Well, someone get the smelling salts, it appears a New York Times reporter is:
a. unaware how government works, and
b. thoroughly invested in blaming Democrats for the malicious ills conceived and carried out by Republicans.
Oh, Michael Shear.
Shall we have a throwback to when this very same Michael Shear made a horrendous impression by doing the very same thing on DAY ONE of Joe Biden's presidency?
Yeah, looks like Shear hasn't learned much, and Biden's new press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre has about as much patience for him as Jen Psaki did, judging from the look on her face.
Here he is days after the horrific slaughter of 19 elementary school children and two teachers, blaming Pres. Biden for not somehow ordering Congress to lock themselves into a room until they solve the gun problem, as if he had that power.
"[T]here are people out there, I saw several of them on TV today, who say this president ...needs to declare a national emergency, he needs to create task forces, he needs to create, you know, create a czar of gun things, he needs to say he's not leaving this building, cancel his vacations, tell Congress, members of Congress to get in a room and not leave until they got a solution, and not accept some of the sort of half-measures that are sort of being offered, and I guess the question is why isn't he doing any of THAT?" Shear demanded of Jean-Pierre.
We all know how popular and effective czars are, and especially czars of "gun things." Also, there's no way Biden staying shut up in the Oval office instead of making himself visible and available to the public and reporters might backfire on him, is there, Mikey? No way the right-wing media outrage machine would accuse him of "hiding" or avoiding the public gaze in the wake of tragedy. Also, the GOP loves it when a president does the overreach thing and tells Congress what to do, because they have a thing for big government, right?
Now I love a forceful president as much as the next gal, and I'd be great with Biden doing a Sherman's March to the Sea on the NRA and the feckless, grotesque GOP who bow down to them. But this reporter who is asking why he ISN'T doing these things is the same one who on DAY ONE was asking why Biden wasn't being more bIpArTiSaN and reaching OUT to more Republicans in the name of UNITY for f*ck's sake. So he and his criticism can....well, you know.
AAAANYway, Jean-Pierre learned at the hands of the master, so despite her face revealing her true thoughts, her professionalism took over, and she explained to Shear that he should do some homework.
"So, on the public emergency, he has already done that," she began. "The president has already declared gun violence to be a public health epidemic. He has done that already. And he has mobilized our federal departments and health agencies, including our Department of Health services to respond. So that has been done."
Reminding Shear of Biden's long history of advocacy on the issue of gun violence, Jean-Pierre said, "Look, this is a president, as I've said already, who has been working on gun violence, gun reform, comprehensive gun reform, since he was a senator. And he was there with what President Obama had to deal with. He was there. He was his partner. He was there, and he took on that portfolio of dealing with gun violence. He was there at the table."
Shear, of course, decided to highlight his ignorance of the ways government works and where true blame lies with the following nonsense:
"Isn't it more of an indictment than it is a plus to say that the current president has been involved with this for more than, you know, decades, and it's not being fixed? These things are happening over and over again."
Right, because the GOP has been so willing to compromise, and Biden just hasn't taken them up on it for the last couple of decades or so. I mean, where have the Democrats been, when Republicans are trying so hard with the help of Russia to get guns off the streets? (/sarcasm)
Jean-Pierre told him, "Look, Michael, we are frustrated, as well. We are angry, as well. I said this earlier, and I'll say it again. This is a president who has done more via executive actions, this is how much of a priority this is for him, because we're a year into his presidency, more via executive actions than any president in their first year."
Interrupting her, he whined, "But many of those are not directly related to issues of mass shootings, they may be directly related to guns, and that's important, I'm not saying, but they're not directly related to..."
But finally she'd had enough of his interruptions and complaints, and told him what was what.
"And this is why we're calling on Congress to act," she stopped him. "The president is doing what he can from here. From the White House."
You know. From where he was elected to lead.
"And he has said he cannot do this alone. He has been very clear," Jean-Pierre continued. "He understands we need to do more. Congress has to act. He has done a comprehensive plan on gun violence. He has listed that out. Every couple of months we talk about what he's doing, what executive action he's taken. And now he is saying Congress needs to act. But he has been saying that for some time."
Who wants to bet that if Joe Biden handed down an Executive Order appointing a Gun Thing Czar tasked with getting all AR-15s out of the hands of people under the age of 25, Michael Shear would be the first one with his hand up asking why Biden wasn't doing more to unify the country?
