With only a few months to go before the presidential election, Democrats are now frantically pushing presidential candidate Joe Biden to skip the presidential debates.
While Biden’s allies in the leftist mainstream media have claimed a litany of reasons,the prime concern appears to be what the American public might think of Biden’s mental fitness if put on a stage next to the president.
Joe Lockhart, the former White House press secretary, claimed in an op-ed for CNN that Biden should avoid debating Trump because Trump would make “misleading or false statements” to make Biden look bad.
Citing the Washington Post, Lockhart claimed Trump had made more than 20,000 misleading or false statements.
“It’s a fool’s errand to enter the ring with someone who can’t follow the rules or the truth,” he wrote.
“Biden will undoubtedly take heat from Republicans and the media for skipping the debates,” he continued. “But it’s worth the risk as trying to debate someone incapable of telling the truth is an impossible contest to win.”
A liberal writer went even further in an op-ed for the New York Times and claimed that the presidential debates are outdated, lacked seriousness, and should thus be done away with for good.
“The debates took us nowhere nearer the realities about arguably the most disastrous president in our history,” Elizabeth Drew said of Trump. “They became simply another tool in his arsenal.”
Of course, Drew wasn’t at all concerned about the presidential debates when former President Barack Obama was running for president, or even when Hillary Clinton was supposed to beat Trump.
But now that Biden, whose constant blunders have become highlights for the Trump campaign, is set to face Trump, the message has changed completely.
Other Democrats have countered that Biden needs to debate Trump because the public deserves “to see the candidates in action.”
“I know that Joe Biden will show who he is, a man of both empathy and competence, and I’d like the American people to have a chance to see that,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who is reportedly on Biden’s VP shortlist.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., agreed: “This is a big race, and the answer is yes, I think he should,” she said when asked if Biden should debate Trump.
Biden’s campaign has already committed in writing to facing Trump during the debates, and clarified this week that he will still do so.
“Joe Biden said in June that he looks forward to debating Donald Trump on the dates and in the locations chosen by the Presidential Commission on Debates,” Andrew Bates, Biden’s rapid response director, said in a statement.
