Rita Panahi: Joe Biden’s bizarre outbursts a bad look for Democrats
For years they have declared Donald Trump unfit for office, yet when it comes to bizarre outbursts from Joe Biden, the media has fallen silent. But we should worry about a potential US president who has no problem abusing voters, writes Rita Panahi.
Rita Panahi
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So, it’s come down to this. After months on the hustings, the Democratic presidential race is down to 78-year-old Bernie Sanders and 77-year old Joe Biden. The so-called party of diversity and inclusion has got rid of every woman and person of colour including fake Native American Elizabeth “Pocahontas” Warren and fake Mexican Robert Beto O’Rourke to end up with two old white millionaire men, one a socialist who had a heart attack five months ago and one whose cognitive issues have left him confused about key facts, policies, dates and names.
Indeed, on more than one occasion during the campaign Biden has struggled to remember where he is or why he’s there. Tulsi Gabbard is still technically in the race but the Democrats have done everything possible to thwart her fledgling campaign, including arbitrarily changing their qualification rules to keep her off the stage in the upcoming primary debate in Arizona.
The Biden or bust strategy has seen the former vice president become the clear frontrunner to be the Democrats presidential candidate after he picked up four of the six primaries held this week.
But no matter how hard the Democrats and their allies in the media try, Biden’s cognitive issues can no longer be ignored or blamed on some right-wing conspiracy. There is simply too much footage of his muddled rants, inexplicably bizarre outbursts and Charlie Sheen-levels of confusion to try to gaslight the American public. Biden has appeared frail, perplexed and just odd on too many public occasions, so much so that his campaign workers have been accused of elder abuse for wheeling him out Weekend at Bernie’s style.
This week Biden launched an extraordinary attack against a blue collar worker in Michigan who questioned his proposed gun laws. Not only did Biden get basic facts wrong and misstate his own policy but he told the constituent in a hard-hat he “was full of shit” and a “horse’s arse” and got aggressively in his face to the point where the voter said “this is not okay”.
Biden responded: “Don’t tell me that, pal, or I’m going to go out and slap you in the face.” Midway through the astonishing exchange, Biden rudely “shushed” one of his female staffers who was trying to save him from himself.
When journalists asked him about the spat and why he swore at a union worker, Biden seemed genuinely confused and said: “I’m surprised that Sanders is joining Trump, it’s surprising” before his staff ushered him into a vehicle.
The man who much of the media claim is best equipped to bring civility and honour back to the White House has developed a habit for abusing voters. It’s an odd strategy given the Democrats need Middle America, the folks who twice voted for Barack Obama before switching to Donald Trump, to swing back to them to have any chance of winning.
Last month Biden called a woman a “lying, dog-faced pony soldier” after she asked a mild question. During the same campaign stop in New Hampshire, Biden told a perplexed media pack about how beautiful Vermont was … presumably because he thought he was in Vermont. Biden also angrily challenged an Iowa voter to a push-up contest and IQ test after the Democrat voter asked about his son’s dealings in the Ukraine.
These incidents aren’t isolated and nor are the wackadoodle rants that started long before this campaign. Biden’s decline has been evident for years. In 2017 he gave perhaps the most bizarre speech ever by a mainstream politician in which he recounted a harrowing tale of a man named CornPop, rusty razor blades and rain barrels.
During the same speech, at a swimming pool in Delaware being renamed in his honour, he said: “I got hairy legs that turn blonde in the sun and the kids used to come and reach in the pool and rub my leg down so it was straight and then watch the hair come back up again, they’d look at it, so I learned about roaches, I learned about kids jumping on my lap and I’ve loved kids jumping on my lap.” That rant alone should have eliminated him as a serious candidate.
On the campaign trail he has made gaffes like “we choose truth over facts” and “poor kids are just as talented and bright as white kids”; but many of his false claims have gone uncorrected by other Democratic candidates. During the South Carolina primary debate, Biden said: “150 million people have been killed since 2007 when Bernie voted to exempt the gun manufacturers from liability.”
The US population is about 330 million and half of them weren’t killed in the past 13 years — but Sanders let the comment go.
It’s little wonder Biden’s team is trying to restrict his time in front of microphones; some of his speeches are as short as seven minutes. Meanwhile, Trump talks off the cuff for 90 minutes at rallies, cracking jokes, trolling his rivals and occasionally talking policy.
But the same members of the media who for four years have declared Trump mentally and physically unfit for office have a meltdown when Biden’s mental faculties are questioned. That won’t stop the Republicans from highlighting the cerebral hiccups.
Of course, Biden can still beat Trump though that looks unlikely eight months out. His greatest assets are the Democrat’s propaganda arm — the bulk of the media — and the fact that he is infinitely more likeable than Hillary Clinton. Whatever the final outcome, grab some popcorn because the presidential debates are going to be epic.
Rita Panahi is a Herald Sun columnist.