David Harsanyi of the Federalist highlights a bizarre plea from the Biden White House.
When will The New York Times finally stop pulling punches and go after Donald Trump?
This is the question Joe Biden’s campaign asked this week. “For the political press corp (sic) —especially our friends at the Gray Lady,” wrote the White House in a campaign email, “it’s time to meet the moment and responsibly inform the electorate of what their lives might look like if the leading GOP candidate for president is allowed back in the WH.”
The New York Times is, indeed, a friend. It “meets the moment” all the time. So, no, Biden isn’t working the refs here. He’s demanding obedience. And the fact that the White House can brazenly petition a supposedly free press to join his campaign effort tells us a lot about how little the contemporary Democrat cares for a free press.
Recall that on the rare occasions that the Times slips up and writes an honest headline, celebrity journalism “professors” and leftist Twitterati swarm and demand it be changed to something more suitable. More often than not, the Times obliges them. They will oblige this time, as well.
In this instance, the White House didn’t even profess they wanted a factual error corrected, which would be understandable. Biden was upset that the Times published a piece offering a quite banal, if inconvenient, observation about Trump and the issue of abortion. …
… Trump, despite all the bluster, is perhaps the most ideologically moderate and malleable major Republican candidate to run for the presidency in a very long time. As the piece mentions, the former president has taken virtually every position on abortion during his political life. And while it’s true he’s nominated constitutionalist jurists, as a candidate, he now claims that Florida’s pro-life law is a “terrible mistake.”
And because Trump, who has a substantial lead in the polls, is already running a general election campaign, while his GOP primary adversaries are compelled to shore up conservative support, he can moderate positions — like every candidate ever.
