The Bloom Is Off Biden’s Rose By Brian C. Joondeph
Joe Biden’s election last November was greeted with great fanfare by Democrats, the media, and some Republicans.
Joe Biden’s election last November was greeted with great fanfare by Democrats, the media, and some Republicans.
If the last year and a half of COVID-19 has taught us anything, it’s that hypocrisy is rife within government, media, entertainment, and the medical establishment. Those who, by virtue of their expertise or position, are considered knowledgeable, or even experts, are unable to follow their own recommendations or mandates.
With all things COVID-19, we are told to “follow the science.” Yet the “science” is what Dr Anthony Fauci and the medical establishment says it is, and when other science is used to question official dogma, social media fact checkers are quick to pounce and censor.
COVID-19 had been a global scourge approaching two years now. Anything that could be politicized has been, from public health recommendations to therapeutics and vaccines.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has been the face of the United States COVID-19 response. He has achieved godlike status within the media and celebrity smart set. His words are treated as gospel, to be accepted without question regarding all things COVID-19.
History may not repeat itself, but it often rhymes. Economic news today has a familiar rhyme, at least for those of old enough to remember the 1970s. I am not referring to John Travolta strutting down Brooklyn sidewalks to the tune of “Stayin’ Alive” or big hair and leisure suits, but instead the Jimmy Carter presidency.
One important lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic, perhaps not realized now but in the future, is to keep politics out of medicine and public health.
Ahead of a presidential election, opinion polls are a major news item. Most of these polls are not designed to reflect public opinion but instead to shape it. As most big media leans left, such shaping is always to the benefit of the Democrat party.
The FDA and CDC this week recommended a pause in COVID vaccinations of the Johnson & Johnson single shot vaccine due to a small number of reports of blood clots in individuals receiving the vaccine.
Masks are now a seemingly permanent staple of American life with no end in sight. Mask recommendations change like spring weather, from none to one to two or more, all based on flimsy evidence from the “follow the science” crowd.
What a difference an election makes, one president leaves and a new one takes over, with COVID rules changing on a dime.
Elected Republicans, taking their voters and current events for granted, reading only the Washington Post and watching CNN, have squandered their political relevancy, perhaps permanently. Through their foolish attempts to “reach across the aisle” or act in a more “dignified” manner than their party leader, President Trump, they have now lost the platform Trump gave them, acting dazed and confused as to what happened.
Many establishment Republicans, particular of the NeverTrump variety, are telling us it’s time to move on from the 2020 presidential election. They promise future electoral reform and holding the cheaters accountable, with a better outcome in 2024.
Several weeks ago, presidential opinion polls showed Joe Biden with a double-digit lead over Donald Trump, like the supposed lead Hillary Clinton enjoyed four years ago. Despite prognostications of an almost certain Clinton victory, reality provided a different story ending.
Will the big media be right this election cycle, or are they repeating their folly from the last election?
As the 2020 presidential election nears, polls portend a landslide victory for the Biden/Harris ticket.
Biden had a 16-point lead over Trump in an early October CNN poll. The Opinium and Guardian poll from days ago gave Biden a 17-point lead. Even Rasmussen Reports, one of the most accurate pollsters in 2016, showed Biden still leading Trump by five points this week, admittedly a drop from 12 points the week before.
With the 2020 presidential election only weeks away, increasing attention is focused on opinion polls to pick the winner. In 2016, most pollsters were wildly wrong, predicting a Hillary Clinton landslide victory over Donald Trump.
Presidential debate number one was a slugfest, with President Trump coming out swinging. Poor Joe Biden didn’t know what hit him. He has granted few interviews during the campaign season, with scripted questions and answers on a teleprompter but no body slams from the likes of Trump the Barbarian.
Labor Day is in the rear-view mirror meaning that the presidential campaign is in full swing. With less than two months until the big day, the electoral winds appear to be blowing in President Trump’s direction.
Watch what people do, not what they say. Politicians who say one thing and do another are called hypocrites, but perhaps they have inside knowledge that the average person does not possess.
Conventional wisdom suggests that presidential election polls will tighten as the election approaches. In the summer ahead of an election, most voters are not paying close attention to the campaign, and opinion polls many months ahead of the election are designed more to influence rather than reflect public opinion.