To Be Honest...

Face the Nation showcased opinions from voters on Biden's first 100 days. Here's a sampling. pic.twitter.com/nJGzC630kB

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 2, 2021

I watch "Meet The Press" every Sunday morning, and I barely pay attention to what Chuck Todd says. The vaunted "bipartisanship" that supposedly a hallmark of American governance (it isn't), is a Beltway pundits obsession (and the party out of power knows it). 

Oddly, though, bipartisanship is more important when the GOP is out of power than when it's in, at least according to the pundits. Mitch McConnell was never a "genius" of the Senate (LBJ would have picked his teeth with McConnell), he just had the majority. That's all you need; everything else is eyewash. I'm not a fan of Sens. Sinema or Manchin, but neither of them is Joe Lieberman. The closest McConnell got to a Lieberman was John McCain, and that's the only reason we still have Obamacare. McCain died, and McConnell had free reign.  

But the only people paying attention to "bipartisanship" or who said what on Sunday morning, are the people in the Beltway or the people obsessed with what happens in the Beltway.

I just watched this exchange and Chuck Todd didn't express any skepticism about Portman's claims that Republicans want to negotiate in good faith or that the Biden White House flip-flopped overnight https://t.co/wGpf7c1c06

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 2, 2021

Eh, I'll express it for Todd. Portman is peddling a convenient (and undoubtedly false) narrative here. Anyone paying attention knows that. If you don't know it, you aren't paying attention. If you aren't paying attention, Portman is a tree falling in the forest, and you aren't there to hear it. And most of these Sunday morning shows? Nobody's paying attention. If the networks could come up with anything that would draw more eyeballs on Sunday morning (NFL games starting at 8 a.m., for example), they'd run it in a heartbeat. They run these shows because it's more prestigious than running hour long promos for Ginsu knives. Barely more prestigious, anyway.

did the Republican Party write this? https://t.co/tTPkHv3fQi

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 2, 2021

Yeah, probably. But if Rupar hadn't tweeted it, I wouldn't even know it was there. This is not going to be on the front page of the NYT tomorrow morning, or even on the Op-Ed page of WaPo. CNN isn't going to run with it every hour on the hour (FoxNews will, but...meh.) Again: trees falling in forests when no one is around to listen, and who cares what squirrels hear?

John Dickerson of CBS grills WH Chief of Staff Ron Klain about whether Biden will propose any spending cuts. Klain notes all the good stuff that govt has done since Biden took office. Dickerson replies by saying "I didn't hear an answer on spending cuts, but we're gonna move on." pic.twitter.com/OgdaCYYeGW

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 2, 2021

And that, for better or worse, is the adversarial style of news interviewing that happens regularly on American TeeVee. Sure, the Today Show might have focussed on a Biden proposal that could put a cupcake before every American, and follow it with 45 seconds on decorating cupcakes; but this is Sunday morning TeeVee. The Administration flack talks up what the Administration is doing, the "journalist" acts skeptical. and the whole thing runs on wheels. ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?! If not, I suggest turning off the TeeVee. It's Sunday morning. Spend time with your family; go get brunch. Read a book.

Watching talking heads giving canned responses to predictable questions that ruffle no one's feelings in a recitation designed not to make any news whatsoever is no way to go through life, son.