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Biden and the media ducking the 2024 campaign

&NewLine;<p>President Trump&comma; by far&comma; garners the most news coverage&comma; mostly about his court cases&period;  The only campaign coverage he gets from the left-leaning media is universally negative and is mostly about his personality and too frequent provocative statements&period;  Former South Carolina Governor and UN Ambassador Nikki Haley comes in second – and mostly when attacking Trump&period; Their positions and proposals on issues get virtually no coverage&period;  But issues are not what drives the Fourth Estate&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>There is a reason why the demonization of Trump is the subject of most coverage of the Republican campaigns&period;&nbsp&semi; The Democrat campaign strategy is to make voters hate&comma; fear&comma; dislike and vote against Trump – and the leftwing media is all in on that strategy&period;&nbsp&semi; While Democrats want voters to focus only on Trump&comma; they want minimal reporting of the Democrat primaries and other candidacies – and potential candidacies&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>First&comma; there is President Biden&comma; himself&period;&nbsp&semi; He is running the same bunker campaign he ran in 2020 – but this time without the Covid Pandemic as an excuse&period;&nbsp&semi; Recognizing his gaffes and obvious deteriorating physical and mental condition&comma; the Democrat strategy is to avoid frequent or even rare unscripted engagements with the press and public&period;&nbsp&semi; They are running a virtual Biden candidacy&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>It may not be obvious to the general public&comma; but Biden has been off the campaign trail more than any President since William McKinley ran what was called his &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;front porch campaign” in 1896&period; &nbsp&semi;Since radio became a campaign tool under President Franklin Roosevelt&comma; and the television came of age in the 1960 Kennedy&sol;Nixon campaign&comma; Presidents and presidential candidates have been voracious in their appetite for media coverage&period;&nbsp&semi; They wanted to press the flesh&period;&nbsp&semi; They wanted to get out their message personally – and as frequently as possible&period;&nbsp&semi; They complained when they did not get the coverage they thought they deserved&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>But not Biden&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>He holds fewer press conferences than any modern President&period;&nbsp&semi; He gives fewer speeches – and when he does&comma; they are mostly recorded events from the television studio he has constructed in the White House&period;&nbsp&semi; When he does speak outside the gates of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue&comma; it is mostly in closed events at which he does not take questions from the public or the press&period;&nbsp&semi; Biden avoids impromptu situations like Chris Christie avoids vegan restaurants&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Biden does not engage with the press in a casual manner&period;&nbsp&semi; He operates more like a television show about a fictional President in which each episode is scripted and acted out in a closed environment&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Instead of speaking his mind&comma; Biden is programmed by advisors to speak their consensus&period; He is a bit like those television anchors&comma; who merely read what others had put on the teleprompter – or in Biden’s case&comma; on those ubiquitous breast-pocket &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;cheat” cards that give him both script and mundane stage directions&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>And then there is the issue of the traditional presidential debates&period;&nbsp&semi; You have not seen any on the Democrat side because Biden refuses to participate&period;&nbsp&semi; Strategically&comma; it is understandable&period;&nbsp&semi; To say Biden is not good on his feet &lpar;when he can even stay on them&rpar; is an understatement&period;&nbsp&semi; He also has a problem with the issues&period;&nbsp&semi; He does not want to be forced into defending his policies&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>In other words&comma; the basic Team Biden strategy is to minimize Biden’s public exposure and press coverage during the campaign&period;  He makes so few campaign appearances and press availabilities that even the press has taken note – and are complaining&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>The Democrats desire to keep the voters in the dark has another curious twist&period;&nbsp&semi; It is the extent to which Biden &amp&semi; Co&period; attempt to minimize the coverage of other candidates in the Democrat primaries – or those running as independents&period; &nbsp&semi;Of course&comma; the biased media is more than happy to go along with the Biden strategy by ignoring the other candidates&comma; as well&period; If you are not aware that Biden has competition in the Democrat primaries&comma; you get my point&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>The most credible candidate against Biden is Minnesota Democrat Congressman Dean Phillips&period;&nbsp&semi; He is knowledgeable and articulate&period; Biden has every right to fear standing on a debate stage next to Phillips&period;&nbsp&semi; It could&nbsp&semi; change the nature of the race&period; But that does not excuse the media for taking up the Biden strategy as a helpmate&period;&nbsp&semi; In some polls&comma; Phillips is pulling up to 20 percent of Democrat primary vote in key states&period; At this stage&comma; that makes him a credible candidate by traditional standards – and yet he gets virtually no news coverage by the media&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Another example of pretending someone does not exist by ignoring them is the independent candidacy of Robert Kenedy&comma; Jr&period;&nbsp&semi; Despite his spasmodic dysphonia – a speech condition that makes his voice raspy – he has traction with a growing number of voters who are displeased with the prospect of a Biden&sol;Trump re-match&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>According to the <em>New York Times<&sol;em> Poll&comma; 37 percent of voters would consider casting their ballots for Kennedy&period;&nbsp&semi; That makes him a contender with winning potential in a three-way race&period;&nbsp&semi; In a three-way contest in battleground states&comma; Kennedy is doing remarkably well at this stage&period;&nbsp&semi; He garners an average of 25 percent of the vote – with Trump and Biden in the mid-30 percentile each&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>In four of the six battleground states&comma; Kennedy trails Biden by single digits – Arizona &lpar;7&percnt;&rpar;&comma; Georgia &lpar;2&percnt;&rpar;&comma; Michigan &lpar;5&percnt;&rpar; and Nevada &lpar;8&percnt;&rpar;&period;&nbsp&semi;&nbsp&semi; Kennedy trails Biden by 12 percent in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin&period;&nbsp&semi; According to the <em>Times<&sol;em>&comma; Biden is ahead of Trump in only one battleground state – Wisconsin&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>With those kinds of numbers&comma; Kennedy should be in virtually all the major presidential news stories&period;&nbsp&semi; So&comma; why isn’t he&quest;&nbsp&semi; Could it be that the media is working for Biden to manipulate the election – and they know Kennedy is a real threat to Biden’s reelection&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>And &&num;8230&semi; we still have no idea what No Labels and soon-to-be-former West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin will do&period;&nbsp&semi; Will the media deny coverage of them too simply because they could derail Biden’s coronation&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>So&comma; why is Biden ducking – running a basement bunker campaign&quest;&nbsp&semi; Why the blackout of the other candidates and potential candidates&quest;&nbsp&semi; The answer is simple&period;&nbsp&semi;&nbsp&semi; Too much focus on Biden and he loses&period;&nbsp&semi; Too much attention is given to credible competitors&comma; and he loses&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>They say that one of the essential ingredients to a small-d democratic election is a well-informed public&period;&nbsp&semi; If Biden and his media friends have their way&comma; the folks back home will not be a well-informed public&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>So&comma; there &OpenCurlyQuote;tis&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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