More Democrats activate Biden as panic ensues after stumbling debate
It was only minutes into the presidential debate in Atlanta when Democrats began to sweat and panic started to set in. Biden was stumbling through answers, mixing up numbers and lost his train of thought.
By the end of the debate some Democrats were already sounding the alarms. The freakout over whether Biden should be at the top of the ticket and is fit for a second term in office continued into the night.
Friday morning the escalating calls for concern continued with some calling for serious conversation about Biden not being the Democrats’ nominee.
‘Obviously that debate was a f***ing disaster,’ wrote former Obama speechwriter and Pod Save America co-host Jon Favreau.
‘We have to beat Donald Trump. We have to have a nominee who can do that. And since we haven’t had the convention yet, it would be absurd if Democrats didn’t at least have a serious discussion about whether Joe Biden – who’s a wonderful human being and has been a great president – is up for the job,’ he continued.
Democrats raise alarms over Biden’s stumbling debate performance with just over four months to go before the election
‘Joe Biden in just every single way failed at that debate,’ he said on their podcast.
His co-host Tommy Vietor, another Obama alum, wrote on X: ‘You can’t say that the future of American democracy is at stake and then tell anyone concerned about the debate last night to stop bed wetting or grow a spine. It’s fucking insulting to people who care deeply about the country and know how much is on the line.’
‘I don’t think Biden landed the hits he needed to land,’ Veitor said on the podcast.
‘I came into this debate anxious about Biden’s performance and focused on Biden’s performance and I felt like the first fifteen to 20 minutes were the worst part of the debate for Biden, and that’s probably all that some people watched,’ he said.
‘You need to ultimately be able to defend your record and make the case against Donald Trump and there has never been in the history of politics been an easier candidate to make the case against than Donald Trump,’ said former White House communications director Daniel Pfeiffer on their podcast.
Obama’s 2008 campaign manager David Plouffe called the president’s debate performance Thursday night ‘DEFCON 1 moment’ appearing on MSNBC.
Plouffe said voters’ concerns with Biden’s age were compounded by the debate.
He said while Biden and Trump at 78 are only three years apart in age, they appeared 30 years apart on the debate stage.
‘I think that’s going to be the thing that voters really wrestle with coming out of this,’ he said.
Obama’s 2008 campaign manager David Plouffe said Biden and Trump seemed to be 30 years apart in age, not three years apart in the age at the debate. He called the debate performance a ‘DEFCON 1 moment.’ He said it did not mean Biden would step aside.
He said one scenario is Biden could step down but insisted that was not going to happen. The other option is the ‘right the ship.’
While some Democrats are raising alarms, Democratic leaders in Washington and those who have been floated as potential replacements for Biden on the ticket are standing behind the president.
Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said ‘no’ Biden should not be replaced.
One of Biden’s fiercest defenders on Thursday night following the debate was California Governor Gavin Newsom who told a swarm of reporters he would never turn his back on Biden and dismissed questions over whether he would step in.
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro also weighed in on Friday morning saying nothing about the debate changed the contrast between Biden and Trump.
‘I think Joe Biden had a bad debate night, but it doesn’t change the fact that Donald Trump was a bad president. A bad president who ripped away our freedoms,’ he said.
He said Democrats need to ‘stop worrying and start working.’ He said ‘sitting here and handwringing is not the answer.’
