Four political figures who changed their tune on Biden’s capabilities after the debate – Washington Examiner
Joe Biden’s recent debate performance has raised significant concerns among Democrats regarding his capability to continue as a strong presidential nominee. Following the debate, media coverage and political commentary quickly reflected a shift in sentiment, with CNN’s John King highlighting a pervasive and aggressive panic within the Democratic Party about Biden’s poor performance and its potential impact down the ticket. Prominent voices like Rachel Maddow of MSNBC, Abby Phillip, and Van Jones of CNN expressed doubts about Biden’s coherence and effectiveness in the debate, emphasizing that his age and delivery might have caused irreversible damage to his re-election campaign. Maddow tried to counteract the narrative about Biden’s age by referencing his physical activity, such as bike riding, but acknowledged his weak voice and unclear delivery during the debate. Phillip noted the deep problems in Biden’s responses, suggesting they could not be undone and potentially solidified negative perceptions among his base and broader electorate. Van Jones expressed personal disappointment, indicating that the debate performance might have decisively hurt Biden’s chances for ongoing political support.
As President Joe Biden’s debate performance is leaving many Democrats skeptical about his capabilities moving forward, some political commentators and anchors are changing their tune about his fitness.
CNN broadcast the debate and it was immediately followed by John King’s harsh analysis that the Democratic Party may face trouble with Biden as their nominee.
“This was a game-changing debate in the sense that right now as we speak, there is a deep, a wide, and a very aggressive panic in the Democratic Party,” King said.
“It involves party strategists, it involves elected officials, it involves fundraisers. And they’re having conversations about the president’s performance, which they think was dismal, which they think will hurt other people down the party in the ticket. And they’re having conversations about what they should do about it.”
King was one of the first talking heads to jettison his former defenses of the president, but he was far from the only one.
Here are three other Democratic political figures who are searching for solutions this morning.
Rachel Maddow, MSNBC
MSNBC host Rachel Maddow pushed back on special counsel Robert Hur’s assessment that Biden was an “elderly” man with a poor memory by highlighting Biden’s ability to ride a bike.
In February, when Chris Hayes was discussing the fact that Biden’s age is a hard subject for his campaign as it’s not something he can necessarily run from, Maddow pointed out the presidency’s bike riding habits.
“He rides a bike!” Maddow interjected, to which Hayes responded, “We should just be clear here, age is the central narrative question here that this all revolves around.”
Following the debate, Maddow contended it was hard to understand Biden due to weakness in his voice.
“It was hard to hear what he was saying because his voice was so weak and his halting delivery in his first couple of answers has got to have put a shock into the campaign,” she said.
Abby Phillip, CNN
CNN anchor Abby Phillip had serious concerns about Biden’s fate as the Democratic nominee following the debate.
She noted that Biden’s performance gave “some real damage done that cannot be undone,” to his reelection chances.
“His answers in a lot of cases were not coherent,” Phillip said. “Deeply problematic that he was not able to take pretty straightforward answers, and answer them to the American public.”
“There’s a real concern here tonight that there’s been some real damage done that cannot be undone. Biden solidified the perception among voters, but especially among his base, they were hoping that tonight would be a game changer. They are now seeing a president who is in the White House who they do not necessarily believe can do this for another four years,” Phillip said.
Van Jones, CNN
Van Jones, a former Obama adviser turned CNN analyst, got choked up when talking about his personal feelings toward the president in relation to his debate performance. Last week, he said it was “game over” for Biden if he did not perform well at the debate.
“That was painful. I love Joe Biden. I worked for Joe Biden. He didn’t do well at all. He did not do well at all,” Jones said. “I love that guy. That’s a good man. He loves his country. He’s doing the best that he can, but he had a test to meet tonight to restore the confidence of the country and of the base. And he failed to do that.”
“We’re still far from our convention and there is time for this party to figure out a different way forward, but that was not what we needed from Joe Biden and it’s personally painful for a lot of people. It’s not just panic, it’s the pain of what we saw tonight,” Jones continued.
Jones added that Biden lost the debate within “the first three minutes.”
Joy Reid, MSNBC
Joy Reid, a host on MSNBC, also expressed concern about Biden’s performance. She said she spoke with sources and that her “phone really never stopped buzzing throughout” the debate from Democrats expressing concern about Biden seeming “weak.”
“Joe Biden’s job was to reassure them tonight. His job was to calm his party, to make them feel that, ‘Yes, I can do this. I have four more years in me. I have the ability and the stamina and the strength to do four more years.’ He did not do that,” Reid said.
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“He did the opposite of that. He made them more panicked. The people who were texting me were even more panicked,” she said. “They actually expected it to be better than it was, and now they’re in, I won’t say a full-fledged panic, but it’s getting there.”
The next debate is scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 10, on ABC. The Biden campaign has said the president will participate in that event.
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