News/Commentary

‘He said it TWICE’: Jean-Pierre’s attempt at spinning Biden’s ‘pandemic is over’ line did not go well

September 21, 2022 | | Print Article

An unscripted President Joe Biden continues to prove Barack Obama’s memorable assessment of his ability to “f*ck things up” correct.

The latest example of this came during Biden’s softball “60 Minutes” interview that could be mistaken for a 2022 Democratic Party campaign advertisement when the president boldly declared on national television: “The pandemic is over. We still have a problem with COVID. We’re still doing a lotta work on it. It’s — but the pandemic is over. If you notice, no one’s wearing masks.”

And that’s where President Biden’s outmatched spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre comes into play, as she is just not up to the gargantuan task of spinning the ramblings of her cognitively challenged boss sufficiently enough to salvage the mission. In this case, a number of Biden administration policies and strategies brought on by emergency powers are reliant on the pandemic being in effect.

At Tuesday’s press briefing, a reporter mentioned a letter sent to the White House by the top Senate Republican on the Health Committee, Sen. Richard Burr from North Carolina, noting that there are contradictory policies in place if the pandemic is over. Policies on offset emergency funding, enforcement of vaccine mandates and continued federal emergency declarations.

“So, the President said and he was very clear in his ’60 Minutes’ interview that, you know, COVID remains a problem and we’re fighting it. And we have to continue to make sure that we are fighting this once-in-a-generation pandemic,” Jean-Pierre replied, insinuating that the pandemic is ongoing.

She also attacked the Trump administration, which has become her fallback position when in over her head.

“And so, here’s the thing: What he believes is we can acknowledge the massive amount of progress that we have made,” she continued. “Just think about where we were when this President walked into this administration — where, again, a response to this once-in-a-generation pandemic was mismanaged by the last administration.”

Jean-Pierre would ramble on in an impressive word salad about the need to “be prepared for the next potential pandemic,” and about how COVID funding “is incredibly important for how we move into the future in fighting pandemics.”

But the problem she never addressed is that her boss declared the Covid-19 epidemic “is over.” Clearly. Those exact words.

Here’s a quick sampling of responses to the story from Twitter:

Tom Tillison
Latest posts by Tom Tillison (see all)

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

Latest Articles