Montage: President Biden tells reporters how smart they are
President Biden has on occasion gone out of his way to tell reporters they're brilliant and informed.
President Biden has had his share of testy moments with the media, but he's also not hesitated to work the refs at times with compliments about their integrity and intelligence.
During his lengthy press conference last week, Biden asked the media a rhetorical question about his predecessor Donald Trump, wondering if journalists could imagine a time in the past where a figure could "intimidate" an entire party out of taking a vote that would benefit Biden.
"It sounds like I’m being solicitous — you’re all bright as hell, well-informed — more informed than any group of people in America. But did any of you think that you’d get to a point where not a single Republican would diverge on a major issue? Not one?" he asked.
Although Biden snapped at a reporter during the briefing who asked about his Georgia speech likening political foes to segregationists, some left-leaning journalists enthused afterward that he was genial toward them in contrast to Trump.
"Pres Biden, in the longest news conference in presidential history, made news, pushed back on critics, called out lies, took responsibility for mistakes he believes he made, expressed surprise at GOP, talked foreign policy and didn't lash out on reporters. Quite the change," tweeted NBC's Yamiche Alcindor.
Left-wing reporter Brian Karem cooed afterward, "He never once tried to belittle us."
Sometimes, Biden has trotted out the language in a clean-up effort. After erupting at CNN's Kaitlan Collins on June 16 when she asked him a question about his hopes for Russian President Vladimir Putin to change his malign behavior, he apologized shortly afterward and told a gaggle of reporters outside Air Force One, "I mean it, you're the brightest people in the country … I'm not being solicitous. You are."
During a CNN town hall with left-wing anchor Don Lemon in July, Biden praised his questioner after he asked about a timeframe for vaccinations for those under 12.
"Just like the other question, there’s a logical — and I’ve heard you speak about it because you always — I’m not being solicitous, but you — you’re always straight up about what you’re doing," Biden said.
Last January, less than a week after taking office, Biden fretted that when he arrived in office, the vaccination program left by the Trump administration was worse than he anticipated.
"A lot of you have followed this, and I mean this sincerely, the press is the smartest group of people in town," he said. "You honed this stuff down clearly. I think you found the same thing."
Biden also gushed over the media during the closing weeks of the 2020 campaign against Trump.
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"Again, I'm not being solicitous," he said at a press conference on Sept. 4, 2020. "Among the brightest people I've dealt with in my whole career have been the press. Not a joke. You all are extremely well-educated, you're well-read … The vast majority have tried to report the news, not just opinion."
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