Summing Up

Some amusing bits about the media frenzy.

1) We've talked about little but Biden's age since January. Yet certain hacks with a gripe claim they were the only one telling that secret that led all the news.

— emptywheel (checking account) (@emptywheel) July 7, 2024

3) MANY of the people posing as journalists appear not to understand there are two questions: Does he drop from the race, does he drop from the presidency.

Given that the more detailed reports are about STAMINA and speaking (not dementia), those are different things.

— emptywheel (checking account) (@emptywheel) July 7, 2024

All of those details make it very easy for observers to dismiss many of these journos bc:
1) They claim the top Biden story was instead a secret
2) They don't understand linear time
3) They don't care about presidenting itself
4) Especially not policy

— emptywheel (checking account) (@emptywheel) July 7, 2024

If you are a media reporter (looking at you, @brianstelter), the fact that many of these frenzy folks are struggling with linear time, the difference between the race and the Presidency, and details of past races, might be a subject worth considering.

— emptywheel (checking account) (@emptywheel) July 7, 2024

After all: “Some people say.”

(Inadvertently the FoxNews/Trump/MAGA crowd have exposed the rot in American political discourse: the reliance on polls (Trump insists he can’t lose: “Look at the polls!”); election night “projections” (again, based on polls) which make it seem like voting is almost unnecessary (and in fact in one famous example shutdown voting on the West Coast; or we all agreed that was the story), and vote counts can (and should) be done in minutes, not days; and the simple fact that political news is largely gossip (“Some people say.” Like “some people say” Biden must withdraw from the election. Which people? “Many people.” Like Mark Warner. Or a few Representatives nobody’s ever heard of who suddenly, mirabile dictu, speak for all their voters in a clear and single voice)

Just the facts, donchaknow?