Typically united House Democrats had their biggest break with the president yet in a scathing postmortem of Joe Biden’s debate performance Thursday night.
Almost everyone agreed that Biden had a “bad night.”
“He’s a great president, but he started out badly,” said former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. “Integrity in the face of dishonesty at its worst is evident.”
Other liberal lawmakers were more candid about their disappointment with the president’s performance.
“I think we all know that wasn’t what we wanted,” said Progressive Caucus co-chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash. “He had a rough night.”
“But he is the president, along with Democrats, who instituted the largest investment to address climate change,” he added.
Typically united House Democrats had their biggest break with the president yet in a scathing postmortem of Biden’s debate performance Thursday night.
Some are in a state of full-blown panic, worried that Biden lost the election in those fateful 90 minutes and wondering if he could ever be replaced.
“It’s a fancy dance idea to start talking about other people,” Jayapal said. “He’s our candidate. He’s our president.”
Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., a top Biden surrogate, said he will tell voters to cast their ballots for people in the president’s inner circle who pull the strings.
“We have a great team of people who will help us govern. That is what I will continue to defend.”
“He had a bad night. He’s a good man. He has a great record,” said Rep. Steny Hoyer, a longtime House Democratic leader and friend of Biden. “Some of us have bad nights sometimes.”
Rep. Angie Craig, a vulnerable Democrat from Minnesota, called it a “terrible debate” and said Biden “couldn’t communicate.” When asked if she should step aside, she said she would return to her home in Minnesota to discuss it with constituents.
“Did Joe Biden have a bad night? In my opinion? Yes, absolutely,” said Democratic Representative Gregory Meeks of the Senate.
He said Biden needs to do damage control.
“He needs to get out and talk to the American people, answer the questions that need to be answered and not be defensive,” Meeks said. “Hold public meetings, even deal with you in the press and then talk to you directly and answer all the tough questions. Don’t run away from them.”
Almost everyone agreed that Biden had a “bad night.” “He’s a great president, he got off to a bad start,” said former Speaker Nancy Pelosi. ‘Integrity versus dishonesty at its worst shines’
Democrats are not impressed with Biden’s debate performance
“I think last night’s debate had some shortcomings,” said Rep. Jim Clyburn, the powerful Democrat who propelled Biden to the Democratic nomination in 2020.
“How many times has infrastructure been talked about? It’s never been talked about,” the South Carolina lawmaker continued. “I think he has a tremendous record. I just think he needs to share that record with the public.”
The president’s performance got off to a rocky start when he spoke in a quiet, raspy voice — his team insisted he was recovering from a cold.
He then launched into some indecipherable tirades, including one in which he talked about defeating Medicare.
“We could eliminate (Trump’s) debt,” Biden said. “We could help ensure all those things that we need to do: child care, elder care, making sure we continue to strengthen our health care system.”
‘Making sure that we can make every single person eligible for what I’ve been able to do with… with COVID, excuse me, with um, dealing with everything we have to do with, uh…’ he continued. ‘Look, if we finally beat Medicare…’
At one point, Trump mocked Biden’s confusing response to a question about immigration.
“Since I changed the law, what has happened? I have changed it in such a way that now we are in a situation where there are 40 percent fewer people crossing the border illegally. It is better than when (Trump) left the position,” the president said.
“And I’m going to keep moving it until we get the full ban… the full initiative regarding what we’re going to do with more Border Patrol and more asylum officers.”
Trump responded with the following: ‘I really don’t know what he said at the end of that sentence. I don’t think he knows what he said either.
And in a moment on abortion, Biden left viewers baffled when he said Roe v. Wade was “three trimesters old.”
‘I supported Roe v Wade, which had three quarters. The first time is between a woman and a doctor. The second time is between the doctor and a borderline situation. And a third time is between the doctor; I mean, it would be between the woman and the state,’ Biden said. ‘The idea that politicians, that the founders wanted politicians to be the ones to make decisions about women’s health, is ridiculous. That’s the bottom line: no politician should be making that decision.’
He continued: “A doctor should make those decisions. That’s how it should be done. That’s what we’re going to do.”
The Roe v. Wade ruling legalized abortion up to 20 weeks of gestation. Two years ago it was revoked.