A senior re-election campaign official for President Joe Biden announced that editorial boards and editorial writers are guilty of election influencing or interference during an MSNBC interview on Monday. Former Atlanta Mayor, now senior campaign advisor to Biden, Keisha Lance Bottoms lambasted editorial boards, accusing them of “influencing an election” by writing negatively about Biden.
Bottoms was specifically lashing out at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s editorial board when they criticized President Biden’s debate performance and opined that he should step down as a candidate.
Bottoms falsely claimed that editorial boards like the Atlanta Journal-Constitution must “honor fair elections” and thinks that any criticism of Biden is somehow not honoring fair elections and is influencing or interfering in this upcoming election.
“Let me just say I was very disappointed with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution,” she said. “We have talked about making sure we’re protecting elections and making sure there’s no undue influence, this was undue influence by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution or an attempt to influence.”
Bottoms’ comments seemingly show a growing concern in the Biden campaign that the media is no longer running cover for her boss after what the Atlanta Journal-Constitution wrote in their editorial regarding the debate and Biden’s performance.
“This wasn’t a bad night. It was confirmation of the worst fears of some of Biden’s most ardent supporters. Biden deserves a better exit in public life than the one he endured when he shuffled off the stage on Thursday night.”
Related: Freefall: Major Swing State Newspaper Tells Biden to ‘Pass the Torch’ After Debate Fiasco
MSNBC’s Chris Jansing attempted to push back on Bottoms’ comments by asking her if that wasn’t the role of the editorial staff, or editorials in general, to criticize politicians and their performances, to which Bottoms made her out-of-this-world comments regarding the supposed requirement of the editorial boards never to criticize her boss.
Bottoms’ comments are just another example of the Biden election team trying to run cover for Biden after his unmitigated disaster of a debate performance against Former President Donald Trump. In the days since the debate, more and more members of the media, notably from the networks that are typically supportive, or at the very least, soft on Biden, have been raising serious questions and alarms about Biden’s abilities or lack thereof.
Famed Washington Post reporter Carl Bernstein offered arguably the most shocking take on Biden’s health and current situation on Anderson Cooper Monday night.
By the standards of Keisha Lance Bottoms, journalists such as Jake Tapper and Anderson Cooper are guilty of election influence or interference. Her comments come not so much as a surprise, rather it is saying the quiet part out loud. Biden and his administration have enjoyed obvious and gentle treatment from the mainstream media and press during his presidency up to this point. However, given the undeniable performance of Biden in the debate, the media is now forced to do their job.
Editorial boards are supposed to be able to openly critique politicians, including the President of the United States. They are supposed to offer unpopular or even popular opinions so that the people of this nation can be made aware of what is going on and why. Bottoms has forgotten that and her actions/statements against the media, by accusing them of election interference or influence, are a chill on free speech and freedom of the press.
Media is not the enemy, nor are we the friends of politicians, we are the keepers of accountability and the truth. Sometimes that means saying or reporting facts and opinions that politicians and their surrogates want to keep quiet, and the attempt to suppress that or accuse us of committing a crime or wrongdoing because they do not like it, is wrong.
