Oh, the irony. Oh, the hypocrisy. Oh, the hyperbole. In his once-a-year press conference, President Biden did something virtually unprecedented. He stood for one hour and forty-five minutes to take questions from the press corps.
For most of his presidency, Biden has been the least responsive President to questions from the press … from constituents … and from his neighbors in Delaware. He is usually kept under tight wraps. Even after addressing the nation, he most often walks off the stage without responding to all those questions being yelled at him from the press gaggle.
But this time he was allowed off his leash to roam the media garden on his one. From the standpoint of his White House handlers and spokespersons, it was probably not a good idea. The gaffe-prone President gaffed several times – two very controversial.
In dealing with the imminent Russian invasion of Ukraine, Biden suggested that it might not be too bad if Putin settled for a small incursion. He was barely off the stage when White Hose presidential stand-in Jen Psaki issued a statement “clarifying” what the President said. Clarification, my foot. It was a complete repudiation of what Biden said. That had to do that since Biden’s gaffe set off alarms in Ukraine and across NATO.
Then there was that second gaffe. Biden intimated that if Republicans give the Democrats a shellacking in the Midterm Elections, it may be a rigged election. That was such a faux pax that even his friend in the press were critical.
I mean, think about it. For the past two years, Democrats have been pounding on two themes. Trump was undermining public confidence in the American electoral process by claiming the 2020 election was rigged. To rebut that point, Democrats insisted that American elections are completely free of corruption and fraud.
For two years that message has been repeated on an almost daily basis. So, what does Biden do. He goes completely off message to play the trump card. (Take that any way you please). He is telling the folks back home that they cannot trust the electoral process unless Democrats win.
That contention is even more ridiculous than when Trump made those same pre-election assertions. He and Biden were in a neck and neck race in which cheating could tip the scales – as many believe is the case. But that does not seem to be the case for 2022 as it is seen from eight months out. The most likely prospect is a huge GOP win – for a number of reasons. The current Democrat majority in the House is only five seats – and a tie in the Senate.
The odds of the GOP winning a lot more than five seats in the house are very high. First, the party out of the White House tends to take control of the House in the first Midterm Election of a first-term President. That tradition alone should do it. But there is more.
The redistribution of congressional seats based on the 2020 census takes several seats away from Democrat exodus states and gives them to Republican states. That alone could tip the balance.
Then there is redistricting – and that involves the longstanding tradition of gerrymandering – crafting districts to give your side as many seats as possible. In the extreme, it is unconstitutional and egregiously drawn maps do get struck down by the courts. But there is still plenty of room for partisan craftsmanship. Republicans have a slight edge in that they control more of the state legislatures – and almost all of the switched seats. The advantage, however, is not as great as the leftwing whiners on television claim. Democrats are doing a pretty good job in gerrymandering districts for themselves in those blue stats.
One of the counterintuitive facts is that it is potentially easier to flip a national election than a large number of House seats – or even those statewide Senate seats. Even though more than 100 million people vote for President, the margin of victory is usually a few thousand votes in a couple of key states – any one of which could flip a presidential election.
So, when Biden goes off making excuses for the likely – not certain – but likely GOP sweep in November he is guilty of gross hypocrisy … irony … and hyperbole.
Presidential stand-in, Jen Psaki, has not yet apologized on behalf of the president – or clarified his statement – but that may be yet to come. But it does prove that Biden cannot be trusted to deal with questions on his own. Every time he is not scripted, we see another serious Biden gaffe.
We can rest assured that the Midterm Elections will be conducted RELATIVELY free of shenanigans. I mean … there are always some folks finding ways to cheat. We just have to keep that at a minimum.
So, there ‘tis.