Your sentence says it best: "It ought to be obvious for the media that the pressing pandemic story today is not about Americans who choose to still wear a mask, it's about Trump loyalists who refuse to get vaccinated." I can't get past the image of trump on the White House balcony (Mussolini-like) defiantly ripping off his mask, after getting life-saving Covid treatment unavailable to the proletariat. Biden wearing a mask sends a message. Leaders lead. Real leaders lead effectively.
Yeah, no, that's all bullshit. The "vaccine reluctant" aren't reluctant, they're paranoid and dishonest to varying degrees, along with some apathetic and unintelligent for variety. Most of them won't be swayed by "messaging" from anyone but Donny Treason. It doesn't matter how "confident" anyone is in the CDC or the vaccines, none of them are 100% effective, and suggesting otherwise, by word or action, is wrong. Similarly, public health guidelines are *minimums*, not mandates
The point in getting vaccinated is to avoid being hospitalized or ventilated or DYING from Covid. The point in wearing a mask is to minimize spreading or contracting the disease and its variants. But I agree that the messaging is, at times, muddled.
Trump mocked mask wearing and shamed his staff into going maskless until the White House became a Covid hot spot. Trump needed (and got) the best treatment in the world to survive his dose of CV-19, and again refused to wear a mask. Finally, he was one of the first to get vaccinated, but did it without fanfare. His hypocrisy was both astounding and dangerous. HE's the person who made mask wearing a political statement, aided and abetted by stooges named Hannity and Carlson, but it is "liberal" media guys like Tapper who can't quit the nonsense.
Eric, they don't have anything else to talk about. After five years of outrageous stuff, it's obvious that they are 'hooked' on the outrageous stuff. Does MSM not understand at all, the whole idea of MODELLING appropriate behavior??? No, they do not.
I've never forgotten that Tapper dragged Obama because he thought he had evidence that Obama sneaked a cigarette after he said he quit smoking. That was a Big Story!
Let's say that all people with a vaccination are 95% protected (that number likely varies, different people react to vaccination differently). Let's also say that wearing a mask also confers a 95% protection (if you're wearing a good mask, masks that are very "gappy" will be lower).
I think that folks'd much rather have a .0025% chance of getting sick versus a 5% chance! (someone please check /my/ math, math is hard!)
The Corporate Controlled Conservative Press is hell bent on kneecapping Joe and there is no limit to the asinine lengths they will go to try that. Problem with the CCCP is that Joe continually outwits them...
So Tapper assumes that people watching know that all the journalists there have been vaccinated? How does he know they are? Did they have to show proof? Are the Fox News guys vaccinated? And then there are all the people watching who don’t know who everyone is in the room or if they are vaccinated. It’s called setting an example.
Tapper and others in the media can't talk about all the things the Biden administration is doing that is highly popular with the majority of American people. Tapper must make an issue about something. But really, what do we expect from a media owned by billionaires who side with the right? Do we expect them to talk about how taxing the richest corporations who currently pay zero dollars in Federal taxes so that the US might have a 21st century infrastructure? Do we expect them to continue to tout what the Biden Administration has done in terms of turning around the pandemic? Even following the most destructive presidency in American history, the media, most notably the beltway press has not learned their lesson. The craziness that Trump wrought on an hourly bases gave the media an insatiable appetite for news of the absurd. What they should be hammering on a daily basis is Mitch McConnell saying he wants Biden to fail at all costs. Liz Cheney being voted out of Rep leadership by Trump sycophants. 47 states voting to pass bills to increase voter suppression, the constant fear mongering from Republicans of higher taxes on the rich, the promotion of socialism. But somehow Biden wearing a mask to protect others around him is huge story. We are definitely living in Bizarro World.
Bizarro, it is, Lou. Yet we can still take some comfort from this ugly unmasking of the common Republicant. They brazenly flaunt their racism and utter stupidity BUT those of us who care about the country and democracy dig our heels in ever more. The gloves are off and the masks remain on*, as a precaution and choice.
R's in Congress are busy digging their own graves and splintering like old, dried wood and I'm getting oh so much pleasure from it, I must say!
*(I'd rather err on the side of caution, any day, if it meant the difference between life and death.)
Our Failed Political Press ™ presents the Pandemic in a binary manner: either you die or you don’t. You wear a mask or you don’t. But that’s missing a big story.
Our FPP would rather talk about anything than that survivors of Covid who will live with permanent heart damage, permanent lung damage, suffer from strokes, permanent neurological damage which leads to coordination problems and loss of cognitive function. People are still becoming infected, the new variants are still spreading (and we don’t know enough about them). If the people around them when they were healthy had worn masks, they wouldn’t be condemned to this medical fate.
So sure, let’s focus on 'mask wearing as a culture war cause du jour' rather than that there’s still a large population of willfully unvaccinated people and we need to be wearing a mask for THEM. Wearing a mask isn’t virtue signaling, it is a real-world pragmatic benefit to the unvaccinated, Our Failed Political Press ™ would rather focus on the equivalent of former President Obama’s tan suit.
It wouldn't matter if wearing a mask was nothing more than a fashion accessory, nobody needs a reason to wear a mask, and saying "it isn't necessary" is not a good reason to not wear a mask.
Perhaps we should start comparing wanting to wear a mask with wanting to have a gun. Imagine the right wing squealing that would result. Imagine how much the corporate media of our "Failed Political Press" would amplify that squealing while refusing to condemn and ridicule it.
I don't know about other people, but I have noticed that masks have helped my health. I've had no colds or flu this year. And although the pollen was thick no sinus infections. I'll be wearing a mask as long as I can get away with it.
You get to wear a mask whenever you like! I'll probably keep wearing them on Airplanes, Public Transit and whenever I'm not feeling well. Wearing a mask is a good way to keep colds and flu from getting around. Wearing a mask when you're not feeling well is a way to tell other people that you care about them. If the people around you have trouble understanding that, they may want to see a doctor about their lack of empathy!
This is one of my latest media peeves. From Morning Joe to the Atlantic to David Leonhardt in of course the NYT yesterday, this whole idea that the pandemic is over and we shouldn’t be wearing masks is nuts. Less than 50 percent of Americans are fully vaxxed and we have variant strains in every state, yet according to the media, the pandemic is over. In PA I wasn’t eligible to even try to get an appt until mid April and won’t get my second dose for another two weeks. Unlike many in the media who were vaxxed several months ago, surrounded by people who have been vaxxed, and are now bored with this, most of us live in the real world With Trumpkins who refuse to get the vaccine. The media blow off long term covid effects, callously dismiss the fact that several thousand vaxxed people have gotten it and died, and whine for it all to end. They are selfish and spoiled. Not only did they learn nothing from their coverage of the past four years, they have gotten worse. It’s maddening.
I have terrible news for Tucker Carlson: I haven't had so much as a cold in 14 months. I'm keeping a mask with me, and putting it on whenever I feel it would be a good idea, such as on a plane or in a crowd in winter, for life.
My spring allergies are so much less horrendous when I wear a mask, esp when riding a mower to cut the lawn...horrendously allergic to trees, grass, ragweed and dust. I noticed this last year and I'm going to keep right on doing it.
Yes, this could and should remain a seasonal trend (and wholly personal), especially during flu season. Hell, other countries do it as a matter of course.
I care if Biden wears a mask. Doing so reinforces the message, and it shows that he cares (unlike the former guy). No harm is done to President Biden or anyone around him, and as you mention there is the issue of the emerging variants. There are reported 'break-through' infections occurring in the vaccinated population. No harm in wearing the mask. I plan to continue to do so as well.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I have been driven to distraction every time reporters ask the prez about why he is/isn’t wearing a mask. Is that the best they can do? Really? Ugh. So disappointing....again.
June 1, WaPo gets a new editor. Perhaps she can exert an influence felt wider than just the one paper. Eric, thank you for staying on this beat. This stupid binary mask coverage is but one among many sour notes. Glad I signed up to hear more of your sound opinions.
I continue to say that most of the so called press are not journalist sad excuses for the term journalist. Mr. Tupper I believe you looked there are more important things to speak about other than the president and people who still wear a mask. Get a life and some morals and go make to reporting NEWS not BS.
Your sentence says it best: "It ought to be obvious for the media that the pressing pandemic story today is not about Americans who choose to still wear a mask, it's about Trump loyalists who refuse to get vaccinated." I can't get past the image of trump on the White House balcony (Mussolini-like) defiantly ripping off his mask, after getting life-saving Covid treatment unavailable to the proletariat. Biden wearing a mask sends a message. Leaders lead. Real leaders lead effectively.
yep, I kept thinking of that Mussolini-like image while writing this piece
WHO can forget that moment?
We need the US population 70-80% vaccinated and we are not near that! Mask ON is the correct modeling.
Yeah, no, that's all bullshit. The "vaccine reluctant" aren't reluctant, they're paranoid and dishonest to varying degrees, along with some apathetic and unintelligent for variety. Most of them won't be swayed by "messaging" from anyone but Donny Treason. It doesn't matter how "confident" anyone is in the CDC or the vaccines, none of them are 100% effective, and suggesting otherwise, by word or action, is wrong. Similarly, public health guidelines are *minimums*, not mandates
The point in getting vaccinated is to avoid being hospitalized or ventilated or DYING from Covid. The point in wearing a mask is to minimize spreading or contracting the disease and its variants. But I agree that the messaging is, at times, muddled.
Agreed but many times the question seems to be asked as a gotcha one, not to get the correct information out to the public but to score points.
Trump mocked mask wearing and shamed his staff into going maskless until the White House became a Covid hot spot. Trump needed (and got) the best treatment in the world to survive his dose of CV-19, and again refused to wear a mask. Finally, he was one of the first to get vaccinated, but did it without fanfare. His hypocrisy was both astounding and dangerous. HE's the person who made mask wearing a political statement, aided and abetted by stooges named Hannity and Carlson, but it is "liberal" media guys like Tapper who can't quit the nonsense.
it’s awful Both Sides stuff—if we gave Trump hard time abt masks we have to give Biden hard time
To say Trump got vaccinated "without fanfare" is an extreme understatement. He did it in secret. That goes way past hypocrisy.
Eric, they don't have anything else to talk about. After five years of outrageous stuff, it's obvious that they are 'hooked' on the outrageous stuff. Does MSM not understand at all, the whole idea of MODELLING appropriate behavior??? No, they do not.
they take their cues from Fox News. I think that’s the simplest/saddest explanation
That is VERY VERY SAD Eric.
I've never forgotten that Tapper dragged Obama because he thought he had evidence that Obama sneaked a cigarette after he said he quit smoking. That was a Big Story!
Doesn’t Tapper et al know how silly they look?
Sadly no.
They also don't like doing stories about math.
Let's say that all people with a vaccination are 95% protected (that number likely varies, different people react to vaccination differently). Let's also say that wearing a mask also confers a 95% protection (if you're wearing a good mask, masks that are very "gappy" will be lower).
I think that folks'd much rather have a .0025% chance of getting sick versus a 5% chance! (someone please check /my/ math, math is hard!)
The Corporate Controlled Conservative Press is hell bent on kneecapping Joe and there is no limit to the asinine lengths they will go to try that. Problem with the CCCP is that Joe continually outwits them...
reminds me of Obama’s tan suit
I love how Biden is always calm as a cucumber, never flustered, when asked that asinine gotcha question repeatedly.
he handles the silly Q’s so well
So Tapper assumes that people watching know that all the journalists there have been vaccinated? How does he know they are? Did they have to show proof? Are the Fox News guys vaccinated? And then there are all the people watching who don’t know who everyone is in the room or if they are vaccinated. It’s called setting an example.
good pt. just another whole in the media narrative
Tapper and others in the media can't talk about all the things the Biden administration is doing that is highly popular with the majority of American people. Tapper must make an issue about something. But really, what do we expect from a media owned by billionaires who side with the right? Do we expect them to talk about how taxing the richest corporations who currently pay zero dollars in Federal taxes so that the US might have a 21st century infrastructure? Do we expect them to continue to tout what the Biden Administration has done in terms of turning around the pandemic? Even following the most destructive presidency in American history, the media, most notably the beltway press has not learned their lesson. The craziness that Trump wrought on an hourly bases gave the media an insatiable appetite for news of the absurd. What they should be hammering on a daily basis is Mitch McConnell saying he wants Biden to fail at all costs. Liz Cheney being voted out of Rep leadership by Trump sycophants. 47 states voting to pass bills to increase voter suppression, the constant fear mongering from Republicans of higher taxes on the rich, the promotion of socialism. But somehow Biden wearing a mask to protect others around him is huge story. We are definitely living in Bizarro World.
Bizarro, it is, Lou. Yet we can still take some comfort from this ugly unmasking of the common Republicant. They brazenly flaunt their racism and utter stupidity BUT those of us who care about the country and democracy dig our heels in ever more. The gloves are off and the masks remain on*, as a precaution and choice.
R's in Congress are busy digging their own graves and splintering like old, dried wood and I'm getting oh so much pleasure from it, I must say!
*(I'd rather err on the side of caution, any day, if it meant the difference between life and death.)
They would be all over him if Biden didn't wear a mask.
Our Failed Political Press ™ presents the Pandemic in a binary manner: either you die or you don’t. You wear a mask or you don’t. But that’s missing a big story.
Our FPP would rather talk about anything than that survivors of Covid who will live with permanent heart damage, permanent lung damage, suffer from strokes, permanent neurological damage which leads to coordination problems and loss of cognitive function. People are still becoming infected, the new variants are still spreading (and we don’t know enough about them). If the people around them when they were healthy had worn masks, they wouldn’t be condemned to this medical fate.
So sure, let’s focus on 'mask wearing as a culture war cause du jour' rather than that there’s still a large population of willfully unvaccinated people and we need to be wearing a mask for THEM. Wearing a mask isn’t virtue signaling, it is a real-world pragmatic benefit to the unvaccinated, Our Failed Political Press ™ would rather focus on the equivalent of former President Obama’s tan suit.
It wouldn't matter if wearing a mask was nothing more than a fashion accessory, nobody needs a reason to wear a mask, and saying "it isn't necessary" is not a good reason to not wear a mask.
Perhaps we should start comparing wanting to wear a mask with wanting to have a gun. Imagine the right wing squealing that would result. Imagine how much the corporate media of our "Failed Political Press" would amplify that squealing while refusing to condemn and ridicule it.
I don't know about other people, but I have noticed that masks have helped my health. I've had no colds or flu this year. And although the pollen was thick no sinus infections. I'll be wearing a mask as long as I can get away with it.
You get to wear a mask whenever you like! I'll probably keep wearing them on Airplanes, Public Transit and whenever I'm not feeling well. Wearing a mask is a good way to keep colds and flu from getting around. Wearing a mask when you're not feeling well is a way to tell other people that you care about them. If the people around you have trouble understanding that, they may want to see a doctor about their lack of empathy!
This is one of my latest media peeves. From Morning Joe to the Atlantic to David Leonhardt in of course the NYT yesterday, this whole idea that the pandemic is over and we shouldn’t be wearing masks is nuts. Less than 50 percent of Americans are fully vaxxed and we have variant strains in every state, yet according to the media, the pandemic is over. In PA I wasn’t eligible to even try to get an appt until mid April and won’t get my second dose for another two weeks. Unlike many in the media who were vaxxed several months ago, surrounded by people who have been vaxxed, and are now bored with this, most of us live in the real world With Trumpkins who refuse to get the vaccine. The media blow off long term covid effects, callously dismiss the fact that several thousand vaxxed people have gotten it and died, and whine for it all to end. They are selfish and spoiled. Not only did they learn nothing from their coverage of the past four years, they have gotten worse. It’s maddening.
These days it’s all and only about the gossip of the day.
I have terrible news for Tucker Carlson: I haven't had so much as a cold in 14 months. I'm keeping a mask with me, and putting it on whenever I feel it would be a good idea, such as on a plane or in a crowd in winter, for life.
My spring allergies are so much less horrendous when I wear a mask, esp when riding a mower to cut the lawn...horrendously allergic to trees, grass, ragweed and dust. I noticed this last year and I'm going to keep right on doing it.
Yes, this could and should remain a seasonal trend (and wholly personal), especially during flu season. Hell, other countries do it as a matter of course.
Ain't nobody's business but my own...!
I care if Biden wears a mask. Doing so reinforces the message, and it shows that he cares (unlike the former guy). No harm is done to President Biden or anyone around him, and as you mention there is the issue of the emerging variants. There are reported 'break-through' infections occurring in the vaccinated population. No harm in wearing the mask. I plan to continue to do so as well.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I have been driven to distraction every time reporters ask the prez about why he is/isn’t wearing a mask. Is that the best they can do? Really? Ugh. So disappointing....again.
they de seem desperate for gotcha moments
June 1, WaPo gets a new editor. Perhaps she can exert an influence felt wider than just the one paper. Eric, thank you for staying on this beat. This stupid binary mask coverage is but one among many sour notes. Glad I signed up to hear more of your sound opinions.
And a woman to boot! (Nothing personal Gentleman).
I continue to say that most of the so called press are not journalist sad excuses for the term journalist. Mr. Tupper I believe you looked there are more important things to speak about other than the president and people who still wear a mask. Get a life and some morals and go make to reporting NEWS not BS.
Reading articles like this is why I am happy with my subscription!