There’s a parody Twitter account that posts daily memes and tweets about how the NY Times specifically, the media in general, and republicans twist everything to cast shade on Biden and democrats. To give you an idea if you don’t follow New York Times Pitchbot @DougJBalloon, they all go something like this:

“Joe Biden has had the most successful presidency for passing popular legislation since FDR. How will this hurt Democrats?”

The point again is he’s making fun of the media for consistently casting current events as potentially negative for Democrats and Biden’s electoral chances no matter how good or advantageous the event actually may be for them.

Here are a few more actual tweets from the account to give you the hang of what NYT Pitchbot is doing.

“Is the Biden economy creating too many jobs?”

“Eighty years ago today, brave Americans stormed the beaches of Normandy as they began their valiant liberation of Europe. Here’s why that’s bad news for Joe Biden.”

“Should Biden downplay his own success?”

“I don’t believe the polls showing that today’s guilty verdict will hurt Trump in November. But I do believe the polls showing that Gaza will hurt Biden in November.”

Again, these are satirical but the point is, like the Onion, they are meant to expose the absurd degree of Republican friendly bias in the media.

I mention this because I was reminded of it when I watched Iowa Press this weekend and spotted several examples of this type of bias from the Iowa Press panel during Friday’s episode with Rita Hart, Iowa Democratic Party Chair as the guest. I’m not smart enough to be a satirist so I can’t turn these into something funny, but I can recognize a pattern.

For example, one might think they could have asked if Trump’s recent felony conviction by jury might be a drag for republican voters and help democratic chances in November. Or they could have asked if Biden’s infrastructure projects that have helped Iowa might improve democratic prospects in November.  But no.

Brianna Pfannenstiel, double teaming with Erin Murphy, asked Rita Hart instead, for the umpteenth time:

Pfannenstiel:  “President Joe Biden has a historically low approval rating. It’s 29% in Iowa right now according to the last Des Moines Register Iowa Poll. Are you worried that that’s going to be a drag for democrats in Iowa?”

Then, same question in case Hart missed the point,

Murphy: “Do Iowa democratic candidates have to sell Joe Biden as well as themselves? Or do you expect they will try to avoid talking about the President and focus on their own races?”

Why should democrats avoid talking about a successful democratic president who is NOT A FELON? It is republicans who should want to avoid talking about their nominee, convicted felon Donald J. Trump. And that’s exactly where Rita Hart went with it.

Hart: “Well, I think that the contrast here is pretty stark. I think that the American people and Iowans recognize that we are looking at a republican party that is struggling to get behind their nominee because it’s hard to see that we could have a president who is a convicted felon, who has the potential to actually be elected from jail, that he is morally compromised, that he’s a draft dodger, I could go on and on about all the reasons why it doesn’t make sense to elect this guy into the most respected office in the country. And so, we’re going to keep talking about that, about how there is a clear contrast between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, who is working to lower costs for Iowans, who is working on improving health care for Iowans and Americans, who is somebody who is on a much different path by working for common working Americans, rather than to give tax cuts to billionaires and millionaires and to cater to special interests.”

Slam dunk I’d say. Well, it’s easy when they ask the same question of every democrat.

(Side rant – why is Biden’s approval rating so low in Iowa? Might it have something to do with the actual information not breaking through in our republican friendly journalistic environment such as Iowa Press? Or the disinformation from the fifteen conservative talk radio stations around the state?  Or the hostility the republican trifecta heaps on democrats and the so-called free press)? Let’s talk about that.

It’s like when the Iowa Press panel knows a democrat is going to be on the program they pull out their good old Low Biden Approval question.  They asked Jennifer Konfrst the same question last month during Trump’s trial when it wasn’t going well for Trump.

Despite polling indicating a substantial percentage of Republicans said they will not vote for Trump if he was convicted, and despite about 19% of Iowa Republicans opting for Nikki Haley and 21% for DeSantis making it 40% of Iowa repub caucus attendees rejecting Trump, these facts were not brought up as possibly being disadvantageous to republicans and possibly helpful to democrats during this election year.

The Iowa Press panel brought up only topics that in their view would surely make things bad for democrats. They seem to have no knowledge whatsoever about what the democrats and no party voters in this state are worried about or reacting to as far as republican policies and extremist republican office holders.

How about this one? I love Hart’s answer.

Pfannenstiel: RFK Jr. was somebody who has said that he has made it onto Iowa’s ballot in November. Do you have any concerns about his candidacy and whether he takes away votes from Joe Biden in November?

Hart: I think that really the results on our presidential preference cards really made that clear that we did not have one delegate for RKF Jr. So, I think that kind of speaks for itself.

Because we couldn’t possibly leave out the RFK, Jr. tragically-went-over-the-edge development, a true bummer for democrats regardless of who it ends up helping or hurting politically. And some pollsters suggest his candidacy will actually hurt Trump more than Biden.

And lastly because we’re out of time, Kay Henderson asked:

“On June 15th, your party will have a state convention. Do you anticipate a platform fight over the Israel Gaza war, the Israel Hamas war?”

I really wish Rita Hart would have answered, “at least we have a platform.”

Don’t believe me. Watch the program if you can.

If you prefer to read the transcript go to Iowa PBS.

Happy Monday!