The President says so many ridiculous, garbled and alarming things that there is no justification for fabricating examples. In so doing, the conservative media simply duplicates the unethical treatment of Biden’s predecessor by the mainstream media, in which journalists and pundits attacked him for statements that they intentionally misconstrued though their intended meaning was clear and benign to anyone assessing them in good faith. That conduct by President Trump’s critics was dishonest and despicable. Yet here is the Right, doing the exact same thing.
Yecchh.
“HE’S FINE, HONEST: Biden claims ‘we ended cancer as we know it’ and says there’s ‘no difference’ between a broken arm and a mental breakdown.” was the entry by conservative pundit Stephen Greene in Instapundit. The link was to the Daily Mail, whose headline was similarly misleading: “We ended cancer as we know it’: Biden raises eyebrows with stunning claim during speech on mental health treatment where he said there’s ‘no difference’ between a broken arm and a mental breakdown.”
Biden was speaking during an event on Tuesday at the White House to promote insurers expanding access to mental health coverage. He did not say that there was “no difference” between a broken arm and a mental breakdown. He said that both maladies were serious health problems that should be be equally covered by health insurance. The President was not asserting that clinical depression or a psychotic break were the same as breaking a bone, but that mental and emotional illness have not been covered by insurance to the extent that physical injuries have, and there is no good reason for it.
He’s right. I worked on an NIH task force examining the inadequate treatment of depression, caused in part by the lack of sufficient medical insurance. Joe’s statement, as quoted by the Mail—-“And folks, you know, I don’t know what the difference between breaking your arm and having a mental breakdown is. It’s health – there’s no distinction ‘We must fulfill the promise of true mental health parity for all Americans now….”— is typically inarticulate, but one can only misinterpret his message if one is determined to, fairness and logic be damned.
The other false claim, that Biden said that cancer as we know it has been cured, is even worse. Here is the full quote:
“One of the things I’m always asked is, you know, why Americans have sort of lost faith for a while in being able to do big things. “If you could do anything at all, Joe, what would you do?” ‘I said, “I’d cure cancer.’ ‘They looked at me like, “Why cancer?” Because no one thinks we can, that’s why. And we can. We ended cancer as we know it.”
It is, again, typical Joe Biden blather (Who believes that anyone would ask, “Why cure cancer?”), but the context of the the last sentence makes it clear that Biden misspoke, and meant to say, “We can end cancer as we know it.” His previous comments made it obvious that he doesn’t think cancer has been ended.
The official White House transcript reports that Biden said: “We can end cancer as we know it.” Good. That is what he meant. Conservative pundits and critics undermine their own credibility with cheap shots and contrived mockery like their distortion of Biden’s message. At best, this is an example of how confirmation bias can rot brains and ethics. At worst, it is deliberate misrepresentation.
Ethics Alarms 
I was wondering about this quote, having also seen in posted on Instapundit, and I have two reactions to your analysis, Jack. The first is, I hate to see “my team” — inasmuch as I consider conservatives my home team, and not just another side of an increasingly toxic, dysfunctional, immoral, self-serving political landscape, only distinguished from the other sides by what they promise (and fail to deliver to) constituents — denigrate themselves with dishonest “Gotcha!” tactics.
The second, and I’m sure Steve-O will have his 2 cents on this, is that Democrats made their bed through such filthy tactics. If there’s anything that I’ve noticed in particular about politics, is that the Republicans seem like the little brother who won’t do anything on his own, but once he sees his big brother do it, then he follows suit. Once Democrats showed that the game to play is spinning what the President says to make him seem a liar or incompetent, then that’s the game the Republicans will start playing. It is awful that that’s how the parties behave, but that seems to be how it turns out regardless of how destructive it actually is. Of course, part of the problem is that Republicans don’t have the media covering for them to the same extent Democrats do, and another part of the problem is that Republicans, for whatever reason, suck at dirty tactics.
Except for Machiavelli Mitch. He seems to play the unethical power-by-any-means-necessary game fairly well.
As a footnote, I think Biden may have been trying to state what he would say when looking back after defeating cancer. I don’t think that changes anything substantive in anyone’s analysis, so it is just my take on what he was trying to say.
I agree Biden is bad enough without any exaggeration or twisting of words. However, considering the blatant falsehood the Biden admin is engaging in right now regarding Florida’s history curriculum, there is no way I would defend him against conservatives giving it back to him.
But we have to fight against the Tit for Tat argument. It may feel good to dish out to Biden what was dished out to Trump but it’s terribly damaging to our country. Further, when conservatives misquote Biden like this, it’s easier for the media – which already has it out for conservatives in general – to point to these pounces as rationalization for their practice of framing everything critical of the President as “Republicans Pounce!”
If Republicans want to show they are the sane ones, they have to stop doing what Democrats did from 2016-2020 that demonstrated they were not sane and pick their battles wisely. That means not jumping on every stumble over words.
If they complain about stupid things, no one will listen when they complain about important things.
How has that worked for the Democrats?
I’m not referring to the lockstep followers who would follow the devil into Hell itself if their party told them to. I’m referring to the large masses of reasonable people out there who want sanity and aren’t being shown it, thus are stuck voting for what they think is the lesser of two evils. If a party showed them sanity – real sanity – not just “They’re crazier than we are”, it would certainly make a difference.
I understand and agree. I’m not saying it’s the sort of thing I would do (Biden admin is bad enough – no need to exaggerate), I’m just saying I wouldn’t defend Biden when the shoe is on the other foot. Live by the sword, die by the sword.
Jack,
“The official White House transcript reports that Biden said: “We can end cancer as we know it.” Good. That is what he meant.”
While I agree in this case, I don’t like the idea of later editors modifying the official record to correct misstatements. He literally said the words, even if context makes it clear he didn’t mean them. This is more a slippery-slope argument than a disagreement. The Bible is replete with “copyist errors” in which well meaning scribes made small changes to the base text out of ignorance or religious fervor –which now affect the belief systems of millions of people. In other words, nip it in the bud.
Great article!
I basically agree, Neil.
Neil Dorr,
I basically agree with you with one sort of exception: if the President is delivering prepared remarks (State of the Union or whatever) that script is the official script, even if he stumbles through a passage, misses a word, or interjects. They could say: this is what was meant because this is what he was prepared to say. Of course, what was actually said is what was actually said, but it would not be dishonest to say that the script is the official position of the office.
-Jut
The solution is to put the intended text in brackets: “We [can end] cancer as we know it.”
Agreed. It is kind of like Biden saying he never discussed his son’s business dealings with him. Now, the line is Buden didn’t do business with this son’s businesses.
jvb
In ttrue Orwellian fashion, Biden’s paid liar, KJP, is now saying the “didn’t do business” version has ALWAYS been the claim, and that there has been no change.
We have to recognize that if Biden got up and recited “Jabberwocky,” the White House and the regime media would try and twist it into the Gettysburg Address.
Certainly his authentic gaffes and bumbles speak for themselves, and this is definitely a lily that needs no gilding.
What if the Republicans who “pounced” on statements like this one merely casually mocked them by saying “Imagine if President Trump had said this.” ?
Indeed, it’s an IIPTDXTTNMIAFB—we have a tag for it!
I agree with A M Golden. People want to see a party take the high road. A party that does so would get more support than a party trying to win the rhetorical race to the bottom.
The problem, I think, is that the Republican Party’s business model is incompatible with taking the high road. They can’t show true sanity because then they’d be held to that standard all the time. They can’t beat the Democrats too badly because then they’d have no opposition to blame when they make bad decisions, and no opposition scandals to distract from their own. The Democratic Party has the same problem; that’s why they escalate these unprofessional shenanigans.
The Forward Party is currently supporting local candidates, across both the country and the political spectrum, who are focused on constructive local policy and representing the interests of all their constituents rather than participating in the professional wrestling show that is national politics. The more we show that responsible politicians will earn votes, the more of them will run for national positions and the more they will win.
How does that sound?