Joe Biden’s Pitiful Press Conference
Karine Jean-Pierre repeatedly billed it as a “big boy press conference,” but the “Big Guy” fell flat.
The slow-motion train wreck that is Joe Biden continued yesterday with his speech at the NATO summit and especially with his ensuing press conference. His remarks were clear — clearly from some other planet. Obviously, Biden is isolated from reality, stuck in a bubble with his family handlers, and stubbornly clinging to power.
Those handlers meant to show a man still capable of the presidency for a while longer, and he got some good press. According to The Wall Street Journal, “The president spoke for nearly an hour, answering questions off the top of his head, making some minor flubs but mostly seeming like a thoroughly different person than the candidate who appeared at the debate two weeks ago.”
Then again, those “minor flubs” made for quite the five-minute compilation of lowlights. Fox News lists at least nine times Biden said “anyway” before trailing off and leaving a thought unfinished. (Funniest YouTube comment: “RIP to everyone whose drinking game included the phrase, ‘Well, anyway.’”)
Biden held up and referenced a list of reporters: “I’ve been given a list of people to call on here.” He dismissed his troubles as nothing more than making “that stupid mistake at the debate.” He said he’s taking advice from the commander-in-chief. He admitted that other Democrats could beat Donald Trump after previously asserting he is the only person who can.
He confused his running mate with his opponent, saying, “I wouldn’t have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president did I think she’s not qualified to be president.” He didn’t catch that mistake.
Update: The White House edited the transcript:
That came after his previous remarks before NATO when he introduced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as “President Putin.” Over gasping from the audience, he quickly corrected course. “President Putin? We’re going to beat President Putin — President Zelensky. I’m so focused on beating Putin, we got to worry about it,” Biden said. “Anyway, Mr. President.”
Then there were the factual errors and outright lies that compelled even the Praetorian Guard “fact-checkers” at CNN and The Washington Post to respond with mild rebukes for a few of the easier ones. Still, those two “fact-checks” helped Biden further his misleading claims about Trump, including slamming Trump for his supposed lack of commitment to NATO.
To listen to Biden talk, it’s almost as if Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine on Trump’s watch. Maybe we also abandoned Afghanistan under Trump, and maybe Hamas attacked Israel under Trump too.
By contrast, Biden falsely portrayed his own record, acting as if there are no wars going on in the world, no threats because nobody would dare challenge him. His self-aggrandizing remarks about his extraordinary leadership on the world stage — especially against Putin — are some of the biggest bunch of malarkey I’ve ever heard Biden spew. He touted himself as the hero and savior of the world, not unlike his being the domestic savior of democracy.
Amid increasing rumors that Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi are working behind the scenes and plotting Biden’s exit for him, The Washington Post reports, “By the time the news conference began, 16 Democratic House members and one senator had called for Biden to bow out of the presidential race.” Three more House Democrats issued statements calling for his withdrawal after the presser.
That isn’t to say Biden didn’t reiterate his stubbornness in the press conference. “Look, I’m not in this for my legacy,” Biden said when asked how history would view a loss to Donald “Threat to Democracy” Trump. “I’m in this to complete the job I started.”
He also said, “I’m determined on running, but I think it’s important that I allay fears by letting them see me out there.”
Asked about a possible change of candidate at the upcoming Democratic National Convention in August, he answered, “Tomorrow, if all of a sudden I show up at the convention and everybody says we want somebody else, that’s the democratic process.” But, he grandpa whispered, “It’s not gonna happen.”
Exit quote: “I’ve taken three significant and intense neurological exams by neuro… by a neurosur… neur… a neurologist.”
Oh.
