This morning Ed picked up on a CNN story headlined “Biden inheriting nonexistent coronavirus vaccine distribution plan and must start ‘from scratch,’ sources say.” Here’s a bit of what CNN’s MJ Lee reported:
“There is nothing for us to rework. We are going to have to build everything from scratch,” one source said.
Another source described the moment that it became clear the Biden administration would have to essentially start from “square one” because there simply was no plan as: “Wow, just further affirmation of complete incompetence.”
Ed was quick to point out that this sounded like a metric ton of blame-shifting:
Maybe the Biden team would be better advised to start thinking outside the box rather than reflexively pre-empting criticism by complaining about their predecessors. That’s especially true when the only reason the vaccines exist in the first place is because their predecessors took unprecedented action to ensure their production.
Actually, it’s worse than that. As Fox News pointed out, even journalists on the left are stating that this simply isn’t true.
Biden folks are spinning here or trying to lower the bar strategically. There was, indeed, a plan from Trump. I listened in on govs calls on vaccine distribution. The plan had obvious shortcomings. but to say there’s nothing to rework is not true. https://t.co/RADv5dl8mf
— Sam Stein (@samstein) January 21, 2021
Sam Stein linked an 11-page document subtitled “The Operation Warp Speed Strategy for Distributing a COVID-19 Vaccine.”
lol. this is not a radical thing i put down here, people. The Trump teams definitely had a vaccine distribution plan. it may have come unpainfully short. but, like, it did exist! here’s a small overview of ithttps://t.co/LiesMoXCVo https://t.co/lgEcMHuweW
— Sam Stein (@samstein) January 21, 2021
Dan Diamond from the Washington Post revealed that people from the Biden camp had been making this claim to reporters but said it looked to him like an obvious attempt to lower expectations.
1) Biden advisers keep making this claim to reporters, but the idea they’re starting “from scratch” seems like a gambit to lower expectations.
Trump was dangerous on covid. Many problems to fix. But government officials did set up a system that’s distributed 36M doses to states. https://t.co/24ycjjJnM3
— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) January 21, 2021
Others were less charitable:
this is a lie.
CNN is allowing itself to be used as a PR shop to spin events in Biden’s favor. if the admin meets its goal of 100M vaccines in 100 days, which we are on course to do anyway, they take credit. if they don’t meet that goal, they can claim they never had a chance. https://t.co/5NvkR6O80x
— tsar becket adams (@BecketAdams) January 21, 2021
Diamond also pointed out that Biden’s 100 million in 100 days vaccination goal is barely above what we are already doing with the non-existent plan:
2) In the past week, @business says 912,497 vaccine doses were administered per day — or 91% of Biden’s goal of 1M Americans per day.
Either the situation on the ground is better than team Biden acknowledges, or Biden’s target is less ambitious than it seems. pic.twitter.com/z7TDdHC4i1
— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) January 21, 2021
If the difference between no plan and the Biden plan is 88,000 doses per day, that’s not much to brag about is it? When Biden was asked about this today by an AP reporter he replied, “Come on, give me a break, man.”
Biden snaps at AP’s Zeke Miller when he asks about the number of vaccine doses he wants to dole out in his first 100 days.
“When I announced it you all said it’s not possible. Come on, give me a break, man.” pic.twitter.com/YnP1gyjnVX
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) January 21, 2021
It’s quite a change in tone. Back in October, Biden was brimming with confidence about his ability to crush the virus:
I’m not going to shut down the country.
I’m not going to shut down the economy.
I’m going to shut down the virus.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) October 30, 2020
That was then but on day two of his administration his flaks are begging the media to help them lower expectations and Biden himself is asking for a break. Sorry, champ, you asked for this job. It’s time to stop whining about the other guy and get it done.
The final nail in this particular coffin was hammered in by none other than Dr. Fauci. As Allahpundit noted in an update here, Fauci said today “We certainly are not starting from scratch.” So, yeah, this was pure partisan spin and CNN not only ran this bogus story but gave anonymity to the frauds who spread it.
Update: This Twitter thread really points out how far and wide this story went today. Some highlights:
She wasn’t even alone in her own program. Here we’ve got @kylegriffin1 doing the same thing.
Again, the Biden WH has every incentive for you to believe this. It means that any future failures are on Trump, not Biden. pic.twitter.com/2X5DTwOOSg
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) January 22, 2021
And it wasn’t just reporters. Here we’ve got @SpeakerPelosi picking up the unsupported, unsubstantiated claim and running with it – in front of the American people – as if it were true. pic.twitter.com/XLjkN0xzlT
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) January 22, 2021
Even Hillary jumped on this:
Perhaps you remember @HillaryClinton. pic.twitter.com/wMpocuA0az
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) January 22, 2021
This was one of the biggest news stories of the day. Kudos to the handful of reporters who pointed didn’t just go along with the herd and pointed out this was nonsense.
