Democratic strategist James Carville told President Joe Biden to stop obsessing over negative media coverage on his age. Speaking to MSNBC’s Jen Psaki, Carville said that the age issue is “suffocating” Biden.
James Carville tells Biden to stop complaining about coverage of age: The 'issue is suffocating him' https://t.co/RN8sdesvbJ
— Fox News (@FoxNews) May 21, 2024
“I do think the president has to deal, the age issue is suffocating him. He needs to bring up that he is only four years older than Trump,” he said before asking the president to stop “complaining” about the New York Times’ report on his bad poll numbers
For Carville, complaining about the coverage is a “waste of time.”
Carville’s remarks come after Biden and his team have been upset by The Times’ coverage on him throughout his first time in office.
In a recent interview with CNN’s Erin Burnett, Biden said that the polls were “wrong, all along.”
Since he took office, he has refused to grant the media outlet an interview even though every modern president has done that in office.
In a statement released late last month, the outlet addressed Biden’s refusal to sit for an interview with independent journalists, saying, “For anyone who understands the role of the free press in a democracy, it should be troubling that President Biden has so actively and effectively avoided questions from independent journalists during his term.”
“The president occupies the most important office in our nation, and the press plays a vital role in providing insights into his thinking and worldview, allowing the public to assess his record and hold him to account,” the statement read further.
“Mr. Biden has granted far fewer press conferences and sit-down interviews with independent journalists than virtually all of his predecessors,” the paper continued, adding that the 81-year-old president was setting a “dangerous precedent” for presidents to come in avoiding the media.
According to reports, people close to Biden believe that The Times is “arrogant” and unwilling to give the president “his due.” Some at the paper, on the other hand, believe that the Biden campaign and the White House’s dissatisfaction is a “misguided effort to control its coverage.”
Aside from the New York Times, Biden has also refused to sit down for interviews with The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal among other major outlets.
