One of the phoniest and most outrageous tropes pushed by the leftist press is that they are just innocent bystanders who report the news, instead of being partisan hacks who routinely push whatever narrative the Democratic Party wants. MSNBC host Chuck Todd promoted the fantasy during Thursday’s MTP Daily when he marveled over the Biden campaign’s supposed “luck” at receiving a favorable “news cycle” where the media hammered President Trump on its behalf. “I gotta think the Biden campaign couldn’t believe that they – couldn’t believe their luck, if you will, of how the news cycle went yesterday and how the President almost elevated Joe Biden’s remarks,” Todd gushed as he referenced the debate over how quickly a coronavirus vaccine could be ready and widely distributed.     That declaration was followed by a soundbite of Biden trying to sow distrust about any potential vaccine: “So let me be clear, I trust vaccines, I trust the scientists, but I don’t trust Donald Trump. And at this moment, the American people can’t either.” Following the clip, Todd turned to correspondent Ali Vitali and cheered: “...if you’re the Biden campaign, yesterday couldn’t have gone any better for you. He laid out that speech, [CDC Director] Redfield makes his comments, the President does what he did and you almost can say, ‘Look, see, we told you so.’” Wow, Joe Biden’s press secretary could not have recited the talking points any better. It’s easy for things go well for a candidate when they have a complicit press in their pocket. Vitali eagerly piled on the praise of the Democratic nominee and even crassly strategized that a COVID vaccine that could save lives would not be a “win” for Trump: Biden is pressing this idea of leadership, and so as much as that’s in the pandemic bubble, that’s really been the message all along, is what kind of leader do you want? Now he has crises that he can use as examples as he continues to further that message. But while Biden is talking about leadership during the pandemic and trying to highlight Trump’s mishandling of it, you and Kelly [O’Donnell] are both right. There is this kind of inexplicable politicization that Trump is opting for despite the fact that politically that doesn’t actually work for him. A vaccine on a timeline of the election, after he’s politicized it so much, I’m not sure that even looks like a win. Those remarks betray how warped the left-wing media have become. Finding a way to help Biden and attack Trump is more important to them than saving lives. This shameless partisan promotion of Biden was brought to viewers by Google and Hyundai. You can fight back by letting these advertisers know what you think of them sponsoring such content. Here is a transcript of the September 17 exchange: 1:07 PM ET (...) CHUCK TODD: You know, Kelly, I want to put this in a little bit of political terms because the biggest – the most – the oddest thing to me about all this right now is that the President is fighting what appears to be, politically, an uphill battle. I want to put up a poll number we had out today about trusting the President on the vaccine, only 26% tell us in an NBC/Survey Monkey poll that they trust what the President has said about a vaccine. A majority don’t trust him. And yet, here we are, 47 days before the election, Kelly, and they’re having a debate with the virus. They’re not having a debate with Joe Biden. KELLY O’DONNELL: If anything, the President was making sort of improbable claims that Joe Biden had not enacted a mask national mandate, as if he were president in some alternate reality. The President himself pushes back on masks. Imagine if we could turn back time and he had made himself the champion of masks, how different could the outlook be today if he had been the one leading that charge, wearing a mask often, encouraging others to do so. Instead of what we see, where the President will say he’ll wear a mask occasionally, but often take shots at mask wearing, either those who do or on their efficacy. So the President is certainly trying to portray that he is sort of the master of the vaccine and a timeline for the vaccine, but it is not the best argument politically for him, the economy still polls as the only area where he’s showing better than Joe Biden. TODD: Well, I want to play, Ali Vitali – Kelly O’Donnell, thank you on that. Ali Vitali, let me play a clip of Joe Biden yesterday. I mean, I gotta think the Biden campaign couldn’t believe that they – couldn’t believe their luck, if you will, of how the news cycle went yesterday and how the President almost elevated Joe Biden’s remarks. Here’s what he said about a vaccine. JOE BIDEN: So let me be clear, I trust vaccines, I trust the scientists, but I don’t trust Donald Trump. And at this moment, the American people can’t either. TODD: So Ali Vitali, you know, as far as if you’re the Biden campaign, yesterday couldn’t have gone any better for you. He laid out that speech, Redfield makes his comments, the President does what he did and you almost can say, “Look, see, we told you so.” But let me ask this question, they – the Biden campaign has made the virus the centerpiece of their challenge to this president over the last few months. Are they feeling any of this pressure to sort of get out of the virus bubble, if you will? ALI VITALI: I think, look, yesterday is good news if you are the Biden campaign because you’re right, the focus has been on the pandemic, but you’re having two conversations about the same topic, between Biden and Trump, as so often is the case. Biden is pressing this idea of leadership, and so as much as that’s in the pandemic bubble, that’s really been the message all along, is what kind of leader do you want? Now he has crises that he can use as examples as he continues to further that message. But while Biden is talking about leadership during the pandemic and trying to highlight Trump’s mishandling of it, you and Kelly are both right. There is this kind of inexplicable politicization that Trump is opting for despite the fact that politically that doesn’t actually work for him. A vaccine on a timeline of the election, after he’s politicized it so much, I’m not sure that even looks like a win. And he’s putting it on a timeline that he himself has no direct control over. So that’s the one side of it. I do think where the Biden campaign might come under a little bit of pressure is the fact that while they’re trying to paint Democrats as the party of leadership and governing, especially being able to strategize and govern their way out of this crisis, it also does put the pressure on Biden to be clear in what he’s saying. I know that there’s been this politicization around vaccines and Republicans now trying to paint Democrats as if they’re anti-vaccine, when really what Democrats are saying is they don’t want to trust Trump and just want to trust the science. But that’s now trickling down into some down-ballot races. It’s sort of become a hot potato issue in some key races, for example, North Carolina Senate, where Cal Cunningham was asked about it in a recent debate. Tom Tillis now trying to turn that into a negative on him. But then there’s the other piece of this in Washington where if you’re painting Democrats at the top of the ticket as the party that’s going to deal their way and govern their way out of the pandemic, it also puts extra pressure on House Democrats and Senate Democrats to start actually doing something on the next wave of coronavirus funding. Joe Biden, of course, talking with Senate Democrats today by phone, in an address to that caucus (...)