If you wanted to see the personification of senior moments, Joe Biden offered it up last night.
The worst part — or rather one of the worst parts — was that expectations were so low. All he had to do in his debate against Trump was come out and be State Of The Union Joe, the fiery leader ready to take on America’s Biggest Liar. Trump’s acolytes and some in the media had set the bar incredibly low for Biden, but somehow he managed to limbo under it.
Remember, Biden’s the one who challenged his opponent and even got the rules he wanted. How could he have been so unprepared, knowing weeks ahead of time when this event would take place? What the hell was he doing with his advisers at Camp David? Or was he incapable of remembering what he was supposed to say and do?
Where Biden should have been baiting Trump to go crazy, he got baited instead. Even when Trump did start ranting, Biden repeatedly fell into the trap of responding to him, instead of sticking to his most important talking points.
And number one on that list?
ABORTION!!!! The issue that could motivate even suburban Republican women to vote for Biden and other Democrats in November.
ABORTION!!!! The Supreme Court decision that Trump proudly takes credit for, but two-thirds of the country thinks was wrong.
ABORTION!!!! When Trump repeated his talking point about Democrats allowing babies to be killed shortly after being born, Biden should immediately have replied, “That’s never happened — and is not legal in any state.”
ABORTION!!!! Say you’re going to protect the right of women to use the medical abortion pill, Mifepristone (RU-486), all across the country, and not let extremist Republicans take it away.
ABORTION!!!! Say the extremist Republicans want to take away the right to use all contraceptives, but that’s not going to happen on your watch.
ABORTION!!!! Say the extremist Republicans want to ban in-vitro fertilization, again despite huge popular support for the procedure.
ABORTION!!!! Keep saying that Trump is the head of the extremist party that wants government, not women, to make decisions about their bodies and health.
Even in his closing statement, Biden didn’t mention ABORTION!!!! Instead, as he had throughout the night, he fell into reciting policy wonk details with too many numbers. That doesn’t work in events like this (or anywhere, come to think of it). His people should have pounded a mantra into his brain: Make broad statements, not narrow ones, and keep saying the word ABORTION!!!
Instead, Biden challenged Trump to a round of golf. WTF?
There were so many other missed opportunities.
When Trump said his fundraising was way up after he was convicted of thirty-four felonies, Biden should have said, “That may be true, but after November 5th, all those donors are going to wonder why they wasted their money.”
Or when Trump claimed he never had sex with a porn star, Biden should have said, “Well, you paid her $130,000 for something.”
Or when Trump lied about being supported by every police organization in the country, Biden should have said, “I know one group that doesn’t support you. The US Capitol Police, who lost one of their own, Officer Brian Sicknick, when he was killed by your maniacal marauding supporters who attacked the Capitol on January 6th.”
Or after Trump yet again pivoted away from a moderator’s question to go on a narcissistic rant, Biden should have said, ““Dana, I’m going to do something this felon won’t do — answer your question.“
Or when Trump said illegal immigrants were going to destroy Social Security by taking benefits away from the rest of us, Biden should have responded, “If you knew anything about this, you’d know that immigrants who come to this country and have jobs actually pay into Social Security, and if they’re undocumented, they do not benefit from it.”
Okay, okay. I’ll stop with the should haves. And that includes the complaints that moderators Dana Bash and Jake Tapper should have fact-checked the candidates responses in real time. First off, that’s impossible with the fire hose of lies spewed by Trump. Secondly, they announced ahead of time they would not be doing so. There are already plenty of news outlets offering that analysis today, but no MAGA Morons will hear any of it. Nor will the more casual viewers who aren’t regular consumers of political news.
Now let’s talk about the damage Biden did to himself — and possibly the outcome of the upcoming election.
Within sixty seconds of the end of the debate, commentators of every stripe — even the MSNBC crew — were already speculating that Biden has to step down because he now can’t possibly be re-elected. He’s not going to do that. But even if he did make such an announcement, who could replace him as the Democratic candidate with four and a half months to go? That’s the question none of the pundits ever answer. Oh, they can throw the names of two dozen possibilities against the wall, but who is the single person who can beat Trump? Don’t you dare say RFK Jr. — or the worm in his brain.
I heard one political analyst grasping for something positive say that while Biden performed poorly, it was just one night. Wrong. This failure will echo for quite a while, and not just in clips the Trump campaign is already pulling to use in commercials. Biden’s fiasco will leave a lot of Democrats uninspired, including young people, a demographic Biden desperately needs. He may even lose some who voted for him in 2020. I don’t know how anyone can be undecided in this race, but he may have lost whatever chance he had with them — and those pro-choice suburban moms, too. They may not vote for Trump, but if they leave that line at the top of the ballot blank without checking the box next to Biden’s name, the result will be the same.
During the debate, every time Biden was appalled by yet another Trump boast and/or lie, he began his rebuttal by saying, “The idea that….”
Today, a lot of us are moaning, “The idea that…someone so politically savvy, with 37 years of experience in Washington and a team full of longtime campaign professionals, could walk onto that stage and so completely blow the opportunity to prove himself capable of leading the country through four more years seemed impossible.”
Unfortunately, we saw it happen with our own eyes — and became very worried.