The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) editor Paul A. Gigot says the Biden team used a recently published op-ed to “send a message to critics” after the post sparked backlash among Democrats who called for the piece to be removed.
“Why go to such lengths to highlight a single op-ed on a relatively minor issue?” Gigot questioned. “My guess is that the Biden team concluded it was a chance to use the big gun of identity politics to send a message to critics as it prepares to take power. There’s nothing like playing the race or gender card to stifle criticism. It’s the left’s version of Donald Trump’s ‘enemy of the people’ tweets.”
Gigot said that when President Donald Trump “rants against the press, the press mobilizes in opposition.” However, when the press goes after a Democrat, “almost all of the press” joins in to denounce the WSJ, citing a New York Times piece entitled ‘An Opinion Writer Argued Jill Biden Should Drop the ‘Dr.’ (Few Were Swayed.)’
Gigot said the WSJ will not “stop publishing provocative essays merely because they offend the new administration or the political censors in the media and academe.”
“Since it’s a time to heal, we’ll give the Biden crowd a mulligan for their attacks on us,” he concluded, noting Jill Biden “can’t be off-limits for commentary.”
Gigot accused Biden’s team of adding fuel to the fire after Jill Biden’s press spokesperson, Michael LaRosa called the piece “sexist,” and the soon-to-be communications director for Jill Biden, Elizabeth Alexander, called the piece “shameful.”
.@jamestaranto, you and the @WSJ should be embarrassed to print the disgusting and sexist attack on @DrBiden running on the @WSJopinion page. If you had any respect for women at all you would remove this repugnant display of chauvinism from your paper and apologize to her.
— Michael LaRosa (@MichaelLaRosaDC) December 12, 2020
Sexist and shameful.
Be better @wsj.https://t.co/GYksH0JDiP
— Elizabeth Alexander (@EAlexander332) December 12, 2020
“The complaints began as a trickle but became a torrent after the Biden media team elevated Mr. Epstein’s work in what was clearly a political strategy,” Gigot wrote of the tweets. (RELATED: Here’s The Type Of Media Coverage You Can Expect For The Next 4 Years)
Gigot also cited other Democrats who shamed the piece, including Vice President-elect Kamala Harris’ husband Doug Emhoff.
Dr. Biden earned her degrees through hard work and pure grit. She is an inspiration to me, to her students, and to Americans across this country. This story would never have been written about a man. pic.twitter.com/mverJiOsxC
— Doug Emhoff (@DouglasEmhoff) December 12, 2020
Former First Lady Hillary Clinton also chimed in.
Her name is Dr. Jill Biden. Get used to it.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) December 13, 2020
The WSJ published an op-ed Saturday by Joseph Epstein entitled “Is There a Doctor in the White House? Not if You Need an M.D.,” which criticized soon-to-be First Lady Dr. Jill Biden’s use of “Dr.”
“The Ph.D. may once have held prestige, but that has been diminished by the erosion of seriousness and the relaxation of standards in university education generally, at any rate outside the sciences,” Epstein wrote.
“The prestige of honorary doctorates has declined even further,” he continued. “Between the honorary degrees given to billionaires, the falsely intelligent, entertainers and the politically correct, just about all the honor has been drained from honorary doctorates.”
“As for your Ed.D., Madame First Lady, hard-earned though it may have been, please consider stowing it, at least in public, at least for now. Forget the small thrill of being Dr. Jill, and settle for the larger thrill of living the next four years in the best public housing in the world as First Lady Jill Biden.”
Biden has two master’s degrees and received her doctorate in 2007, according to The New York Times.