Attack on Pence Backfires as Extremely Simple Math Foils HuffPost Senior Politics Reporter
The senior political reporter for the leftist blog HuffPost was foiled by simple math, and then brutally ratioed on Twitter when she attempted to take a swipe at Vice President Mike Pence.
Jennifer Bendery, who brags being the company’s senior politics reporter in addition to the president of Washington Press Club Foundation, took issue on Tuesday with a post from Pence about the number of COVID vaccinations distributed thus far, and how many more are on the way.
Pence, in a quick update about the miracle vaccines, posted that 20 million vaccine doses will have been distributed by the federal government by next week.
“Operation Warp Speed is on track to distribute 20 Million doses of Coronavirus Vaccine by next week,” Pence tweeted. “Millions of Americans have been vaccinated and we are working with States every day to vaccinate millions more. This is no time for playing politics!”
Operation Warp Speed is on track to distribute 20 Million doses of Coronavirus Vaccine by next week. Millions of Americans have been vaccinated and we are working with States every day to vaccinate millions more. This is no time for playing politics!https://t.co/KUKf1Szd0p
— Mike Pence (@Mike_Pence) December 30, 2020
Pence was right; this is no time for petty politics. Bendery, though, ignored that part of the message and dug in to the raw numbers of Pence’s claim about the vaccines.
Speaking of “playing politics,” here is Mike Pence casually changing the Trump admin’s goal of *vaccinating* 20M people by the end of the year to *distributing* 20M doses of the vaccine by the end of the year. https://t.co/YkaKcLcFYU
— Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) December 30, 2020
“Speaking of ‘playing politics,’ here is Mike Pence casually changing the Trump admin’s goal of *vaccinating* 20M people by the end of the year to *distributing* 20M doses of the vaccine by the end of the year,” she wrote.
Apparently, President Donald Trump himself is supposed to fly around like Superman and begin administering the injections. All the federal government can do is to handle the logistics, which was lost on the alleged reporter. But Bendery wasn’t finished digging herself into a hole.
She shared information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about the current number of those who have been stuck with a needle. That information actually proved her own claim wrong.
“Also, it’s not true that ‘millions of Americans’ have been vaccinated, which Pence surely knows,” she wrote. “Roughly 2.1 million people have been vaccinated so far, per CDC.”
Also, it’s not true that “millions of Americans” have been vaccinated, which Pence surely knows.
Roughly 2.1 million people have been vaccinated so far, per CDC. https://t.co/XCooSNoJIB
— Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) December 30, 2020
Bendery seemed to not be aware that 2.1 million people do count as millions of Americans. One million, plus another million, equals two million, which meant that as of Tuesday, millions had indeed been inoculated. Her mathematical error didn’t go unnoticed.
The woman was ridiculed to no end, and ratioed several times over. If you’re not familiar with that term, on Twitter, being ratioed means that your original take was so terrible, that the comments correcting it receive more reactions than the post itself did.
Former Trump administration Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell was among the first to lay into the partisan reporter.
“Haha. So typical. She’ll start blocking people any minute. #safespace,” Grenell responded with a message which received more love from Twitter than Bendery’s post.
Haha. So typical. She’ll start blocking people any minute. #safespace
— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) December 30, 2020
Then, popular Trump supporter and voting drive organizer Scott Presler hit the leftist with some brutal facts, and an even more brutal ratio.
“Fact Check: False … 2.1 million people is, in fact, millions (plural) of people,” Presler wrote. The comment received more than 10 times the number of likes as Bendery’s original and condescending post. That’s a tough ratio for a national reporter with a major platform.
Fact Check: ❌False
2.1 million people is, in fact, millions (plural) of people.
— #ThePersistence (@ScottPresler) December 30, 2020
The HuffPost senior politics reporter eventually issued a response, attempting to end the online bloodbath in her notifications. She actually admitted the error, which is commendable.
“Oh my lord has this tweet taken off. Allow me to clarify. Pence was not wrong to say 2.1M ppl = millions. I shouldn’t have said ‘not true.’ That’s my bad,” she wrote. “I should have said ‘overstatement.’ The millions he’s talking about is barely over 2M. Hence the link to CDC data.”
Oh my lord has this tweet taken off. Allow me to clarify.
Pence was not wrong to say 2.1M ppl = millions. I shouldn’t have said “not true.” That’s my bad.
I should have said “overstatement.” The millions he’s talking about is barely over 2M. Hence the link to CDC data.
Fin.
— Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) December 30, 2020
Despite the clarification, Bendery is still being savaged as of Wednesday for a mistake that could have been avoided, had she not been so quick to politicize the non-political data from the vice president.
Arrogant establishment media reporters too often let their hatred for conservatives blind them to simple things — things such as basic math.
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