{UAH} THE FRAUDLENT STAGED A PHOTO-OP AND THE PRESS EAT IT UP

Biden stages photo-op in Arlington Cemetery, and press eat it up

by Becket Adams, Commentary Writer

April 15, 2021 05:46 PM

President Joe Biden staged a photo-op at Arlington National Cemetery this week to promote his decision to withdraw all U.S. troops from Afghanistan by Sept. 11.

I am old enough to remember when it was an unforgivable offense for a president to disrespect the memory of fallen U.S. soldiers, including using their graves as political props. But I suppose those were different times.

This is how the Washington Post recounts Biden’s visit:

Biden walked alone among the tombstones in a section of Arlington National Cemetery for Americans who died in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He stood before a wreath, his head bowed, and made the sign of the cross before stepping back slowly and saluting.

“It’s hard to believe, isn’t it?” he said, approaching reporters. “I’m always amazed at generation after generation of women and men prepared to give their lives for the country.”

“I have trouble these days ever showing up at a cemetery and not thinking of my son, Beau, who proudly” went with his unit to Iraq and gave up “his spot as attorney general in the state of Delaware because he thought it was the right thing to do,” Biden said, wiping his eyes.

“Look at them all,” he said, gesturing to the tombstones.

A reporter asked Biden if it had been difficult to decide whether to bring troops home from Afghanistan.

“No, it wasn’t,” Biden said. “To me it was absolutely clear, absolutely clear.”

You’ve got to hand it to the president: He is nearly as good a showman as his predecessor — the key difference being Biden’s performances are geared toward a very different, if equally gullible, audience.

Speaking of gullible, our supposedly fearless, no-nonsense news media have been more than happy to oblige this president’s shrewd public relations stunt. On Thursday, photos of the president’s visit to Arlington were featured prominently on the front pages of the print editions of the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times.

The New York Times’s above-the-fold headline reads, “‘It’s time to end the forever war.”

“Biden: Cycle ‘cannot continue’ in Afghanistan,” said the Washington Post.

The Los Angeles Times likewise went with a headline that reads, “Biden: ‘Time to end the forever war.’”

Again, the photos accompanying these front-page headlines were all pulled from Biden’s staged stroll through Arlington. The president not only gets the flattering headlines announcing his decision to pull U.S. troops from of Afghanistan, but he also gets the heroic portraits to boot.

President @JoeBiden announces the end of America’s longest war. This morning’s front page headlines in the @nytimes and @washingtonpost pic.twitter.com/8SGTQMrOTD

— Wolf Blitzer (@wolfblitzer) April 15, 2021

It shouldn’t be this easy for Biden, but it is.

The White House wanted a good photo-op to accompany the president’s planned statement on Afghanistan. So, it dropped him and a small army of reporters and photographers into one the most hallowed military memorials in the nation on the day of the announcement, giving the commander in chief plenty of space to wander around while looking meditative and, yes, very presidential.

The White House set it up this way. It wanted that image of Biden: the president by his lonesome, walking among headstones in Arlington National Cemetery, supposedly lost deep in thought contemplating the bravery and sacrifice of those whose graves he now uses as political props. For those of you playing at home, this is called “propaganda,” and it was all done on the grounds of a cemetery dedicated to fallen U.S. service members. Classy!

“White House wanted the visual reminder of the human cost of war,” CNN’s Jake Tapper said solemnly, “that sacrifices have been made, that this isn’t just an abstract decision.”

Yes, I, too, understand the purpose and goal of propaganda. We can all see it.

The only thing worse than Biden using Arlington political gimmick is that our all-too-willing media ate it up, making the photos that came from that staged event a key component of their coverage of his Afghanistan announcement. That's our media — all cheerleading from here on out.

EM         -> {   Gap   at   46  }

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