Joe Biden flubs names at "big boy" news conference as his campaign hangs in the balance.

 

Joe Biden at the news conference. AP. 

Joe Biden flubs names at "big boy" news conference as his campaign hangs in the balance. AP. Even before the conference Biden called Ukrainian President Zelensky "President Putin" of Russia. When the press conference started Biden called Kamala Harris "Vice President Trump" and when informed that Donald Trump was mocking him for it he told the press conference "Listen to him". However, Biden confirmed that he was not going to drop out saying he "...had to finish this job". Biden also said that he wouldn't drop out unless there was a poll saying he couldn't win and then claimed, in a strange whisper, that no poll was saying that. Biden also touted claimed accomplishments and a commitment to NATO and outside of his flubs, he was more animated and coherent than he was at the debate. 

My Comment:

I watched some of the "big boy" news conference but I had to leave to get groceries shortly after he called Kamala Harris "Vice President Trump". From what I saw it was indeed a better performance than the debate, but that's damning by faint praise. Angry Biden showed up for a bit and so did creepy whisper Biden but we did not see blank stare Biden, which is an improvement I guess. 

Pro-Biden accounts are downplaying his flubs. To be fair he realized that he called Zelensky Putin but he did not seem to catch the VP Trump one. They are saying that everyone flubs names, sometimes frequently. This is  true, but given the stakes it's not a good look for Joe Biden to do it twice in one day and in such an embarrassing way. 

Whatever you think of Zelensky and Kamala Harris, it's pretty insane to call them by the names of the people they hate the most. Was it just a flub? Sure. But it was one that Biden will be lucky if those two laugh it off. Zelensky has little choice, he's dependent on America for survival, but Harris? It will be interested if she holds a grudge. 

A lot of people are saying that this was possibly the worst result for the Democrats. Biden did just enough to keep his supporters on board and spouting copium, but his flubbing of the names and creepy whispering won't do a thing to reassure his critics. The calls for him to step down will get louder but so will the calls for him to stay in the race. Which means that the Democrat civil war will continue unabated. 

The biggest winner here is of course the Trump campaign. I am sure they will come out with an advertisement featuring Biden and his flubs and they just got two more entries to go with their "greatest hits" collection. It's also going to keep focus on Biden and his mental acuity for at least the rest of the week. 

As for what happens with Biden, I still say that he doesn't drop out. He's either in a major bubble and actually believes he is the best chance to beat Trump or he can't take the hit to his ego that dropping out would entail. The people that want him out might try to increase pressure on him, but I don't think they are going to be able to convince him to do so. 

I do have to say that it's about time that Biden had to face a hostile media. It's clear that the big push for getting rid of Biden is coming from the media and they weren't giving Biden any slack for the first time in his presidency. The sad thing is that if they had done so back in 2020 Biden would have never been the candidate for the Democrats, let alone have him in power right now...