Slightly inquisitive reporters with no President Trump to kick around, have gotten Joe Biden on the spot.

What better, then, than more ice-cream stories? What's Joe Biden's choice of ice cream flavors at this visit to this local shop?

That's the reading I have, when I read through the lines of this euphemistically phrased piece from Axios:

President Biden's team knows his national media honeymoon is coming to an end, so it's preparing to speak directly to the American people through local reporters and avoid distractions with its anti-Trumpian approach of ignoring Twitter.

Why it matters: The White House controlled the narrative for the first 12 days with daily themes and choreographed executive orders, but its communicators know they must be innovative as the press corps steps up its independent scrutiny, and they try to sell initiatives like a coronavirus relief package.

• “It will get harder," said Pili Tobar, a White House deputy communication director. "Discipline is the name of the game."

So the Ted Baxters, Ron Burgundys, and bubble-headed beach blondes of local news have now got themselves a bonanza from old Joe.

Instead of Biden answering questions from the nets -- about Hunter Biden, or his lunatic sub-cabinet picks, or his failure to control COVID, he's now going to answer questions from local television news reporters, who are going to fawn all over him, thrilled about their scoops.

Because while it's true there are exceptions and occasionally local news (I'm looking at you, KUSI) will do far more serious reporting than the big-money national networks, in general, news of car crashes through walls, pet rescues, and high school valedictorian service projects tend to form the backbone of much local news, speaking anecdotally. Don't forget the happy talk, or the weather girls in tight dresses. Blue city machine corruption, which ought to be their forte, is not usually spotted, not when the local garden club's doings is likely to draw more viewers. Neither will hard questions of Biden, which is the actual job of any self-respecting news.

Axios points out that the Biden team's focus will be to manipulate public opinion in targeted states to get the attention of their senators. Which sounds like Ben Rhodes-style spin and Ben Rhodes-style 'narrative' cubed. Rhodes, of course, used to have contempt for 27-year-old reporters, viewing them, likely accurately, as knowing nothing. What's happened since, though, seems to be the Biden team taking that philosophy to 11. Imagine the Biden spin team in its White House war room, telling themselves that even the 27 year-olds seem to be hungry to report actual news and may be a problem. Who then in the press is dumber? Hey I know: local news. 

Axios contradicts itself in saying the Biden regime won't focus on Twitter for its messaging, but then again, actually will. Once again, the idea is manipulative spin.

Bottom line here, above all, is that Biden is going to do an amazing array of things to avoid any tough questions from reporters.

We've already seen him stalk off without answering questions at press conferences, or answer serious questions from national reporters with flip insults.

We've seen the dog stories and ice cream stories done in bids to suck up while the hard stories go ignored, but are still out there.

This bid to limit media questions and hand them over to local news isn't going to make Biden popular with this bunch, and with a sizable percentage of Biden's national press being Bernie Sanders supporters still embittered about how Biden effectively stole the Democratic nomination from him, they're likely to get leaner and hungrier.

Apparently the picture is so bad for Biden, given the obvious stories to be reported about Hunter Biden's corrupt business dealings, Biden's Peron-like rate of government spending, the questions about Biden's health, etc, that now they're doubling down by using the local news, the people who will ask all about Biden's dog and be ever so grateful for the morsels of response.

One hopes the Biden team will find itself up against some surprises, given that they can't know all that much about every local reporter.

In any case, while the national press gets hungrier, and Ron Burgundy gets his Biden moments, at some point or another, the public is going to notice that Biden doesn't answer questions at all about anything other than ice cream. 

Unless local reporters get suddenly and unexpectedly tough, it'll be raining ice cream stories from Biden now. Oh, lucky us.    

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