“I’m sick of this stuff,” said Joe Biden in prepared remarks at Friday’s House Democratic Caucus Issues Conference.

Sick of what, you ask? Inflation, of course: “We have to talk about it because the American people think the reason for inflation is the government is spending more money. Simply not true. I don’t think we need any lectures from our friends on the other side about fiscal responsibility, for God’s sake.”

See what we mean? He’s sick of it. Sick, sick, sick. Biden then went on to tell his captive audience of House Democrats that inflation is “largely the fault of Putin.” Seriously. He seems to think inflation wasn’t a kitchen-table issue all across America until the moment Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine.

In fairness to Biden, though, he only assigned half the blame to Putin. The other half he assigned to COVID-19, and he did so with absolute clarity: “Let’s be absolutely clear about why prices are so high right now,” he explained. “They’re very high for two reasons, notwithstanding what the Republicans say: COVID, number one. What happened was, the glo-, the way the global economy works: If a factory in Taiwan makes computer chips shuts down because of COVID, it causes a ripple effect that can slow down the manufacturing in Detroit, which it did. One hitch can hold up everything.”

It’s like Yogi Berra once said: “If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll end up someplace else.” Or maybe when he said: “A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore.” In any case, Joe Biden nailed it.

And then he nailed that Russian inflationmonger: “Putin began amassing troops along the border,” he said. “And guess what? The world took notice. And those of you who work in the business know that the market anticipated and pricing went up more. And then Putin invaded. Make no mistake: Inflation is largely the fault of Putin.”

There it is. That’s the Democrats’ plan. COVID and Putin, the one-two punch of inflation. From now until Election Day on November 8, we can expect them to hit back hard whenever the American people complain about the price of food or gas or energy.

Oh, and one more thing: Never retreat. In fact, never even say “retreat” — not even when it’s used as a synonym for a conference. That was Nancy Pelosi’s winning message to her fellow House Democrats, one-in-five of whom will likely be out of a job next year, such is the likelihood of a midterm shellacking. As Byron York writes: “In light of negative expectations, [Pelosi] was so determined to put on a brave face that she banned the word ‘retreat’ at the retreat, even though that is what the retreat has been called for many years and even though Republicans also go on a regular retreat. The word went out to Democrats: Do not, under any circumstances, say the R-word.”

During the retreat issues conference, Pelosi went so far as to reprimand a member of the press corps for having had the gall to utter the word that was not to be uttered. And all of this, we’re sure, sent Pelosi’s colleagues back out into the world just brimming with confidence.

It’s the pandemic. It’s Putin’s fault. Never say “retreat.”

It’s everything but the spending, said Madame Speaker. And if you doubt it, check out this Orwellian word salad: “When we’re having this discussion, it’s important to dispel some of those who say, ‘Well, it’s the government spending.’ No, it isn’t. The government spending is doing the exact reverse, reducing the national debt. It is not inflationary.”

Yowsa.

Remember during the Trump years, when the corrupt corporate media kept referring to Pelosi as a strategic genius? It seems like such a long time ago.

Woe is the Democrat Party. “The chances of Biden’s running again are next to nil,” writes columnist Michael Walsh. “If the Democrats could figure out a way to get rid of him without elevating the albatross known as Kamala in his place, they’d have already done it. Further, there’s no apparent successor to Biden on the donkeys’ side.”

No wonder Joe Biden is sick of this stuff.