated in Poroshenko’s December 2015 recording of John Kerry: “Before Vice President Biden comes in, I [want you to] get by this problem of replacing the prosecutor general, you know, Shokin.” John Kerry is clearly setting pre-conditions for Biden’s visit.
It’s absurd to accept New York magazine’s spin that Biden’s quid pro quo was pro-reform motivated, because it’s contradicted in Poroshenko’s February 2016 recording: ” I met with [him], Shokin, and despite [the] fact we didn’t have any corruption charges [or] any information about him doing something wrong, I [have] asked him to resign – this is my second step for keeping my promises.” Poroshenko made the absence of “corruption” or “something wrong” clear to Biden.
It is Biden’s voice that proves $1 billion was tied to the removal of the Burisma investigator in a March 2016 recording: “I’m a man of my word, and now that a new prosecutor general is in place, we’re ready to [give] that one billion dollar loan.” If the governed are to trust the press to call balls and strikes, the legacy media cannot proclaim Biden-Ukriane a closed matter.
How can the Post believe democracy dies in darkness and not have real concerns about Joe Biden? If he is not “all there” during US-UK trade talks, every American – regardless of political strip – will suffer. If Biden is guilty of grift, wouldn’t Democrats rather know it before Labor Day (Bloomberg is waiting in the wings)? If a Trump wave election happens, blame the double-edged sword of media bias. By wanting Democrats in power so bad, they are blind to the risk of Biden.