Commentary

We’re seeing strange things happening in the media.  As I contemplated it, I was reminded of the 1953 record release, “Strange Things Are Happening,” by Red Buttons.

Older readers of this blog may remember it.  When he appeared on television, he would cup his ear and sing “ho ho … he he … ha ha” between the lyric verses

While Buttons was better known for his movie supporting roles in “The Longest Day,” “Hatari!,” and “Sayonara,” in which he won an Oscar, that record release was all the rage when it was released.

But I digress.  Strangely, we recently saw the New York Times, CNN and the Washington Post finally concede that the content of Hunter Biden’s laptop was authentic, no matter that the New York Post revealed its content 18 months ago.

Their failure to provide coverage of the son of the presidential candidate is seen by many as a serious hit on journalism.  Surveys conducted since the 2020 election reveal that significant numbers of Biden voters would not have voted for him had they been aware of the laptop scandal. A new low for dirty politics.

The Media Research Center recently uncovered a clip from MSNBC’s Morning Joe from October 19, 2020 in which Joe Scarborough bought into the “Russian disinformation” hoax, and attacked those on the right, saying, “History will expose you all as fools” and “It’s unbelievable how stupid you think Americans are.”

There has been no mea culpa from Scarborough.

Miranda Divine, who broke the laptop story in the New York Post, noted that while the Washington Post and CNN finally covered the story, they absolved Joe Biden of any involvement.

“There’s no evidence that vice president or president Biden had done anything wrong,” said CNN’s John Harwood, no connection whatsoever, no hint of pay for access.

Over at NBC News’ Meet the Press, host Chuck Todd took President Biden apart on the economy as he reviewed the results of his network’s poll that found Biden’s overall job approval rating had declined to 40 percent.

“(The media’s) original goal of removing Donald Trump from office was achieved and Joe Biden is so unpopular that the Praetorian Guard is melting away and reporting on his family is less hazardous to Beltway dinner party invitations,” wrote Devine in her follow-up.

But there’s more to report from Strangeville.  CBS News has hired Trump’s former Director of Management and Budget and Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney as a paid on-air contributor, citing the network’s need to hire more Republicans to prepare for a “likely” Democrat midterm wipeout.

“If you look at some of the people that we’ve been hiring on a contributor basis, being able to make sure that we are getting access to both sides of the aisle is a priority because we know the Republicans are going to take over, most likely, in the midterms,” said Neeraj Khemlani, co-president of CBS News.

Not everyone at CBS is happy about it; especially those pompous buffoons at 60 Minutes, including Lesley “It Can’t Be Verified” Stahl.

MEANWHILE, it is rumored that White Press Secretary Jen Psaki will be leaving for an on-air job at MSNBC. Not so strange.

Finally, though not a member of the media, former President Obama’s defense secretary, Leon Panetta, one of the 51 former intelligence “spooks” who claimed the laptop story was simply Russian disinformation, was critical of Biden’s remark that every one read as “regime change.”

“I understand why he said it.  But at the same time, when you’re president of the United States, you have to be disciplined to make sure you don’t make comments that ultimately have to be clarified by the White House,” Panetta said.

While attempting to excuse Biden, Panetta managed to insult Irish people in the process, when he said, “I happen to think that Joe Biden, you know, he’s Irish, really has a compassion when he sees that people are suffering (in Ukraine), and I think it overwhelmed him.”

My April Fool’s Day recognition goes to President Biden, who, during his Thursday press conference, once again revealed his lack of knowledge of the oil and gas industry and continued to attack its companies with his ill-advised remarks about their profits.  Remarks that were promptly quashed by those with knowledge of the industry.

Incidentally, Joe Scarborough came in second.

Now, more than ever … may God continue to bless the United States of America.