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It was promoted as President Joe Biden’s “Big Boy” news conference, a no-holds-barred gathering of ink-stained wretches and broadcast/cable pretty faces finally freed to fire away with any question they wanted to ask the Chief Executive.
That’snothowithappened.Here’showLondon’sDailyMaildescribedtheevent:
Thisiswhata“bigboy”pressconferencelookslike:Twoteleprompterscreens,alistofvettedjournalistsandpressaideswithmicrophones,readytosilencetrickyquestions.
TheWhiteHousehadleanedintotheterm,firstusedbyareporter,tosignifythatPresidentJoeBidenwouldofferano-holds-barreddemonstrationofhisabilitytoparrytoughquestions.
Yetevenwiththeguardrailsofscreens,fussingaidesandanopeningstatement,Bidenstruggledattimeswitharaspythroat,botchedlinesandmeanderinganswers.
Inotherwords,theWhiteHousecommunicationsandpoliticalstaffersstage-managedThursday’snewsconferenceattheNATOSummitjustastheyhavebeendoingforyearswithallofBiden’spublicevents.
Therewereclaimsthatnopre-arrangedquestio