| | | | Fox News crosses the line on Joe Biden |  | | For anyone who watched Fox News Channel, it's not at all surprising that its anchors and hosts (with few notable exceptions) talk up President Donald Trump while knocking down the Democrats running against him in 2020.
While that position puts Fox somewhere in the grey area between journalism and activism, it's not exactly new. There are ratings in partisanship -- so Fox News engages in partisanship.
But even partisanship should have its limits. And one of those limits should be raising entirely unfounded questions about a presidential candidate's health. Which is exactly what two Fox News personalities -- Kennedy and Sean Hannity -- have done, according to this terrific piece by the Daily Beast Justin Baragona:
"Since the end of May, Fox Business Network and Fox News star Lisa 'Kennedy' Montgomery and Fox News prime-time host Sean Hannity have speculated on-air, on at least four separate occasions, that the current Democratic presidential frontrunner is secretly dealing with health issues, often comparing his condition to illness-related conspiracy theories the network pushed about Hillary Clinton during the 2016 election."
Kennedy claimed that conversations among Democratic opposition-researchers all center on "you know there is something wrong with the former vice president." She offered no proof for this claim.
Hannity, Fox's biggest star, said this: ""Joe Biden's tired, He does not have the energy for this. He's not up for this challenge. They're already hiding him like they hid Hillary. They don't want him out there."
Those baseless attacks echo how Trump attacked Hillary Clinton during the 2016 campaign. "She doesn't have the look," Trump said of Clinton in late September 2016. "She doesn't have the stamina, I said she doesn't have the stamina, and I don't believe she does have the stamina." (Trump's attack came two weeks after Clinton was caught on video shakily leaving a September 11 anniversary commemoration.)
Trump himself has hinted at similar themes in his early attacks on Biden, the current frontrunner for the 2020 Democratic nod. "Joe Biden got tongue tied over the weekend when he was unable to properly deliver a very simple line about his decision to run for President," Trump tweeted in March. "Get used to it, another low I.Q. individual!" And his nickname for Biden -- "Sleepy Joe" -- isn't accidental either.
These attacks is that they are clearly designed to raise questions in voters' minds about electing Biden, who would be 78 on Inauguration Day 2021. That would make Biden the oldest president elected to a first term, breaking the record of -- you guessed it! -- Donald Trump, who was elected at age 70. Which makes the he's-too-old-to-do-the-job argument a little tin-eared.
The Point: Trump -- and his surrogates, including those at Fox -- showed they were willing to do anything and everything to get him elected in 2016. These baseless hits on Biden's health -- more than a year before the election -- suggest they'll be following that same blueprint again.
-- Chris | | "I'm a budget cutter and I have cut the budget"
-- President Trump falsely claiming in a CNBC interview this morning that he cut the federal budget. Trump's proposed budget this year -- $4.75 trillion -- was the largest in American history. So.... | | |
TAKEAWAYS FROM THE NEW CNN POLL | | A new CNN poll among likely Iowa caucusgoers shows Joe Biden at 24%, Bernie Sanders at 16%, Elizabeth Warren at 15%, Pete Buttigieg at 14% and Kamala Harris at 7%.
Everyone else? They um ... didn't break 2% in the poll.
This is a good sign for both Buttigieg and Warren, according to CNN's Harry Enten. Few other candidates besides Biden and Sanders have even been able to break double digits.
The poll also revealed multiple weaknesses for frontrunner Joe Biden, and it shows Biden is quite vulnerable in the national nomination contest. | | Elaine Chao, call your office
Michael Scherer on the many ideas of Elizabeth Warren
Why Juul is hoping to win over black lawmakers
The Supreme Court was busy this morning
Qatar, a country without a free press, hosts a DC party celebrating ... the free press
A missing Leonardo Da Vinci masterpiece has turned up in an unlikely place -- a yacht owned by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman
How the US government is failing women's soccer | | | 🚨 The characters from "Sesame Street" did a Tiny Desk Concert! 🚨 | | The tree that President Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron planted together last year has died, according to French media.
The ceremoniously planted oak tree disappeared last year and was sent to quarantine after it was initially planted by the pair, but it has since perished, the report says. The news emerged as the two heads of state gathered to commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day.
Le Monde, the French newspaper that first reported the tree's demise, didn't mince words, adding that the tree was a "metaphor for a relationship that isn't what it was." In the last year, Macron and Trump have clashed over trade, Iran and Trump's pull out from the 2015 Paris Climate Accord. | | The Point team is listening to this walk-out song playlist for the candidates at the Iowa Democrats Hall of Fame campaign stop yesterday. Chris says Andrew Yang's pick was the best.
Cory Booker: Lovely Day by Bill Withers
Eric Swalwell: Caught up in the Country by Rodney Atkins
Bernie Sanders: Power to the People by John Lennon
Tulsi Gabbard: Ain't No Mountain High Enough by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell
Pete Buttigieg: Never Giving Up by Batchelor
Kamala Harris: Work That by Mary J. Blige
John Delaney: I've Been Everywhere by Johnny Cash
Jay Inslee: Mr. Blue Sky by Electric Light Orchestra
Kirsten Gillibrand: Good as Hell by Lizzo
Tim Ryan: Old Town Road by Lil Nas X
Andrew Yang: Return of the Mack by Mark Morrison
Marianne Williamson: Higher Ground by Stevie Wonder
Elizabeth Warren: 9 to 5 by Dolly Parton
John Hickenlooper: Good Life by OneRepublic
Amy Klobuchar: Bullpen by Dessa
Steve Bullock: Small Town by Kenny Chesney and John Mellencamp
Bill De Blasio: Rudy Can't Fail by The Clash
Michael Bennet: The Rising by Bruce Springsteen
Beto O'Rourke: Clampdown by The Clash | | | Hyde Amendment It caused the latest -- and temporary -- schism between the 2020 field, with Joe Biden initially saying he still supports the amendment while many others like Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and Kamala Harris say they do not. Biden then reversed course on Thursday night, saying he can no longer support the amendment.
Definition: The Hyde Amendment bans the use of federal funds to pay for an abortion, unless the pregnancy is the result of incest or rape or when the mother's life is in danger.
The Hyde Amendment itself is often tucked into big spending packages making its way through Congress, meaning that of the 15 members of Congress currently running for president, many of them have -- by voting for these large spending bills -- also voted for this specific attached amendment. That is, of course, different from specifically supporting the amendment. It was first passed in 1976 and it is renewed every year. | | | | | | |
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