Democrats continue to celebrate passage of the misleadingly-named “Inflation Reduction Act”, and members of media have been there to do their part.
A leftwing hack Jonathan Karl attempted to convince George Stephanopoulos that the bill was an important legislative achievement while appearing on ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos show. After declaring that Joe Biden was “on a roll”, he began to worry that the president doesn’t get the credit that he deserves. He said that there are extraordinary jobs and that gas prices have dropped.
Chris Christie was also part of the panel. He then provided a perfect reality check.
. @jonkarl: “If you look at our new poll, he’s getting credit for almost nothing, he’s on a roll, no question that Joe Biden is on a roll…”@GovChristie “They got Democrats to actually vote for a Democrat bill, what are we going to do? “Stop the White House confetti!” pic.twitter.com/mlQ5rmqjFS
— Kevin Tober (@KevinTober94) August 7, 2022
Here’s the full exchange via Newsbusters.
JONATHAN KARL: If you look at our new poll, I mean he’s getting credit for almost nothing, he’s on a roll, I mean there’s no question that Joe Biden is on a roll legislatively, on the national security front, but he’s getting no credit for it. Inflation is still an issue. The gas prices have fallen for nearly two months and are now falling. It is amazing to see the unemployment rates. The unemployment figures are remarkable, but so is wage growth. This is not in line with inflation.
CHRISTIE – It is an inside Washington position, George. It is an inside Washington position. They won the Inflation Reduction Act. It is an absurd name as you mentioned in the interview. They won that. Democrats voted for a Democrat bill. What are they going to do now? They should just drop all the white house confetti.
This is absurd. This is an inside Washington function. People in other parts of the country are saying, “Wait a minute, I still pay much more for gasoline than I should.” My house still costs me more to cool. It’s difficult to get food on the table, and it’s causing me anxiety about my future.
Christie here is out of pocket. The fact that Americans don’t really care much about the majority of the bills in this bill is hidden behind all the fuss and pomp surrounding the Democrats’ passing it with Democrat votes. Climate change consistently ranks as one of the lowest priorities among voters, and certainly, hiring 87,000 IRS agents and raising taxes isn’t any more popular. Although the only part of the act with broad support might be the cap on insulin prices, it is so small that the issue will soon vanish from the collective consciousness of the nation.
The entire reconciliation bill is, as Christie says, an “inside Washington role.” It’s something that makes beltway dwellers squee, but back in the real world, people are still paying $10 for a pack of bacon. They won’t be thrilled to see more taxpayer money go towards green energy subsidies. Karl’s brag about gas prices falling (remember, this is a journalist who claims to be impartial) comes off as out of touch. Yes, gas prices have come back down after blowing past previous record highs, but they are still 80 percent higher today than when Biden took office. This is not an achievement. This is simply not failure.
This brings me to my larger critique of the media narrative suggesting that Democrats are back on the comeback trail simply because they passed a bill with bipartisan support and Joe Biden survived COVID. The average American does not see Washington as a government who cares about the things they care about. They see self-indulgence, unearned celebrations from mediocrities who aren’t faced with the realities of life. Are climate change subsidies primarily for the well-off? With inflation at 9.1 per cent, is that what Democrats consider a win? Even if inflation does drop, which it must at some point, it will take many years for it to return to something that isn’t crushing.
In just a few months people will vote. I guarantee that their votes won’t depend on the “Inflation Reduction Act.” Instead, they will base their vote upon their individual circumstances. The economy is currently in a downward spiral. Its only hope lies with an increase of jobs created by part-time workers to fight inflation. This is not the winning environment Democrats want, regardless of how hard they may try to convince themselves otherwise.
