The Hill published a story today which is just the latest example of an evergreen approach by the left-leaning media, i.e. the “Republicans seize” story. Today’s installment isn’t even subtle about it as you can see from the headline above. Here’s how it opens.

Republicans are seizing on recent gaffes from President Biden, putting a spotlight on his slip-ups to attack Biden’s competency ahead of both the midterms and a 2024 presidential race.

The GOP in particular is using a moment last week when Biden asked whether a congresswoman who died in August was in attendance at the event where he was speaking.

To be fair, the Hill did run a straight story about this last week: “Biden asks if lawmaker killed in August accident is in attendance at White House event.” Still, this follow up report seems aimed at mitigating the criticism by framing it in terms of partisan griping. In this case, they frame it that way even though Democrats quoted in the story also say this particular gaffe looks pretty bad.

“It’s not a great look,” one Democratic strategist acknowledged. “And we all know it only feeds into the criticism of the president and his age. [Biden] has to be really careful to not give the other side easy fodder.”…

Biden met with Walorski’s family following his gaffe last week to sign a bill honoring her. At the event, also attended by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), he reportedly apologized to Walorski’s family for his comment, though the White House would not confirm the apology.

I think my favorite part of the story is this bit where the authors note that Biden critic Stephen Miller wasn’t nearly as harsh to President Trump.

The harshest public criticism of the Walorski comment came from former Trump White House adviser Stephen Miller, who said that Biden should be in “assisted living” and “is not cognitively present.”

Miller, however, made no public criticisms when his boss, former President Trump, made numerous gaffes while in office, most notably when he suggested the idea of ingesting disinfectant to fight COVID-19 during a press briefing early in the pandemic…

That got me thinking. Surely the Hill covered the disinfectant gaffe back in 2020. Did they perhaps publish it under a headline “Democrats Seize on Trump gaffe about disinfectant” or did they just run a straight story about his comments. Here’s what I found.

• 4/24/20 – “Trump remarks on injecting disinfectants draw blowback from doctors“
• 4/24/20 – “Trump says remarks about heat, light, disinfectant were sarcastic“
• 4/24/20 – “Pelosi blasts Trump’s remarks about heat, light, disinfectant“
• 4/25/22 – “Birx says she demanded White House retract Trump comment on using disinfectant against COVID“
• 4/26/20 – “Birx: ‘It bothers me’ Trump comments on injecting disinfectant ‘still in the news cycle’
• 9/29/20 – “Biden mocks Trump over disinfectant remark; Trump says he was being sarcastic“

There are some stories there coming from critics, including Biden. But the “Democrats seized” framing appears to be absent. For instance, here’s the opening of the story about Pelosi’s reaction:

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Friday blasted President Trump for initially suggesting that sunlight and an injection of disinfectant could be potential coronavirus treatments, saying the remarks were “consistent” with previous statements from the president that have been contradicted by public health experts.

It’s just a straight recounting of Pelosi’s attack on Trump. There’s no “Democrats seized” language intended to suggest to readers that her complaints are just part of a partisan squabble that is unworthy of their attention. And there’s no caveat in the story about how Pelosi didn’t attack Barack Obama when he made a gaffe.

The Hill has run some “Democrats seize” headlines in the past but I wish they’d just put this framing to rest. You can write about partisan attacks in a way that conveys what was said from one side or the other without framing it from the outset as part of a silly partisan game. In this particular case, Biden’s mental health can’t possibly be a non-story after the Walorski gaffe. There’s obviously a problem there. My guess is we’ll hear all about it in a few years when former White House aides are trying to sell books about their time in the Biden administration.