Tim Graham: Biden's press conference – top 7 puffballs mainstream media have pitched so far

In a recent panel discussion on Zoom assembled to assess Joe Biden’s first weeks with the press, NBC White House reporter Geoff Bennett made a candid admission. The Biden campaign and transition used the COVID restrictions to limit the number of reporters at press conferences, and then only called on reporters we would call "friendly."

Bennett put it this way: "They didn't know the questions we were gonna ask, but they certainly knew who we were, all the reporters were known quantities. So there was no chance that they were gonna call on, you know, some local reporter from some unnamed newspaper who was gonna ask Joe Biden a potentially difficult or uncomfortable question."

So they knew they would face nothing about Hunter Biden’s corruption. Nothing about Tara Reade’s accusations of sexual assault. Nothing about Democrats being soft on rioting – or a "racial reckoning," as the media like to call it.

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After the Trump era – when no question from the press was quite rude enough – "potentially difficult" questions were screened out. Bennett was not complaining, just explaining.

So what have been the worst seven puffball questions asked to Biden as he ascended (with so much media assistance) to the White House?

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1. I would start with Edward-Isaac Dovere of The Atlantic magazine last Sept. 4. On the same day that this liberal rag published an anonymously sourced anti-Trump hit piece that claimed Trump called American war dead a pathetic bunch of "losers" and "suckers," Biden very conveniently called on Dovere first, for a doozy.

Inquired Dovere: "Thank you, sir! This morning in reference to that article in The Atlantic and a call convened by your campaign, Khizr Khan said the comments demonstrated that President Trump's life is a testament to selfishness, and his soul is that of a coward. You've talked about this as a different view of how you see the job as president. But when you hear these remarks – suckers, losers, recoiling from amputees – what does it tell you about the president's soul and the life he leads?"

2. At that same event, CBS reporter Ed O’Keefe demanded Biden show rage: "You said today is the angriest you've been as a presidential candidate. But you said you're trying to restrain yourself. There's a lot of people out there that are supporting you or inclined to not vote for the president who would say why isn't Joe Biden angrier about all of this?"

Some might say reporters are "tough" on Biden when they demand more outrage about Trump. But that’s not holding him accountable. It’s demanding they sound as anti-Trump as they did.

3. Back on June 30, Alexandra Jaffe of the Associated Press offered another one of these: "We reported yesterday that President Trump was briefed as early as March of 2019 that Russia had ordered or offered bounties to the Taliban for the killing of U.S. soldiers. You called his inaction on this issue a ‘betrayal.’ So broadly, what consequences do you think the president should face for that betrayal and, specifically, what do you think Congress should do?"

Some might say reporters are "tough" on Biden when they demand more outrage about Trump. But that’s not holding him accountable.

4. After the election, when Biden was tabbed as president-elect, the soft serves continued. On Nov. 10, NBC’s Mike Memoli, a perpetual puffball pitcher asked,  "You warned during the campaign that as the walls closed in on the president, he would behave more erratically. Yesterday he fired his defense secretary on Twitter. Are you worried that he’s disabling the government?"

5. On Nov. 16, Geoff Bennett acted like that Known Quantity of support:  "What do you see is the biggest threat to your transition right now given President Trump's unprecedented attempt to obstruct and delay a smooth transfer of power?"

6. Three days later, his NBC colleague Kristen Welker offered an echo: ""You have said that lives could be lost if you don't start getting briefings from the Trump administration and now here we are, more than 250,000 lives could be lost. Given that, how do you justify not taking legal action to get the briefings that you say are critical, that you say you need?"

This trend lasted throughout the transition. 

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7. On Dec. 22, Jennifer Epstein of Bloomberg News sounded very worried about Trump haunting Biden: "Are you concerned about the effects, long term, that his presidency and now in the transition, his refusal to concede, his challenges to the election, will have on American politics, will have on the Republican Party, especially if he does take the step of filing for reelection next months – or running – or to run in 2024. You know, are you concerned about him lingering around?"

If reporters are still begging Biden to bash Trump after two months in the White House, you'll know they don't believe any of their own rhetoric about holding people accountable.

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