NYT does it again. WTF is the matter with them?

[elias7]

They manage to imply that Covid is Biden’s failure. Headline and 1st four paragraphs seem more about implying this is Biden’s failure rather than this being a worldwide pandemic that is out of control, largely because of such irresponsible journalism. This blame game BS is what has turned this pandemic into a political football. If I am a Rethug, I would read the following with glee, and continue to avoid vax and mask. Read for yourself, and if you do not agree, try reading the leads from other news sources. I swear they seem to have an anti Biden agenda.

Nearly a year into his presidency, Biden is again struggling to beat back a resurgent virus.

WASHINGTON — The latest surge of the coronavirus is another reminder for President Biden of how hard it is to get ahead of the pandemic.

Vaccine effectiveness has waned in the onslaught of Delta and Omicron. A spike in demand for testing is straining the system. And masks remain a political issue across the country.

Nearly a year into his presidency, Mr. Biden’s promise to “shut down the virus, not the country” remains only partly fulfilled. Stubborn resistance to vaccines among millions and the arrival of the fast-spreading new variant have upended the president’s plans for a hopeful, end-of-the-year holiday season.

Just a week before Christmas, Mr. Biden had to offer a warning of gloom.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/18/world/biden-is-struggling-to-beat-back-a-resurgent-virus-once-again.html

[Sherman A1]

1. Gave up on them years ago

That and cable noise.

[betsuni]

2. Bullshit about "Biden's promises." But his promises.

[Skittles]

3. politicians should know better than to make promises

and promises with this freaking virus are a fool's errand

[betsuni]

4. What promises did Biden make? I don't know!

[Skittles]

5. well then do some research

you know, on the internet

[betsuni]

6. Like what? "Biden bad man make bad promises"?

[betsuni]

12. Like the article you linked that claimed Biden's promises were "'I'm going to shut down the virus'

and I'm not Donald Trump. He is failing on both promises, as Covid rages and Biden's behavior mirrors more and more his predecessor's."

What's all this about "promises"?

[Bernardo de La Paz]

10. Well, duh, like maybe, you know, read the excerpt in the OP? Hmm? Worth a try, ya think?

[betsuni]

13. Oh, a personal attack.

The excerpt says Biden says he wants to shut down the virus, not the country. What "promise" did he make?

[Bernardo de La Paz]

17. It effectively is almost as strong as a promise, given the national forum he said it in.

And, enough people interpret it as a promise, that he should have qualified it and not made it an absolute.

https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-shut-down-the-virus-not-the-country-2020-10

[betsuni]

20. No. He didn't promise.

There is no Santa.

This is attacking a Democrats' strength as they always do. Biden is famous for his motto, "Never promise anything you can't deliver." John Kerry was a war hero. Attack that. Hillary was a campion of women and children (the working class). Attack that.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

28. Oh give it a break. If you want, attack them yourself. Biden, Kerry and Hillary are great Democrats

Nobody is perfect.

A common theme in discussions here is the thesis that "Democrats are not good at messaging". So a little discussion of messaging here is not an attack.

[betsuni]

30. What promises did Biden make?

[Busterscruggs]

8. Right wing rag

Shouldn't be surprised that the right wing media is putting on a full attack on out president to finish out the year

[maxsolomon]

37. It's not a "Right Wing Rag", FFS.

Do you subscribe to it? I do.

It's a CENTER-LEFT rag.

[Tommymac]

41. No - it is a tool of the 1% Rag.

The NYT and it's bogus reporting is a main reason we got involved in the Bush Iraqi War.

I refuse to support it with my $ and would hope any rational progressive would do the same.

[maxsolomon]

43. Ahh, the Judith Miller card. Well played.

What newspaper meets your standards?

[Tommymac]

45. None.

Stopped paying attention to them in the 1900's when I was interviewed about the First Gulf War, and then read the story and realized they twisted all my words to say the exact opposite of what I said.

I follow independent journalism. Both liberal and conservative slants to get a balance. European and Global news sources. The Nation. Lots of accredited independent journalists on the web. Al Jazeera is actually pretty good as long as you are aware of it's spin on some things.

Independently owned small newspapers, mostly weeklies - what few are left.

Science Journals. Technical Journals. Press releases and other 'first person' raw news sources.

Political Blogs like this one.

But never ever any Corporate owned rags. Never any news pre-filtered by the 1% for mass consumption.

I work for my news.

[maxsolomon]

46. Welp, I read that kind of stuff, too.

Plus the NYT. I don't feel like I'm bamboozled by a 1-sentence 4th paragraph in an article about the pandemic's political impact that uses the word "gloom".

The NYT is actually pretty good as long as you are aware of its spin on some things.

[DFW]

9. Biden did/is doing everything he can

If the illogical, debilitating, and too often fatal anti-mask/anti-vax attitude keeps infecting and killing people, well, that is a liberty we are free to exercise--unfortunately to an extent where it unfairly affects those who try to take every precaution they can in order NOT to get infected.

[BradAllison]

14. Biden has told everyone to get vaxxed and mask up.

Unfortunately there are dummies who will do neither, and they want TFG back.

[Dorian Gray]

23. But that isn't true

Right now we need testing capacity. Rapid at home tests and testing facilities across the country.

People were price gouging at home tests yesterday in NYC.

There are 3 hour - 6 hour waits at testing facilities.

PCR tests are taking 72+ hours to be returned.

That is a HUGE mistake, and Biden received criticism from scientists such as Michael Mina, who have a direct line to the government, about this.

We have to know where our weak spots are so we can fix them.

This in no way is a malevolent attack on our country as Trump's actions were. It's an oversight that didn't feel imperative until now. But RIGHT NOW Biden should be trying to fix this issue instead of fighting a PR battle in the papers.

[uponit7771]

24. +1, we should have at home test either free or extra cheap by now

[Lovie777]

25. Yes, cause a lot of vaccines, boosters, and COVID test are sitting around in states . . .

by yours truly, anti-vaxxers, anti-maskers, and COVID is a hoax.

That said, free test and or reasonable cost for COVID testing kits are being established in many areas and hopefully will be the same all over the country, as well as the COVID pills.

The Biden Administration alongwith the pharmaceutical companies (and you know how greedy the pharmaceutical companies are) are working together for the above. Right now, Omicorn is highly infectious, but apparently, COVID 19 is still the number one killer.

[NJCher]

11. The story should be about

The fax disinformation and the people who are still buying it.

[Jarqui]

15. Republicans offer corporations big tax breaks

In the interests of their bottom line, corporations need to keep Republicans in power.

90-95% of US media is owned by six corporations:
ATT (Time Warner)
CBS,
Comcast
Disney
News Corp (the parent company of Fox News)
Viacom

Republican tax breaks are worth billions of dollars to each of these corporations.
The executives of these corporations, or most of them, keep their jobs if they have good bottom line performance.
Tax breaks worth billions help to deliver that good bottom line performance.

Media, the great arbiter of democracy, pretend to be fair and balanced while their real focus is on their bottom line.

The United States has become an oligarchy masquerading as a democracy in part, due to the failure of the media to arbitrate ethically and effectively.
An arbiter looks at all the facts objectively and decides a dispute.
We have organizations like FOX News, One America News & Newsmax and conservative radio constantly beating the drum for Republicans.
Then as have a lot of others continuing to repeat the lies and give the liars equal time.

How AT&T helped build far-right One America News
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-oneamerica-att/

Biden's economy has some good numbers. Most don't know it.
Biden's worked to get control of the virus while the GOP defy him at every turn - contributing to keeping Covid going far worse than it needs to be.
Trump ended the US involvement in Afghanistan. A bunch of the media blamed Biden for losing the war, etc.
Many GOP members either were involved in or supported the insurrection and/or the worst of Trump. The media has them heading to take control of the House in 2022.

Money in politics. Gerrymandering. Erosion of voting rights, etc. All slant the table for control by the 1%.

The "system" is badly broken.

[moondust]

18. +1

I've wondered for years how much influence nearby Wall Street has on the NYT. Many corporate executives and shareholders would probably prefer a corrupt and incompetent "businessman" in the White House handing out tax cuts, deregulating, disabling the SEC, ignoring white collar crime, etc.

[LisaL]

16. Europe isn't doing so great with covid either.

I guess everybody is failing.

[maxsolomon]

38. That's got to be Biden's fault, too!

He promised us only he could fix it! He PROMISED!

Wait, that was someone else...

[TreasonousBastard]

19. What part of that is not true? Biden made the promise, and while things are...

far from his fault, he's still President and gets to take the hit.

[Lovie777]

21. And he trying to fulfill what he stated . . .

and yet the GQP continued misinformation with their base is blasted throughout the cosmos. Very rarely do I hear or read about all the misformation, deaths and suffering constantly happening within the GQP base. Most are like articles like this.

And yes, this virus is real and there is no way around it. President Biden is being truthful. Sometimes the truth hurts but at least we have a federal government re: Biden Adminsitration that cares.

[Dorian Gray]

22. I know

it feels like he gets unfair criticism a lot and stories are framed to be tougher on him than they were on trump....

But, in this case, he deserves the criticism. Lots of doctors and scientists have bene critical of his administration this week, including people who are used by the government as consultants.

One of the biggest criticisms is that he slow rolled testing. He could have prioritized producing and distributing testing. It didn't seem like an imperative until this past week, and now it's clear how the ball was dropped.

And Psaki looked bad for her sarcastic "should we send them to every house?" at the time, but two weeks later, it's maddening.

(Yes, this is a mistake and it wasn't made out of malevolence like much of the Trump admin choices at the beginning were, but it's a BIG mistake and it's causing chaos right now.)

[BannonsLiver]

36. Nonsense.

[Roisin Ni Fiachra]

26. NYT is a tool of the wealthy. If they see that a Democrat, like President Joe, is doing too much

to help regular folks, the NYT turns on them like a pack of hungry hyenas smelling blood.

[maxsolomon]

39. Your contention is that the author put that particular sentence in the story

at the behest of "the wealthy", because Biden was doing too much to help regular folks?

or was it their editor who insisted on using the word "gloom", at the behest of "the wealthy", because Biden was doing too much to help regular folks?

[Lemon Lyman]

27. Ugh

rwnj's will/would probably ruin testing too, when/if tests are abundantly available. They'll probably hoard them all and then burn them in YT videos or something.

[dawg]

29. Is there a good newspaper in this country with a national reach?

I don't want a left-wing echo chamber, just a good news source that doesn't "both-sides" issues that should be simple matters of truth vs. fiction.

[BlackSkimmer]

31. I have to say that I don't understand why he is waiting until Tuesday to give us new Covid measures.

The virus doubling in 24 hours, but he doesn’t find it urgent enough to immediately talk about it?

I do find that confusing.

[BannonsLiver]

35. I don't.

[BlackSkimmer]

44. Bully for you. nt

[Hortensis]

32. Corruption. The NYT supports conservatives in power.

Remembering, of course, that the NYT is a for-profit business and has its own ideas; but considering WHAT business, it's corruption. And corrupting.

This is studied and proven every time it's studied.

My husband won't stop being amazed that some people act as they do, for all the world as if he expects them to finally notice and be shocked back into their "normal" selves.

[tenderfoot]

33. Michael Shear....

what else needs to be said?

[BannonsLiver]

34. They made a fuck ton of money during the Trump admin

Those 4 years pulled the entire company out of a financial dumpster fire that threatened its existence.

One can draw their own conclusions from there.

[maxsolomon]

42. Please draw them for us.

You appear to be insinuating collusion with Trumpists. Can you explain how that worked?

I'd point out that during that time they endorsed his opponents twice, published multiple scathing reports on Trump's taxes, called for his Impeachment and conviction multiple times, and published the 1619 project which made conservatives including TFG lose their fucking minds. That's off the top of my head.

[maxsolomon]

40. Note that he gives Biden credit for "partial fulfillment".

Is there anyone out there NOT feeling gloomy about Omicron and weary of Covid in general?