Reporters Don't Give Biden Questions in Advance? You Be the Judge

[TBoneTX 45,571]

(Facepalm.)

Quote

Reporters Don't Give Biden Questions in Advance?  You Be the Judge

by Adam Mill • September 4, 2020

 

[...] When Trump answers reporters' questions, he calls on individual reporters himself.  But not so for Biden or his campaign.

 

Here you can see the candidate turning to his handler to start calling from a predetermined list of reporters, saying, "I guess . . . are you calling on people?  I don't have a list."  [...]

 

Continues here:   https://amgreatness.com/2020/09/04/reporters-dont-give-biden-questions-in-advance-you-be-the-judge/  

 

[laylalex 7,293]

Wait, Adam Mill is a pseudonym and I thought we weren't supposed to support anyone who said anything without sticking their name on it?

 

And goodness that is a lot of speculation.   That really is an awfully trashy piece, neither journalism nor opinion, just.... what did I actually read?

[Voice of Reason 10,298]

10 hours ago, laylalex said:

Wait, Adam Mill is a pseudonym and I thought we weren't supposed to support anyone who said anything without sticking their name on it?

 

And goodness that is a lot of speculation.   That really is an awfully trashy piece, neither journalism nor opinion, just.... what did I actually read?

It was pretty clear, backed up with video evidence, that Biden did exactly what was claimed in the article.  How does that make it awfully trashy?  When did the truth become trashy?

[Burnt Reynolds 5,058]

46 minutes ago, Voice of Reason said:

It was pretty clear, backed up with video evidence, that Biden did exactly what was claimed in the article.  How does that make it awfully trashy?  When did the truth become trashy?

LOL, right? I'm not a big fan of the site linked, but all this guy was doing was commenting on a sourced video where everything that's happening is objectively verifiable. Because the writer uses an apparent pseudonym, this is being conflated with "anonymous sources" where (the problem is) pertinent parts of their statements are not objectively verifiable whatsoever (so basically, to believe it, you have to simply take their word for it, something in the other thread on this issue someone came to the conclusion it was truthful because feelings+orange man bad), and have been misleading (conflating feelings or interpretation of others' statements with facts) or flat out wrong. 

 

That's just the way things are. 

Edited September 6, 2020 by Burnt Reynolds

[laylalex 7,293]

I guess we have different comprehensions of what Biden said. I read "I don't have a list" as "I don't have a list of the reporters who are here to call on." Which sort of makes more sense when you read that quote in its complete context (entire transcript here: https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/joe-biden-press-conference-transcript-september-4, with video and timestamps).

 

If you watch the video, Biden looks to the side and asks an aide this question:

Quote

Thank you all, and I now take your questions. I guess… Are you calling on people or how am I… I don’t have a list, so you go ahead and call.

The aide responds, "Isaac." And a reporter, whom I assume is Isaac asks a question. This pattern repeats itself. He looks to an aide to say which reporter will ask a question next, who replies (sometimes inaudibly because I assume the aide isn't mic'd) with a name, and then reporter asks the question. 

 

Now you will believe what you want to, but to me, it's clear that he doesn't have a list of reporters, so he's asking an aide to call on them for him. Of course Biden has notes! He's got information he wants to get out there, and the questions asked are about the kind of hot topics currently in the news. Russia, China, choosing Harris as a running mate, jobs, the economy. The only question that was sort of "out there" was the last one about Kosovo, and Biden admits he doesn't know anything about the deal. He's not looking at notes, he's speaking off the cuff about normalization of international relations, the importance of an independent Kosovo, and a two-state solution to Palestine. Who "fed" him this one if he (1) says he doesn't know about any deal and (2) he has no notes on it? I notice that "Adam Mill" (lol, I get the joke) doesn't mention this bit at all.

 

And really, I may not be older than you, but I have definitely seen politicians refer to notes during press conferences before. Even Trump brings notes with him. It doesn't take a lot of guesswork to know what kinds of questions to anticipate, so you go with notes to make sure you get your talking points out there.

 

The article is trashy because it misrepresents what is happening on the video. It relies on people not watching the video -- even though it links to the video. 

[Burnt Reynolds 5,058]

You don't need to know everyone's name to point to someone to ask questions. 

 

Notes, fine. 

 

But having someone else cover for you and picking from selected lists?

 

Specifically calling people who ask questions about Trump's soul, reaction porn asking Biden about how outraged he is about stuff Trump did/said (which may/may not even be true), and so on?

 

No spidey senses going off eh?

[Dashinka 24,629]

19 minutes ago, laylalex said:

I guess we have different comprehensions of what Biden said. I read "I don't have a list" as "I don't have a list of the reporters who are here to call on." Which sort of makes more sense when you read that quote in its complete context (entire transcript here: https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/joe-biden-press-conference-transcript-september-4, with video and timestamps).

 

If you watch the video, Biden looks to the side and asks an aide this question:

The aide responds, "Isaac." And a reporter, whom I assume is Isaac asks a question. This pattern repeats itself. He looks to an aide to say which reporter will ask a question next, who replies (sometimes inaudibly because I assume the aide isn't mic'd) with a name, and then reporter asks the question. 

 

Now you will believe what you want to, but to me, it's clear that he doesn't have a list of reporters, so he's asking an aide to call on them for him. Of course Biden has notes! He's got information he wants to get out there, and the questions asked are about the kind of hot topics currently in the news. Russia, China, choosing Harris as a running mate, jobs, the economy. The only question that was sort of "out there" was the last one about Kosovo, and Biden admits he doesn't know anything about the deal. He's not looking at notes, he's speaking off the cuff about normalization of international relations, the importance of an independent Kosovo, and a two-state solution to Palestine. Who "fed" him this one if he (1) says he doesn't know about any deal and (2) he has no notes on it? I notice that "Adam Mill" (lol, I get the joke) doesn't mention this bit at all.

 

And really, I may not be older than you, but I have definitely seen politicians refer to notes during press conferences before. Even Trump brings notes with him. It doesn't take a lot of guesswork to know what kinds of questions to anticipate, so you go with notes to make sure you get your talking points out there.

 

The article is trashy because it misrepresents what is happening on the video. It relies on people not watching the video -- even though it links to the video. 

Why would someone have notes if they didn’t already know what was going to be asked?  When Biden does a true off the cuff press conference with no notes, then I might start having a different opinion of him.

[Burnt Reynolds 5,058]

8 minutes ago, Dashinka said:

Why would someone have notes if they didn’t already know what was going to be asked?  When Biden does a true off the cuff press conference with no notes, then I might start having a different opinion of him.

The media's covering for Biden (and the DNC doing this basement->scripted pressers ventriloquist act) has been going on for the last few months so, I'm not gonna hold my breath, this is clearly their partner strategy with him.

Edited September 6, 2020 by Burnt Reynolds

[Voice of Reason 10,298]

1 hour ago, Burnt Reynolds said:

You don't need to know everyone's name to point to someone to ask questions. 

 

Notes, fine. 

 

But having someone else cover for you and picking from selected lists?

 

Specifically calling people who ask questions about Trump's soul, reaction porn asking Biden about how outraged he is about stuff Trump did/said (which may/may not even be true), and so on?

 

No spidey senses going off eh?

Not for the people who belong to the party that is doing the obvious rigging.  Best to just ignore it and keep faith with the beloved party.

[Voice of Reason 10,298]

1 hour ago, Burnt Reynolds said:

You don't need to know everyone's name to point to someone to ask questions. 

 

Notes, fine. 

 

But having someone else cover for you and picking from selected lists?

 

Specifically calling people who ask questions about Trump's soul, reaction porn asking Biden about how outraged he is about stuff Trump did/said (which may/may not even be true), and so on?

 

No spidey senses going off eh?

Would have been my reply, not that it would change anyone's mind who believes Biden is fit to run.

[laylalex 7,293]

2 hours ago, Dashinka said:

Why would someone have notes if they didn’t already know what was going to be asked?  When Biden does a true off the cuff press conference with no notes, then I might start having a different opinion of him.

I... literally told you why someone would have notes. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to know what are the big topics of the day. Race relations. China. Russia. COVID19. The economy. Why would you go in blind without the talking points you want to push? Like, this is not a weird thing to have notes!  It is not a weird thing to have your aide select who the person is who will ask you a question next when you don't know who's in the room. It is not a weird thing to ask a candidate for the presidency what he thinks of his opponent's response to a particular scenario. I am sort of wondering how any of this looked out of the ordinary? I have seen a few press conferences in my lifetime and this didn't look weird. 

 

I have eyeballs and ears. I am not blindly trusting anything. I observed what happened and came to my own conclusions. Would you have even thought this was weird if "Adam Mill" hadn't posted this slam piece? Bizarre.  

[Dashinka 24,629]

1 hour ago, laylalex said:

I... literally told you why someone would have notes. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to know what are the big topics of the day. Race relations. China. Russia. COVID19. The economy. Why would you go in blind without the talking points you want to push? Like, this is not a weird thing to have notes!  It is not a weird thing to have your aide select who the person is who will ask you a question next when you don't know who's in the room. It is not a weird thing to ask a candidate for the presidency what he thinks of his opponent's response to a particular scenario. I am sort of wondering how any of this looked out of the ordinary? I have seen a few press conferences in my lifetime and this didn't look weird. 

 

I have eyeballs and ears. I am not blindly trusting anything. I observed what happened and came to my own conclusions. Would you have even thought this was weird if "Adam Mill" hadn't posted this slam piece? Bizarre.  

Yes, he would not need to be a rocket scientist to know what the issues are which begs the question why someone who was a senator and VP for almost 50 years would need some notes.  It goes to show that Old Joe really is not a leader, but we can all get that from his history.  It also goes to show that he needs reminders to keep his head straight.  I really don’t find this a hit piece as it is only showing us the obvious.  Joe’s puppet master see poll numbers changing in Trump’s favor, so they need to get him out there and answer questions, but these press conferences need to be carefully orchestrated.  Not really the kind of person I want in charge of the US military and all the doomsday weapons.

 

It really is interesting that all the questions Joe gets are about Trump.  Wouldn’t you like to hear someone ask a Joe a question about Joe?

Edited September 7, 2020 by Dashinka

[laylalex 7,293]

I would LOVE to hear reporters ask more questions about Joe Biden that don't have to do with Trump! And god, if you've ever heard Biden speak, you know he loves to talk about himself. But then you get the, ohh, more softballs criticisms. 

 

The notes are there to keep facts and figures to hand and to be consistent in messaging. It's not like he doesn't know the underlying information -- there are points he wants to make, so the notes exist to make sure he mentions them. I'm not a public speaker, but there have been times in my life when I've had to give a speech. I brought notecards, every time, not because I didn't know what I was going to talk about -- it was my speech, after all -- but because I wanted to make sure I hit all the points I wanted to make. They are aides-memoires -- things that exist to remind you of what it was you came to say, even when you know it. Sometimes I didn't need them at all, but it was good to know they were there. And these were for very low stakes things, like foundation meetings and similar, not giving a press conference.

 

If notes help a person stay on topic, I think that can only help in getting a clear message across to people making up their minds. I think the questions, except for the one at the end, were overly loaded in his favor, and I think there are valid criticisms to be made about that. 

[Burnt Reynolds 5,058]

That wasn't a speech though, that was a presser. He's actually not supposed to know what they're going to ask. Not to worry though, they told him how bad Trump was then asked him his feelings about how bad they felt Trump is. Not exactly something requiring notes, yet here we are.

 

There should be some deja vu here, because these were the same type of questions asked of "witnesses" throughout several House committees, especially those run by Schiff and Nadler. They're not hiding whatsoever in the leading and ridiculously biased questions they're asking that they're lobbing him easy ones (which is still an exaggeration because asking someone their feelings while telling them how they should feel is not something requiring thinking let alone notes) because holding Biden accountable isn't the goal, pushing Biden across the finish line is. Not exactly a useful media. 

Edited September 7, 2020 by Burnt Reynolds

[TBoneTX 45,571]

The author calling himself Adam Mill has been published regularly on the website for quite a long time.

And I too, at least, would almost certainly pick a pseudonym to keep from being canceled or trashed by the Lovely Left.

 

Sidebar:  Most of us in this forum operate under pseudonyms, so by that logic, none of us should pay any attention to what any of us write, including our own posts.