Former Bush White House Press Secretary and Fox News contributor Ari Fleischer hit the press for their apparent disinterest in President Biden's $6 trillion spending proposal.
"Not only do they not care, but many reporters are telling people don't worry about the deficit,'" Fleischer said on "MediaBuzz" Sunday. "'Don't worry about the debt, it doesn't matter because the interest rates are low.'"
The media, Fleischer added, are playing word games and appearing to adopt the president's language when reporting on the state of the economy.
"Many in the press are switching words," Fleischer noted. "No longer are they calling it spending, they're calling it investments, which is Joe Biden's word. They're parroting him. Of course it's all spending, but a lot of them call it investments."
When they do cover Biden's proposals, the press have appeared to be taking some particular liberties with the word "infrastructure." MSNBC's Jake Sherman, for instance, was accused of using "Democratic talking points" for using the term "human infrastructure" when describing Biden's proposals. Sherman would defend his use of the phrase as "shorthand" similar to Obamacare.
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Fleischer mused that criticism for Biden has been hard to come by because Biden largely avoids the cameras and has made himself "small." But the media, he emphasized, should have made up for that void by reporting on the president's agenda.
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"It's given people less of a target to shoot at, because Biden's not out there very much," Fleischer explained. "You would think the target would then become his policies and substance. But the news hole to cover policies and substance has really shrunk. So it is a tougher target for Republicans - he is."
Fleischer said he found it "curious" why the White House press corps is not "hectoring" Biden for more press conferences. Considering his first solo presser was such a "friendly affair," Fleischer said he didn't see why the White House "wouldn't want to hold two or three."
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Fleischer suggested the White House may be keeping him out of the limelight because they are "really worried about Biden bumbling." Some would argue that those fears were partly realized over the weekend in Michigan, after Biden appeared to struggle with a reporter's question on whether or not Russia was behind a recent ransomware attack, seemingly having to reference the notes in his pocket to come up with an answer.
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