This week’s Liberal Media Scream is another example of how out of touch Beltway journalists are with America and why the media are being ignored more and more.

To discredit West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, who is blocking President Joe Biden’s massive social spending bill, the panel on ABC’s This Week resurrected President Ronald Reagan’s trope of “welfare queens.”

Citing Manchin’s concerns that people might misuse child tax credits, Averi Harper, deputy political director for ABC News, said it sounded like “the myth of the welfare queen — that Reagan-era trope used to argue against entitlements, implying that the poorest among us are inherently irresponsible.”

ABC News veteran Terry Moran noted that Manchin “does represent one of the poorest states in the union,” yet he “seems to represent the plutocrats a lot” in Washington.

From the roundtable on Sunday’s This Week on ABC:

JONATHAN KARL: There was some reporting about what Manchin was saying about how the child tax credit would be used or was being used in West Virginia. What was that all about?

AVERI HARPER: Right. There were reported comments from Sen. Manchin in which he privately expressed concerns about parents using the child tax credit payments to buy drugs or if family paid leave was initiated, that folks might use it or exploit it in order to go deer hunting, effectively, you know, resurrecting the myth of the welfare queen — that Reagan-era trope used to argue against entitlements, implying that the poorest among us are inherently irresponsible and incapable of using government services for their intended purposes. And that is such a glaring statement that outraged folks who heard it and illustrates just how out of step Joe Manchin is with this current Democratic Party.

KARL: And as you know, Terry, he’s from a state that Biden only got, what was it, 30-some percent in?

TERRY MORAN: Yeah, so he’s got that to deal with. He does represent one of the poorer states in the union. He seems to represent the plutocrats a lot. But look, Manchin is just part of the problem. This is a hugely ambitious bill to restructure healthcare, education, immigration, climate, all different kinds of things. The public in West Virginia, in other places, is focused on inflation, pandemic, crime, the border.

KARL: All right, Terry. Unfortunately, we are out of time. Thank you for the roundtable. We’ll see you next year.

Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “Washington press corps shorthand: moderate and liberal Republicans who undermine conservatives, such as the late Sen. John McCain and Sen. Susan Collins, are heroic mavericks putting their country ahead of party. Less than 100% liberal senators, on the other hand, such as Manchin who dares undermine a left-wing goal, must be discredited as a selfish operative out to enrich himself who doesn’t care about anyone else.”

Rating: FOUR out of FIVE SCREAMS.