Longtime Democratic Operative Says Biden Turned in ‘The Worst Performance in Presidential Campaign History’
The fallout from President Joe Biden’s poor debate continued on Monday, with longtime Democratic strategist Paul Begala assessing it in blunt terms.
Biden participated in his first debate with former President Donald Trump on Thursday in what was a trying affair. The president repeatedly stumbled over his words and misspoke. At one point he declared, “We finally beat Medicare.”
Begala has long been a fixture on CNN, where he has dutifully defended establishment Democrats such as Biden. However, on Monday’s edition of The Lead, he did not attempt to sugarcoat the president’s showing.
“Obviously, it was not a good debate performance,” host Jake Tapper told Begala. “But beyond that, should he be the nominee? Should he be president?”
“It was the worst night, the worst performance in presidential campaign history,” Begala replied. “Seriously. And I’ve been in this a long time. It was a catastrophe. They set up the debate to quell the questions about his age. And I don’t really think they accomplished that.”
He went on to say it remains to be seen what kind of feedback Democratic members of Congress get from their constituents when they return home for the Fourth of July break.
“What I think voters are gonna say [is], ‘Are you out of your mind?’ Because Democrats are worried that not only will Biden lose to Trump, but that he’ll drag down the House and the Senate as well, and you’ll have a MAGA trifecta, which Mr. Trump himself says will be a dictatorship – at least for a day.”
Begala was not the only Democratic operative on Monday to publicly express concern about Biden’s cognitive abilities.
“We have a country that 72% want something different,” said James Carville on MSNBC. “If the Democratic party can’t produce something different that 72% of people want, why do we exist? What are we here for? I mean, the country is clamoring for change, and what are we going to offer them? The same stuff?”
Watch above via CNN.
