These two just keep going toe to toe round after round in the White House press briefings. In one corner it is White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, and in the other corner, it is Fox News reporter Peter Doocy. Most of the time, Doocy wins just like he did at the most recent briefing this week.
Jean-Pierre seemed to not know what the president’s past statements were about the oil industry when Doocy confronted her on the high gas prices.
The questions had to do with Biden announcing an additional release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserves. He wants to try and relieve high gas prices before the midterm elections.
“You’re asking oil companies to further lower gas prices, what makes you think that they are going to listen to an administration that is ultimately trying to put them out of business?” asked Doocy.
“How is the administration trying to put them out of business?” replied Jean-Pierre.
“Well they produce fossil fuels and he says he wants to end fossil fuel,” Doocy responded. The Fox reporter was basing his comments on statements that the president made during the 2020 presidential campaign.
The White House press secretary kept going and said that oil production was on track to reach a record high in 2023. She maintained that oil companies could drop the price of gas by increasing production just as they had done in the past.
But she did not address the past statements made by Biden about fossil fuels.
It did not take long for people to respond to her silence on social media. The Republican National Committee responded immediately by posting a video in which Biden made promises to stop fracking in the United States and saying that he would end fossil fuels.
What is even crazier is that Jean-Pierre told Doocy in June that the administration still intended to end America’s reliance on fossil fuels. That round went to Doocy, again.
The match this week wasn’t done with that round as Doocy took the edge in another round that focused on Biden’s clear contradiction on abortion rights.
The president said that his top priority is going to be to codify abortion rights into federal law. In fact, he promised that if Democrats retain control of Congress after the midterm elections this November, his number-one priority will be passing a federal law granting abortion rights.
“Here is the promise I make to you and the American people: The first bill that I will send to the Congress will be to codify Roe v. Wade,” Biden said Tuesday. But his administration in the White House said that the top priority is to combat inflation.
Doocy hammered away at the apparent contradiction. He asked which really was Biden’s top priority, abortion or inflation.
Jean-Pierre did not answer the question, she did say that Biden has made the economy a priority over the last 19 months and he works every day on the economy.
Doocy took issue with that saying that if that is true, why are the economic experts predicting now that there is a 100% chance the American economy plummets into recession? He reminded the press secretary that Biden is saying that the economy is “strong as hell.”
Jean-Pierre held her ground and said that a recession is not coming because of the work that the president has done. She said that we are seeing an economy that has more stable growth and more steady growth, because of the president’s work.
The president promised to codify Roe v. Wade into law even though poll after poll indicates that abortion is not a winning issue for the Democratic Party. The country is concerned about the economy, crime, and immigration. And Biden’s team is having a hard time keeping on track.
Doocy for the win.
