The Other McCain

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‘Fact-Based Truth’: MSNBC Demonized Ron DeSantis; Where’s the Apology?

Posted on | May 28, 2020 | 3 Comments

 

Mike Barnicle, Morning Joe, Monday, March 23:

“Joe, if you talk to a lot of experts — I was fortunate enough to spend most of Friday afternoon around one of the greatest hospitals in the world, Brigham and Women’s here in Boston — you find out their view of what they’re looking at and what they’re dealing with every day. And in the case of Governor DeSantis of Florida, he’s going exactly the opposite way from what the experts, the people on the front lines, indicate ought to be done. The first thing we need is the fact-based truth from public officials. That’s what they will tell you. You get it here in Massachusetts from Charlie Baker, you’re getting it from Andrew Cuomo in New York, Gavin Newsom in California, the governors of Illinois and Michigan, and you’re getting fact-based truth.”

 

So, according to Mike Barnicle, the “experts” were agreed that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was doing the exact opposite of what was needed to fight the coronavirus pandemic. Barnicle specifically contrasted Florida’s governor to the governors of Massachusetts, New York, California, Illinois and Michigan, where “fact-based truth” allegedly prevailed.

Well, where are we now, more than two months later? How did Barnicle’s “expert” opinion fare? Here are the per-capita coronavirus death rates (deaths per million residents) for these states:

New York ………………………. 1,519
Massachusetts ………………… 950
Michigan ………………………… 534
Illinois ……………………………. 400
Florida …………………………… 108
California ……………………….. 100

So, Florida’s death rate has been 93% lower than New York, 89% lower than Massachusetts, 80% lower than Michigan, 73% lower than Illinois. The only state named by Barnicle that has done better than Florida in terms of its COVID-19 death rate is California. Given that Barnicle is such a proponent of “fact-based truth,” doesn’t it seem to you that the viewers of MSNBC deserve an explanation of why he got this so wrong?

Keep in mind that on March 23, when Barnicle was busy smearing Ron DeSantis and the MSNBC chyron declared that Florida’s coronavirus cases had passed the 1,000 mark, Massachusetts had only 777 known cases. Two weeks later, however, the situation had reversed, with Massachusetts reporting 15,202 cases on April 7, when Florida had 14,707 cases. Now? Massachusetts has 94,220 cases and 6,547 deaths, compared to 52,634 cases and 2,320 deaths in Florida — almost twice as many cases, and nearly three times as many deaths, despite the fact that Florida’s population (21.5 million) is more than three times larger than the population of Massachusetts (6.9 million).

(Hat-tip: David Rutz, Washington Free Beacon.)


 

Category: Florida, Health Care, Massachusetts, MSNBC

Comments

3 Responses to “‘Fact-Based Truth’: MSNBC Demonized Ron DeSantis; Where’s the Apology?”

  1. MSNBC analyst's smear of Florida governor hasn't aged well - WND
    May 28th, 2020 @ 7:41 pm

    […] death rates in Florida from the virus, noted blogger Stacey McCain, were 93% lower than in New York, 89% lower than in Massachusetts, 80% lower than in Michigan and […]

  2. MSNBC analyst's smear of Florida governor hasn't aged well – El Informe Hispano
    May 28th, 2020 @ 7:52 pm

    […] death rates in Florida from the virus, noted blogger Stacey McCain, were 93% lower than in New York, 89% lower than in Massachusetts, 80% lower than in Michigan and […]

  3. Friday Links | 357 Magnum
    May 29th, 2020 @ 10:23 am

    […] The Other McCain – ‘Fact-Based Truth’: MSNBC Demonized Ron DeSantis; Where’s the Apology? […]