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Heather du Plessis-Allan: Why did the Democrats choose Joe Biden?

Author
Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date
Tue, 27 Oct 2020, 4:33PM

Heather du Plessis-Allan: Why did the Democrats choose Joe Biden?

Author
Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date
Tue, 27 Oct 2020, 4:33PM

Eight days away from their election, I remain surprised that the Democrats chose Joe Biden. 

And rather than having my surprise wane over time, it actually just keeps increasing. 

Even today, when we have a video emerge in which Joe Biden appears to forget Trump’s name. 

Now, there is a dispute about how bad that moment is for Biden because it turns out that his interviewer’s name is George Lopez.  So perhaps it makes it a bit better knowing that Joe Biden was looking at George when he started referring to the President as George. 

But either way you look at it, it’s bad, because it just reinforces that narrative that Joe Biden –a guy who could become the oldest President elected to office - is really too old for the job. 

Biden is so unbelievably uninspiring and flawed as a politician.  He’s got this too-old narrative attached to him, he is regularly rude to voters, he says weird things like calling voters ‘lying, dog-faced pony soldier[s]’, he tells false stories about his own service history, his record on a 1994 crime bill has him offside with some African American voters.  

How on earth did the Democrats decide this was the guy to nominate? 

Haven’t they just made the same mistake all over again as they made with Hilary Clinton four years ago?  They picked the establishment candidate, steeped in Washington politics, who came with a track record but also with baggage. 

Covid is doing weird things to politics around the world so there is a chance this boring, uninspiring candidate could win simply because he’s the guy on the other team when Trump loses the election.  He could be the lucky recipient of the job because Trump is considered to have stuffed up the US Covid response. 

But that’s no real endorsement of him as a candidate is it?  You have to wonder how much of an improvement it is for the US to have Biden as president. 

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