Pandemic Porn and Political Theater

The most pathetic presidential address to (part of) Congress ever took place this last week, and what a message Slow Joe sent:

The House chamber is usually packed to capacity when the president speaks. But Wednesday night, only 200 people were allowed in to watch Biden’s address. Why? Every member of Congress has had the opportunity to be vaccinated. So have the president, vice president and House speaker, as well as Cabinet officials and Supreme Court justices. They could have filled the House chamber with an audience of fully vaccinated officials.

So why were seats roped off to ensure social distancing? Why were the attendees wearing masks? Biden’s own Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued guidance clearly stating that “fully vaccinated people can: Visit with other fully vaccinated people indoors without wearing masks or physical distancing.” While other CDC guidance cautions against large events, that does not contemplate events where every single person is fully vaccinated. By filling the House chamber with vaccinated people, Biden could have sent a message to millions of Americans who tuned in to watch: The vaccines work. Because we are vaccinated, we are having a normal joint session of Congress. And if you get vaccinated, your lives can return to normal again, too.

Why didn’t Biden listen to his own public health officials? Why didn’t he follow the science? Simple. To have a normal address would have signaled that a return to normalcy is at hand — that the coronavirus crisis is reaching its end. But Democrats need the crisis as a pretext for all the government spending Biden outlined Wednesday night.

Never let a crisis go to waste--even if the crisis is your own fault, even if you have to extend the crisis, or even if you have to make it up.  All three of those were in Biden's speech.