Shawn GriffithsFrom CNN to The Hill, up until Wednesday, everyone was convinced Joe Biden was running for president. Alleged sources close to the vice president or a friend of a friend of a source at the local bar told reporters and political pundits in the mass media that Joe was a go.
Instead, Joe said no.
So where was the disconnect? Everyone was sure Joe Biden was running. Did Joe Biden or his associates troll the mainstream media? Or was this simply a case of the knee-jerk, report now, substantiate later style journalism we have come to expect from the mass media? Did the media troll us?
Fox News chief White House correspondent Ed Henry tweeted Monday:
https://twitter.com/edhenry/status/656148356159422464
Sure, Henry added that the sources told him to exercise caution, but that didn't stop him from tweeting it out. Or Fox News and CNN reporting on it like it was a sure thing. Or other news outlets from picking it up. What mattered was that Henry was among the first to "break" the story.
Or how about this tweet from CNN's Dana Bash:
https://twitter.com/DanaBashCNN/status/656147634344869888
The only reason Joe Biden's announcement was such a "shock" as it is now being reported is because nearly everyone reported that his associates told them he was running without waiting to hear what Joe had to say.
"I've said all along what I've said time and again to others: that it may very well be that process, by the time we get through it, closes the window on mounting a realistic campaign for president: that it might close. I have concluded that it has closed," Joe Biden said during a press conference on Wednesday, October 21.
"While I will not be a candidate, I will not be silent. I intend to speak out clearly and forcefully, to influence as much as I can where we stand as a party and where we need to go as a nation."
Just goes to show, nothing is official until it is official.