First lady Jill Biden, with ample assistance from media allies and fellow Democrats, seemingly demands that she be addressed with the honorific title of "doctor" in recognition of a doctorate degree she received from the University of Delaware.
Now conservative-leaning SiriusXM podcast host Megyn Kelly is under sustained criticism from the left for daring to "attack" the first lady and call out the pretentiousness of her insistence upon being addressed as "doctor," the Conservative Brief reported.
Kelly's remarks that drew the ire of Biden supporters came during the Fox network's coverage of the NFC's championship game between the San Francisco 49ers and Philadelphia Eagles in which the first lady -- a noted Philly native and sports fan -- was spotted by the cameras in a luxury box at Lincoln Financial Field seated next to and chatting with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.
The broadcast network's on-screen graphic, as well as the game's announcers, denoted the commissioner's guest as "Dr. Jill Biden -- First Lady of the United States," but that was apparently too much for Kelly to take without comment.
"Announcers for this Eagles-49ers game just spotted the First Lady in a box and of course call her 'Dr. Jill Biden,'" Kelly tweeted. "Wonder if she realizes what a wannabe she looks like insisting on this fake title. Get a real MD or just work on your self-esteem."
Announcers for this Eagles-49ers game just spotted the First Lady in a box and of course call her “Dr. Jill Biden.” Wonder if she realizes what a wannabe she looks like insisting on this fake title. Get a real MD or just work on your self-esteem.
— Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) January 29, 2023
The comments in reply to that post from Kelly were brutal and almost exclusively in opposition, though there was a handful in agreement, and many of the responses from the purportedly kind and loving and tolerant left took the form of personal and misogynistic attacks against the right-leaning host and journalist.
The New York Post reported that in 2007, Biden received a doctorate of education degree from the University of Delaware, the alma mater of her husband, then-Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE), who of course would then go on to serve as vice president in the Obama administration while she taught an English class at a community college in Virginia.
Ever since then, Biden has been insistent that she be formally addressed with the honorific title of "doctor," which has led to a debate over the proper use of that title with regard to those who have attained doctorate degrees in the medical field versus academics.
There have been others over the years who have called out the pretentiousness of Biden using that title outside of the academic realm, including the Wall Street Journal's Joseph Epstein, who in 2020 asserted his opinion that her insistence on the title "feels fraudulent, even comic."
He further noted that the dissertation she had submitted to earn the doctorate degree -- titled "Student Retention at the Community College Level: Meeting Students’ Needs" -- was of such poor quality that it proved that "the prestige of honorary doctorates has declined even further."
Of course, much like the response Megyn Kelly just received for her critique of the first lady's honorific title, Epstein was furiously denounced by left-leaning members of academia and the media for having the audacity to question Biden's use of "doctor," as has been anyone else who dared to display such temerity.
Quite predictably, though, the adamant insistence that an academic doctorate degree is just as valuable and worthy of recognition as a medical doctorate degree is distinctly one-sided and partisan.
For example, one very rarely ever hears former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice referred to as "doctor," despite her having earned a Ph.D. in political science along with 15 other honorary doctorate degrees, nor is Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) ever referenced as an actual medical doctor in spite of his being one of several Republicans in Congress to have earned that title in the medical field that so often goes unmentioned or is even dismissed.
