Remember when Biden promised a “return to civility” while running for president?
I certainly do. It was a prominent theme of his campaign to distinguish himself from the not-so-civil Donald Trump, allegedly.
Perhaps the first opportunity Biden could have taken to live up to his promise of civility and unity was to make a statement and lower the flags at the White House in response to the death of Rush Limbaugh last year. He did not.
His latest opportunity to show that he has an ounce of civility somewhere in that aged, decrepit body of his was to respond to the death of longtime Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah). Certainly, Joe Biden would be quick to release a statement about a man who was a Senate colleague of his for decades, right? Just because he was a Republican doesn’t mean he doesn’t deserve at least a short statement, right?
Wrong.
Hatch’s death was reported on Saturday night. As of 10 a.m. EDT on Sunday, there has been no statement released by the White House in response to his death.
No statement has been sent out to the White House media list, though at 7 a.m., a lengthy statement on Armenian Remembrance Day was. No statement has been posted to the White House website either. The White House certainly has had plenty of time to react to the news and put out something they can attribute to Biden. But nope. Not even the official POTUS Twitter account or Biden’s personal Twitter account have acknowledged the longtime Republican senator’s death.
“We must stop treating our opponents as our enemy,” Joe Biden said in November 2020. “We are not enemies. We are Americans.”
Yet the man can’t find a moment to release a statement about his former Senate colleague Orrin Hatch.
UPDATE: Finally, at 12:29 PM ET, Joe Biden finally released a statement acknowledging the death of Orrin Hatch.
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