Biden Says Activists Confronting Sinema Was Inappropriate but 'Part of the Process'

President Joe Biden said Monday that activists had behaved inappropriately when they confronted Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema on Sunday, but that such confrontations were not unusual. Activists from Living United for Change in Arizona (LUCHA) had confronted Sinema and followed her into an Arizona State University bathroom while criticizing her opposition to Democrats' budget reconciliation bill. Responding to reporters, Biden said, “I don’t think they’re appropriate tactics, but it happens to everybody. The only people it doesn’t happen to is people who have Secret Service standing around them. It’s part of the process.” Sinema herself condemned the confrontation, calling it “unacceptable”  and “wholly inappropriate.” 

Coverage was more common in center- and right-rated outlets, some of which framed Biden’s “it happens to everybody” line as a dismissal of the incident. Left-rated outlets were more likely to call the activists “youth organizers,” with other outlets labeling them “activists” or “organizers.”