Biden not doing the Super Bowl interview says a lot: Gutfeld
Greg Gutfeld and guests discuss Nikki Haley’s appearance on SNL and President Biden turning down the Super Bowl halftime interview on ‘Gutfeld!’
Critics across the political landscape are taking aim at President Biden for avoiding the traditional pre-Super Bowl interview for two years in a row.
Last year, Biden did not sit down with an affiliate of FOX when the network aired the Super Bowl. This year, CBS is broadcasting the game, and the White House revealed eight days in advance that Biden would again not make himself available.
"We hope viewers enjoy watching what they tuned in for — the game," a White House spokesman told Variety.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre defended the president on Tuesday when asked about the Super Bowl dodge, citing his routine exchanges with reporters and adding, "I wouldn't say that he is not engaging with the press. I would not say that because he does."
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Critics are raling against President Biden for his decision to dodge the pre-Super Bowl interview two years in a row. (Julia Nikhinson/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Fox News' "Media Buzz" host Howard Kurtz called the decision "incomprehensible" that Biden doesn't get in front of cameras more often, particularly in the wake of positive economic news in recent weeks.
"What, he's afraid of Norah O'Donnell or Scott Pelley? Can't handle it?" Kurtz told Martha MacCallum. "I just don't understand. That's, you know, a pretty easy interview with a couple of tough questions."
Cornell Law School professor and media critic William A. Jacobson said this was the return of Biden's "basement strategy" from 2020 that's "starting much earlier" in the 2024 election cycle.
"There is no upside to Biden sitting down with media in an unscripted setting," Jacobson told Fox News Digital. 'And there is large potential downside if he stumbles either mentally or verbally."
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CBS, the hosting network of this year's Super Bowl, is being snubbed by President Biden of the pre-game interview. (Getty Images)
A White House reporter who covers Biden took a swipe at the president for constantly keeping the press "at arm's length."
"When the history books are written, scholars will no doubt note how Joe Biden 'saved democracy' by holding the press at arm's length to sit instead with TikTok influencers, YouTube celebrities, and Conan O'Brien for his podcast," they told Fox News Digital.
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Bloomberg correspondent Salena Mohsin suggested the move by the White House to snub CBS is "telling."
"To me, him saying no to something that he’s expected to do, a serious interview, he can really get his message out to an audience, just sitting, waiting for him, waiting for his message, is telling. Is it because he can’t handle it?" Mohsin wondered on CNN. "If he is not able to follow the questions, if his staff is worried that he can't connect the dots and find the word he's looking for, that's a problem."
Bloomberg senior Washington correspondent Salena Mohsin claimed it's "telling" that President Biden has opted out of the network Super Bowl interview this upcoming Sunday. (Screenshot/CNN)
Former CNN White House correspondent Frank Sesno warned that avoiding the interview "reinforces the narrative that he's running from a fight."
"The Super Bowl is super ratings and generally a full-house free pass for a president," Sesno told CNN. "The interview is more apple pie than food for thought. So for Biden to take a pass on this (so to speak) will be taken by the over-the-hill crowd as another piece of evidence that he’s not in the game. It’s safer for him — no interview means no gaffes, no viral video of a mangled answer. But it also gives another punchline to the stand-up comics and the armchair quarterbacks."
Another former White House correspondent suggested it is a "missed opportunity" for the president.
"It’s a chance to have an interview before a massive audience, it’s not likely to be the toughest interview in the world. Why not do it? Why not take the opportunity to talk to a really large section of the country? Why the hell not?" the reporter told Fox News Digital.
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Fox News senior political analyst Brit Hume, a former White House reporter himself, said it made sense from the Biden administration's perspective not to take the chance on the interview, saying it "would obviously not be to his advantage to risk it."
"He's dependent upon the press corp's sympathies, which he has generously received, in my view, to advance his political cause," Hume told Fox News Digital, adding he doubted a Republican president would get as much of a pass about avoiding the media so studiously.
Hume expects the Biden campaign to use the same playbook in 2020 by limiting his public appearances where it is possible.
"They could be criticized, but is it better to be criticized or to have a public embarrassment?" Hume asked.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.