Yahoo News Biden Surrogates Try To Spin A Disastrous Debate Performance
ATLANTA — President Joe Biden’s top campaign surrogates had the unenviable task of spinning his weak debate performance against Donald Trump to the media immediately after Thursday night’s event.
They argued that Biden’s debate showing should be judged by the substance of his message and not the style of its messenger. But it was a tough sell, given that Biden gave rambling answers, mixed up numbers and launched into confusing tangents that obscured the message that Democrats hoped he would more clearly deliver in the first 2024 presidential debate.
“I would never turn my back on President Biden, and I don’t know a Democrat in my party that would do so, especially after tonight,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom told reporters after the debate as questions were shouted at him about whether he regretted not seeking the Democratic presidential nomination himself. “We have his back .... We’re going to double down in the next few months. We’re going to win this election.”
Newsom was once considered a top contender for the 2024 Democratic nomination if perhaps Biden opted not to run. But Newsom has turned into one of the Biden campaign’s most effective and visible surrogates.
Newsom and half a dozen other Biden cheerleaders were mobbed by reporters after the debate, arriving as a single unit following a stream of Trump surrogates who worked the room individually. Biden’s team included Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance-Bottoms and Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas).
“I would be concerned if the president didn’t have a record to run on,” Warnock told reporters. “This is a man that’s passed historic legislation here in the state of Georgia.”
Mary Trump, the former president’s niece who has been outspoken against her uncle, said voters shouldn’t focus on the specifics of Biden’s performance.
“I’ve heard a lot about the performance, and I would recommend that everybody focus on the substance,” Mary Trump said. “We have two candidates for the presidency. One is an inveterate liar who doesn’t care about this country. The other one cares about America. He cares about democracy.”
Meanwhile, Trump’s surrogates claimed the debate was the clearest evidence yet that Biden isn’t up for another term. At the very least, it gave them fresh ammunition to continue attacks on Biden’s age and mental acuity.
“I really felt sorry for him,” said former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, who is reportedly under consideration as Trump’s vice presidential running mate. “He was trying to remember things that they’ve told him. Many times he would start to switch from one subject to another and then start rambling. It really was not a very good performance.”
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), another name on Trump’s VP short list, questioned the degree to which Biden is governing at the White House day-to-day.
“I don’t want to be cruel, but it’s just the reality,” Rubio said. “Who’s actually making decisions on a daily basis in the White House? I don’t think the person you saw tonight can be involved in the details of governing at this point.”
