MSNBC analyst's smear of Florida governor hasn't aged well
MSNBC analyst's smear of Florida governor hasn't aged well

By WND Staff

Claiming five Democratic governors were making decisions rooted in “fact-based truth,” MSNBC contributor Mike Barnicle slammed Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ restrained approach to the novel coronavirus pandemic from March.

But more than two months later, the “facts” vindicate DeSantis’ decision not to order a complete statewide lockdown.

The Florida death rates from the virus, noted blogger Stacey McCain, were 93% lower than New York, 89% Massachusetts, 80% Michigan and 73% than Illinois.

But Barnicle, in a March 23 segment of “Morning Joe,” told host Joe Scarborough he had been talking to the “experts” in places such as Brigham and Women’s hospital in Boston, where he is a longtime columnist and radio host.

Barnicle said DeSantis is “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,” he said. “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.”

But McCain pointed out that the per-capita coronavirus death rates, in deaths per million residents, show Barnicle’s reliance on the “experts” was misplaced.

Florida’s rate is just 108, while New York’s is 1,519, Massachusetts’ is 950, Michigan’s is 534 and Illinois’ is 400.

Only California’s is lower, at 100.

McCain recalled 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. That’s almost twice as many cases and nearly three times as many deaths, McCain notes, despite the fact that Florida’s population of 21.5 million is more than three times larger than the population of Massachusetts, 6.9 million.

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