Fox News hits the panic button as Joe Biden pulls ahead of Donald Trump in every swing state

| 10:20 pm EDT April 23, 2020
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Fox News just dropped what they want us to think is a bombshell about Joe Biden’s readiness to be the next President of the United States. They are no doubt hoping readers don’t bother getting past the headline, which proclaims: “Usama bin Laden wanted to kill Obama so ‘totally unprepared’ Biden would be president, declassified docs show.” The article is not only bizarre but actually accomplishes its opposite intent by reminding us just how prepared Biden is to be our next chief executive.

The bin Laden quote comes from documents that U.S. forces seized back in early May 2011 after raiding the al-Qaeda leader’s compound in Pakistan. Bin Laden wrote of a hopeful plot to assassinate President Obama both because he is “the head of infidelity” and because Biden, “who is totally unprepared for that post,” would take over the presidency and, he believed, lead the United States into a crisis.

Calling Biden “unprepared” in these documents was one man’s opinion — one notoriously hateful and unhinged man. Does Fox News suggest that we, in 2020, are now supposed to embrace bin Laden’s words as insightful, dependable, and unbiased wisdom? If anything, the fact that Biden was insulted and criticized by a genocidal maniac is all the more reason to believe in Biden and his remarkable qualifications.

Fox News then cited old news coverage of Biden’s role in supporting or opposing the raid, including whether he changed his story, in an apparent attempt to give credence to bin Laden’s claim that Biden is “unprepared.” As Biden stated many times (before finally putting the issue to bed in an October 2015 CBS “60 Minutes” interview), he supported the raid but only after prudently advising Obama to take extra precautions to ensure bin Laden was indeed at the compound.

If bin Laden’s quote, uncovered nearly a decade ago by SEAL Team Six, was destined to derail Biden’s candidacy, it already had its chance and failed. No less popular a publication than the Washington Post reported this story on March 16, 2012, and months later, the Obama-Biden ticket handily won reelection. So, what Fox News now presents as a bombshell is a laughably aging nothingburger.

Voters are free to disagree with Biden’s policy positions or dislike him for any number of reasons. But no reasonable person, with a straight face, can say that Biden is “unprepared.” On the contrary, Biden’s lifelong record of public service and leadership, culminating in his recent two terms as Vice President, would make him enter the Oval Office as one of the most experienced and qualified Commanders-in-Chief in American history. Osama bin Laden is dead, Joe Biden is prepared, and Fox News is desperate.

Dear Palmer Report readers, we all understand the difficult era we're heading into. Major media outlets are caving to Trump already. Even the internet itself and publishing platforms may be at risk. But Palmer Report is nonetheless going to lead the fight. We're funding our 2025 operating expenses now, so we can keep publishing no matter what happens. I'm asking you to contribute if you can, because the stakes are just so high. You can donate here.