I read an article today how Matt Lauer prefaced a question to VP Joe Biden by saying "This is not meant to be a 'gotcha' question..." He proceeded to ask what he (Biden) thought about flying to Mexico. Biden proceeded to put in his mouth (again) anyway by replying he thought it was a terrible idea to take planes and subways and go anywhere. Essentially inducing panic and not helping the airline industry a whit and making people not take the subways due to a virus that hasn't infected more than like a hundred people in the US. Clearly with a population of 50 million plus that seems like death defying odds to go on the subway. Not. Isn't he supposed to promote calm and collected opinions? Not panic driven drivel.
However, to me the worst part of the interview was the fact that Lauer had to preface the question. What? Has the media become so ingrained into politics/money/etc that they can't even conduct an interview? Isn't the point of an interview to get some information that otherwise might not have been said or asked. Politicians can schedule a press conference to say whatever they want all the time- its only the stuff they don't want to admit or don't want to talk about that the average person wants to find out. Shame on Lauer for bending to that pressure and not having the reporting gumption to ask the hard questions and not apologize for them. That's his job- not pushing policies through fluffball questions. Whatever credibility NBC news pretends to have is rapidly disappearing with this cast of characters. Reporters report- they aren't supposed to be a puppet to politics.
Trip Dates Decided
13 years ago
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The fact of the matter, though, is that this is a PERSONAL issue, and that what Biden DID say is his personal feeling on the matter - at least he was honest about that, regardless of whatever the "official" statement is supposed to be. I like that he said it straight, and actually answered the question, regardless of "policy". Yes, reporting is fluff, but at least our leader spoke the honest truth. My mom told us similar the other day, after having had multiple staff meeting at her hospital - stay away from public places if and whenever possible, because you don't want this. It's not panic, it's just common sense. We decided to cancel a planned trip to the Children's Museum this past weekend for that exact reason. If you've got to take a plane or subway, then do it; otherwise, you're better off avoiding it because you might be a carrier and not even know it yet.
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