For double standards, you can do no better than the reaction to the tête-à-tête that turned mano a mano between Joe Biden and a reporter in Mason City, Iowa, this week.
Joe Biden had just received an apology from frontrunner Bernie Sanders for a column written by one of his campaign surrogates about Biden’s stance on Social Security and his “corruption problem.” Biden was still bristling over the column when reporter Ed O’Keefe of CBS News persisted in asking him why he wouldn’t accept Sanders’s apology and why he attacked him in his campaign speech.
O’Keefe yelled at Biden who was walking away:
“Yesterday, you said you accepted Bernie’s apology, now you’re attacking him. Why are you doing that? Why wasn’t this apology enough, Mr. Vice President? Why attack Sanders?”
Looking somewhat maniacal, Biden turned around and moved toward the reporter, reaching out his hands while mocking the reporter saying, “Why, why, why? Calm down, it’s OK.”
Screenshot/Twitter
Biden got in O’Keefe’s face, with his big toothy grin and physically backed him off. O’Keefe smiled gamely, knowing he got a great reaction for his future story about it:
Screenshot/Twitter
Donald Trump previously got flak for calling the news media “the enemy of the people,” and they hate it, but he’s never physically gone after a reporter. He was wrongly accused of mocking a reporter with disabilities and was excoriated by the press.
When his campaign manager Corey Lewandowski pulled a reporter out of the way of the candidate, she complained and Lewandowski was eventually fired. The story was big in mainstream media:
Reporters called it “an assault.” Others called it “inexcusable,” “unprofessional,” and “overly aggressive.”
Charges were brought and then dropped against the former Trump aide.
But the reaction to this latest incident has been, oh, that’s just Old Joe. When he’s not forgetting where he is, he’s challenging people to push-up contests to prove to himself that he’s still “got it.”
Biden ended the seconds-long Joebroglio by balling his hand into a fist and gently backed off the reporter again:
Screenshot/Twitter
So far there’s been no call to charge Joe Biden with assault and battery. Of course there isn’t. Double standards, thy names are Democrat and media.
See the video here:
WATCH: After a campaign event in Mason City, Iowa, @joebiden reacts to @edokeefe's question about his ongoing feud with @berniesanders: "Calm down, it's okay." https://t.co/a2hmMbnjnf pic.twitter.com/ymOMWRR2zP
— CBS News (@CBSNews) January 22, 2020
