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Rich Lowry
Conservative columnist and editor of National Review Rich Lowry fired back at the growing right-wing chorus attacking the Trump administration’s infectious diseases expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, calling out their wild caricatures of the public health official as a “dastardly bureaucratic mastermind imposing his will on the country.”
In his a column for Politico, Lowry points out the absurd attempts to portray Fauci as a villain intent on destroying the economy. The anti-Fauci movement bubbled for weeks online; Trump himself retweeted a post a #FireFauci tagged tweet. As Green Room readers know, Fox News prime time opinion hosts have been all over Fauci, particularly one-time voice of Covid-19 semi-reason in the line-up Tucker Carlson. An uptick in outrage Lowry notes before crushing it.
“Fauci is an important voice in this debate, if only one voice," Lowry explained. "He is neither the dastardly bureaucratic mastermind imposing his will on the country that his detractors on the right make him out to be nor the philosopher-king in waiting that his boosters on the left inflate him into."
He offers in-depth insight, even going into the obvious reasons for Fauci's focus on on the disease rather than the economy (that's his job) which should have been... well, obvious.
The effort by the Trump right not only to demonize Fauci, but to set him up as the bad guy for any economic fallout, thus leaving President Donald Trump blameless in their eyes once again, is a grotesque smear and ahistorical propaganda.
Kudos to Lowry for being a conservative columnist unwilling to go along. 6.5.0 |
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 | MEDIA LOSER:
Andrew Bates
Former Vice President and current presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden's name is among those on the Michael Flynn "unmasking" list made public this week.
Andrew Bates, the Biden campaign’s director of rapid response, ripped into CBS News senior investigative correspondent Catherine Herridge in response to the story, a blatant "kill the messenger" strategy.
And a vicious one.
“SCOOP: Catherine Herridge is a partisan, rightwing hack who is a regular conduit for conservative media manipulation ploys because she agrees to publicize things before contacting the target to ask for comment," Bates wrote on Twitter.
That tweet was deleted after being crushed online. Former colleague Greta Van Susteren said Bates owes Herridge an apology. Writer and MSNBC regular Tom Nichols wrote "Attacking reporters is what Trump does. Don't be that guy."
CNN's Jake Tapper may have had the most definitive tweet on the subject.
"Gross. Personal attacks on journalists for sharing facts is obnoxious and indecent," wrote Tapper, asking if Biden "approves this message" in his retweet.
When Catherine Herridge moved from Fox News to CBS, she was widely praised for her skill as an investigative journalist and on-air reporter, her extensive sources, and her commitment to facts-based journalism.
Tapper was right that the attack by Bates was "gross," not to mention transparent. And in an era where reporters are battling relentless attacks by the Trump-right, it makes even less sense from the campaign that's running against him to join in. 6.5.0 |
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| The Interview President Donald Trump said Democrats “would rather see our country fail,” and create “death,” than allow him to win another term in the White House, in a major interview with Fox host Maria Bartiromo on Thursday morning.
He also labeled calls for continued shutdown measures "a political thing."
The president called Dr. Anthony Fauci a "very good person," but pushed back on the NIAID director's remarks about the opening of schools.
“This is the greatest political scam, hoax, in the history of our country," said Trump of the Michael Flynn unmasking story and the Russia investigation, though he wasn't even able to explain what Obamagate is.
“It is the biggest political scandal we’ve ever seen,” Bartiromo nevertheless somehow agreed.
European Virus
Speaking of propaganda, Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) doubled down on Wednesday on his new hype that the coronavirus is from Europe, telling reporters “no one knew” until recently.
New York Times oped columnist Gail Collins is a fan of that rebranding on the grounds that it will "it’ll drive Donald Trump crazy."
"What more do you need?" she absurdly asks.
‘This Has to Be a Joke, Right?’
CNN was relentlessly ridiculed over the last 24 hours for putting 17-year-old climate change awareness activist Greta Thunberg on its coronavirus pandemic town hall alongside health experts.
Testing for all
Former Vice President Joe Biden tore into President Donald Trump for his failure to implement nationwide coronavirus testing and tracing despite immediately taking those measures when White House staffers began getting infected.
“Everybody in the White House is getting a test, everyone in the White House is wearing masks, they’re doing what needs to be done nationwide," he said.
'I can’t think of anything more offensive'
CNN’s Anderson Cooper was stunned last night by reporting from Jim Acosta that President Donald Trump and White House officials are questioning whether the coronavirus death toll is too high.
Southern Covid Decline
Coronavirus cases in Georgia and Florida are in decline, while South Dakota has seen a spike. The southern decline - 12% in Georgia and 14% in Florida - comes despite the two states recently coming out of lockdown, according to new data.
‘Just do it’
President Trump is now demanding that his predecessor, former president Barack Obama, give testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on what he calls “the biggest political crime and scandal in the history of the USA, by FAR.” And he roped in Sen. Lindsey Graham to do it.
Late Night Roundup
Late night hosts Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers, and Jimmy Kimmel all went after the Trump administration’s coronavirus response on Wednesday, bashing the president for his nation’s high death toll and his own low approval ratings. 6.5.0 |
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| Virtual Wedding TV studios have been forced to halt productions amid the coronavirus, leaving fans with no new content, so old classics have stepped up to the plate and reunited over Zoom to recreate their best scenes and episodes.
John Krasinski threw a virtual wedding for a pair of fans during an episode of his web series Some Good News, and amazingly, he reunited his The Office castmates to recreate the all-time great moment Jim and Pam’s wedding dance for the newlyweds.
It. Was. Awesome. Several other shows are doing online specials and reunions, too.
Watch the great Office moment, and more, here. |
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