More Disastrous News For Biden - Time For “President” Harris?
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President Joe Biden's interview with ABC News anchor and former Clinton adviser George Stephanopoulos did little to ease the concerns of his critics.
The interview aimed to recover from his poor debate performance against Donald Trump but failed to do so, according to critics, including a growing number of Democrats.
One such critic was Republican Senator Lindsey Graham from South Carolina, who posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, “That was not a media interview of a sitting President. That was a therapy session with a former Democratic operative begging President Biden to get out of the race."
"There wasn’t a single challenge to President Biden’s statement that America is in good shape under his presidency," he added.
That was not a media interview of a sitting President. That was a therapy session with a former Democratic operative begging President Biden to get out of the race.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) July 6, 2024
There wasn’t a single challenge to President Biden’s statement that America is in good shape under his…
“America is hurting and the world is on fire. This interview was a disservice to the American people. With all due respect, the American people are not wrong to believe that President Biden is compromised physically and mentally,” Graham continued.
“To suggest the debate was a ‘bad night’ instead of a deteriorating condition is not only disingenuous, it’s an insult to the intelligence of the American people. What we saw tonight was chilling. If you believe President Biden is as fit now as he was when he took office, as he claims, you need a cognitive test,” Graham concluded.
Concerns aren't limited to Republicans. Fox News liberal cohost of "The Five," Juan Williams, also said the interview didn't negate Biden's debate performance.
“I think, you know, even at the White House, maybe Phil [Wegmann] can help us here, but I mean, you know, did he have a medical examination after this? If at first the White House, I think, was saying no, then he said yes, that they had talked about it. And I, you know, apparently, they’ve come back and said there’s not going to be any release of information about that medical review,” Williams stated.
“But even if it was a bad episode, my God, that’s like saying, you know, I’m playing in the Super Bowl and I’ve just had a bad night. No, you prepare, you’re ready. It should not be a bad moment. And, you know, yeah, he was traveling a lot, I grant him that, maybe he was feeling a little bit neuralgic, like a cold or something, but there’s just no excuse. It was a devastatingly bad moment,” Williams added.
Democratic operative David Axelrod shared a similar sentiment during his conversation with CNN anchor Jim Sciutto.
“Well, the question is, did he change the minds of voters who were watching that? I don’t really think so. You know, he, Jim, I think the thing, and some of it I found sad, but he seems not to be able to compute the fact that people have these questions about him. He said, I have, you know, when George Stephanopoulos asked him if he’d be willing to take a cognitive test, he said, um, I take a cognitive test every day. Well, the fact is, that may be true, but 75% of the American people think he failed, that he fails. I mean, they’re, they’ve lost.,” Axelrod said.
“And so this is a real problem for him. And it’s something that shows up in every poll, uh, and in terms of where he stands in the race, you know, there, there, no politician out there will tell, has the same perception that the president does, that this is a tied race and he’s right in the hunt right now. He was 10 points ahead four years ago. He’s six points behind now, worse in most of the battleground states and now in danger of losing states that weren’t thought to be in contention,” Axelrod noted.
“So what you see, Jim, you saw it in Wisconsin today; Tammy Baldwin, the Senator from Wisconsin, wasn’t at this event. Why? Because she’s up for reelection and it’s not helpful to her to be seen with the president,” Axelrod added.