APRIL 5, 2021 By Tristan Justice. Tristan is a staff writer at The Federalist focusing on the 2020 presidential campaigns. Follow him on Twitter at @JusticeTristan or contact him at Tristan@thefederalist.com.
Democrat Mayor of Palm Beach County Dave Kerner railed against CBS’s “60 Minutes” Monday after the flagship program broadcast a special on Florida’s vaccine efforts where it manipulated interviews to amplify a manufactured narrative.
The program charged the state’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis with engaging in political patronage to prioritize vaccine distribution through Publix, the most widespread chain in Florida, which donated to his 2018 campaign. Kerner said the special was “not just based on bad information – it was intentionally false.”
“I know this because I offered to provide my insight into Palm Beach County’s vaccination efforts and 60 minutes declined,” Kerner said in a statement, emphasis his. “They know that the Governor came to Palm Beach County and met with me and the County Administrator and we asked to expand the state’s partnership with Publix to Palm Beach County.”
Kerner continued.
“We also discussed our own local plans to expand mass vaccinations centers throughout the county, which the Governor has been incredibly supportive. We asked and he delivered. They had that information, and they left it out because it kneecaps their narrative,” Kerner wrote.
Oh boy. Democrat mayor of Palm Beach County says 60 Minutes’ “reporting was not just based on bad information — it was intentionally false.” Says he offered to refute 60 Minutes’ half-cooked conspiracy theory based on personal knowledge and “60 Minutes declined.”
The clip below highlights how CBS deceptively clipped the response elicited from DeSantis to their accusations to frame the governor as a vindictive politician lashing out at the press through omission of the substantive explanation.
WATCH: CBS and @60Minutes excluded context from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in which he explains the steps his government took to make the decision to partner with Publix on vaccine distribution.
The 60 Minutes version is first, followed by the full answer from DeSantis.
Florida’s Director of Emergency Management Jared Moskowitz, who previously served in the state legislature as a Democrat, also dispelled CBS’s conspiracy theory that DeSantis rammed COVID vaccines through Publix after the Miami Herald made the same claims in March.
“This idea why Publix was picked has been utter nonsense,” Moskowitz wrote. “We reached out to all pharmacies and they were the only one who at the time could execute on the mission.”
This idea why @Publix was picked has been utter nonsense. We reached out to all pharmacies and they were the only one who at the time could execute on the mission. The federal government delayed the federal pharmacy program and we yet again stepped up first to serve more seniors.
While Florida’s vaccination campaign triumphs under Gov. DeSantis, legacy outlets have spent resources into hyping fake narratives surrounding the state’s successes while rival Democratic governors from New York to California face a litany of scandals.
In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo faces an impeachment inquiry in the state legislature over his office manipulating COVID death data in long-term care facilities while the governor pursued a book tour on pandemic leadership.
In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s aggressive lockdowns subjecting his state to some of the harshest restrictions in the country he himself dismisses has provoked a legitimate recall effort.
DeSantis’s crime in the eyes of the progressive press has long been the governor’s refusal to implement long-lasting lockdowns under the guise of public health. Instead, the governor, nicknamed “Death DeSantis” by political opponents who demand life with zero risk at the expense of their neighbors’ livelihoods, has prioritized promoting personal responsibility that allows individuals to assess their own level of risk in a free society.
Despite DeSantis’s lack of draconian lockdown orders, Florida’s COVID-fatality rate remains 27th in the country, while New York and New Jersey lead with the highest pandemic death tolls.