Former Vice President Joe Biden, the Democrats’ nominee for president, capped off four nights of tedium in unremarkable form in a speech that drew largely from his prior stumps with false claims, debunked conspiracy theories and disingenuous promises.
Content aside, however, the speech came off largely as a success due to Biden’s regularly lowering the bar with constant gaffes and offensive mistakes.
By contrast, the biggest speech to date in his 47-year career in politics was delivered under optimal circumstances: carefully rehearsed, from a teleprompter with only a carefully curated virtual “audience” to feed off of.
It offered the soon-to-be-78-year-old White House hopeful minimal risk of going off-script, and his handlers at the Democratic National Committee ensured that even his occasional speech impediment was turned into an endearing quirk that underscored his empathy.
Brayden Harrington, a 13-year-old boy with a stutter, shares how Joe Biden gave him the confidence for public speaking at #DemConvention: “Without Joe Biden I wouldn’t be talking to you today.” https://t.co/6DLWHOY082 pic.twitter.com/rByBnS7Be3
— ABC News (@ABC) August 21, 2020
Biden rambled at times, notably in a lengthy digression addressed to those who experienced the “black hole” in their chests that came with losing loved ones.
His son Beau, who died of brain cancer during his last year in office, became a frequent point of emphasis during the four-night convention while his other surviving children, Hunter and Ashley, were relegated to a minute-long introduction.
Nonetheless, Democrats carped on the delivery of Thursday night’s speech, which was evocative of a Sunday morning televised evangelist sermon due to the unique social-distancing circumstances necessitated, allegedly, by the coronavirus pandemic.
CNN Anchor Jim Acosta tweeted that the speech “didn’t seem very ‘sleepy'” to him.
However, President Donald Trump immediately pointed out one of the notable breakdowns in Biden’s promise of hope-and-change promise (using a plagiarized slogan) to “Build Back Better.”
In 47 years, Joe did none of the things of which he now speaks. He will never change, just words!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 21, 2020
In addition to promising to effect change in ways he had heretofore failed to deliver, Biden also sought to demarcate himself from the failures of past presidents who allowed foreign countries to interfere in elections.
That criticism, although ostensibly directed at the current administration was, in fact, a slap on the Obama administration in which he served as vice president during the prior presidential election.
Although Obama was aware of the threat from Russia, he consciously chose not to act on the threat.
Democrats have since posited the conspiracy theory that Trump colluded with Russia, although the claim was debunked by the two-year, $30+ million Mueller investigation.
Obama likewise offered a backhanded slap of his second-in-command during a speech Wednesday, declaring that “no public official, including the president, should use their office to enrich their supporters.”
Biden and many other Democrats have notoriously done just that in their dealings with foreign countries like Ukraine and China.
During his speech, Biden also repeated a frequent lie about the deadly clashes that took place in Charlottesville, Va.
It was a fitting epilogue to the first leg of his campaign, given that Biden announced his candidacy on the back of the very same lie.
He—and many other Democrats—have repeatedly mischaracterized Trump’s response to the violence, in which he condemned both sides for instigating it.
And… @JoeBiden repeats the “very fine people” hoax.
Trump condemned the neo-Nazis.
Biden is lying and knows that he is lying. He doesn’t care.#DNC
— Joel Pollak (@joelpollak) August 21, 2020
Biden also mischaracterized a demonstration the night before in which well dressed, unmasked peaceful protesters marched on the University of Virginia’s Rotunda carrying tiki torches.
Although the Jeffersonian landmark is nowhere near anything that would be considered a field, Biden asked people to close their eyes and picture people “coming out of the field lighting torches.”
UVA grad here… there are no fields anywhere near the Rotunda. Why does Biden keep saying that line about the preppies in collared shirts carrying tiki torches? #DNC2020 #JoeBiden #Gaslighting
— Headline USA (@HeadlineUSA) August 21, 2020
AS some, including Fox News correspondent and Town Hall contributor Katie Pavlich noted, those claims, too, were disingenuous given Biden’s own troubled relationship with issues of racism.
Biden spoke at Klansman Robert Byrd’s funeral and campaigned for him, but sure, Charlottesville.
— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) August 21, 2020
