Fox host Neil Cavuto falsely suggested that President Joe Biden is no longer the “reaching out across the aisle” guy he used to be, despite the fact that Biden has already reached across the aisle to talk infrastructure repair and the COVID relief bill.
Thirty-four minutes into yesterday’s Your World, host Cavuto finally moved on from mourning Rush Limbaugh to talking to former senator and 2000 Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Lieberman about Biden’s agenda.
Lieberman was there to push Biden to the right. He said infrastructure “can be a bipartisan agreement and President Biden really has the ability to show on this one that he can do it.” He said Biden won in part because he “worked across party lines, and I think on infrastructure he can do it, and I hope he does.”
Cavuto griped, “But he’s not working across party lines, right? I mean he talks moderately in reaching out across the aisle, but he acts just the opposite.” Cavuto claimed that because Biden is not “engaging Republicans in bigger numbers to get something going, me thinks that this is all just hot air.”
Lieberman chuckled. “I served with Joe Biden for 24 years in the U.S. Senate,” he replied, adding that Biden "repeatedly reached across party lines, working with people much more conservative than he is to get things done.”
“But he’s not doing that now Senator,” Cavuto said. “I’m beginning to wonder, is this a different Joe?”
“I’m a centrist Democrat,” Lieberman reminded us. “President Biden is the leader of the Democratic party now, and he’s got to get it more toward the center to work with Republicans.”
Lieberman continued, “On the COVID relief, he’s got those 10 Republican Senators who had the guts to come in to him, in the White House, right after he was elected and said here’s what we can support; $600 billion package.”
“That’s right,” Cavuto acknowledged. He even agreed, “They’re the seeds there to your point.”
FACT CHECK: Biden met with bipartisan senators to discuss infrastructure repair, and he met with Republican Senators to discuss a COVID bill.
Not mentioned but at least as important? COVID relief has bipartisan support among Americans. As MSNBC’s Steve Benen noted, “the COVID relief plan has received support from Republican mayors, Republican governors, and Republican voters. The budget resolution that cleared the way for the bill even included Republican amendments. To the extent that it's necessary, the ‘bipartisan’ box has been checked.”
You can watch Lieberman and Cavuto ignore those facts below, from the February 17, 2021 Your World.