When a Democrat’s response to a question on “Meet the Press” brings derision from lib-friendly host Chuck Todd, things have gone decidedly sideways.
Sure, Todd’ll shout down any Republican who tries to veer to the right of Mitt Romney’s RINO grumbling, but his patience with the other side is quite generous. It has its limits, however, and Democrat Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota seems to have bumped up against them.
Klobuchar’s appearance Sunday on the chat show was, until the end, a pretty standard affair, with most of the questions focusing on the ongoing unrest in Russia, according to an NBC transcript. However, before she exited stage left, Todd said he was “going to ask you a couple of political questions here.”
“We’ve got a new poll out, and we asked various questions having to do with President Biden and his ability to do the job,” Todd asked. “Does he have the mental and physical health to serve? The concern among Democrats has doubled since October 2020. It was only one in five Democrats that had that concern before Election Day 2020. It’s now over 40 percent. It’s 43 percent.
“You were just with the president at the state dinner,” Todd added, noting that Klobuchar was with the president during his state dinner with Narendra Modi, prime minister of India. “Do you have any concerns?”
Of course she didn’t: “He did so well at that state dinner. I think we all saw his power at the State of the Union. Our party is united behind him. Why? Because we work in a results-oriented business, Chuck, and he has gotten results. Added over 13 million jobs since the beginning of his presidency. When he took over, our democracy was in shambles. We were in the middle of a pandemic.” Etc., etc.
You could tell she was practically reading off of a fact-sheet from the Biden website, in which the administration brags that it’s almost gotten back all the jobs lockdown-happy Democrats killed (with the the aid of some Republicans, it must be noted). And lo and behold, somehow things weren’t as bad. Amazing how that works.
But Todd — much like a Sunday talk show Lt. Columbo — had just one last question: “I want to ask you before you go – I brought up the state dinner,” Todd said. “Do you think it was appropriate for Hunter Biden to be at the same event as the attorney general, Merrick Garland, was in the same week he accepted a plea deal?”
That sweetheart plea deal, in which Hunter pleaded guilty to misdemeanors for major tax violations and skated on a gun charge, got a laugh from Klobuchar. After she tried to explain her way around it, it would eventually get a pained grin from Todd.
Either way, the clip is just pure gold:
Democrat Senator Amy Klobuchar starts laughing and scoffs when asked if it was appropriate for deadbeat Hunter Biden to attend a state dinner — where the attorney general was present — in the same week he accepted a plea deal for multiple federal crimes. pic.twitter.com/7eyq4ZuAL1
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 25, 2023
“You know, I think, as the president explains, that’s his son. That’s a separate thing. And I would like to say about that: That decision was made by an independent prosecutor who is a Trump-appointed U.S. attorney who had 10 years of experience, well respected,” Klobuchar said.
“Philadelphia Inquirer reported that he was a registered Republican. He looked at the facts and evidence and made that decision. And by the way, if that’s what the Republicans want to run on in the coming election, good luck, because the president is going to be able to run on the strengths of his work in bringing 13 million jobs back to America and resurging–” she continued.
“You understand the perception issue of something like that, though,” Todd reiterated. Klobuchar said yes, she did.
“And do you wish that perception were different?” Todd asked.
“You always wish there were different perceptions, but that’s not reality,” Klobuchar said. “Reality is whether or not someone is going to be able to get their insulin. And the president has made changes. Reality is whether someone has a job. Reality is when they can go visit their grandma again in an assisted living. Those are people’s realities, not who is sitting where at a state dinner.”
Todd’s face at exactly the 1:00 mark is just, well, chef’s kiss. And as for Klobuchar, she’s left behind a clip that philosophy of logic professors will, for decades to come, be able to use to illustrate the principle known as “ignoratio elenchi” — defined by Merriam-Webster as “a fallacy in logic of supposing a point proved or disproved by an argument proving or disproving something not at issue.”
Sure, Hunter was at a state dinner with the same attorney general whose Justice Department gave him a feather-light slap on the wrist during the same week — but insulin! And jobs!
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