Potential South Carolina Democratic primary voters were no doubt left confused Tuesday night after former Vice President Joe Biden asked them to support his Senate candidacy.
Yes, you read that correctly.
Biden, of course, hasn’t been a senator since he was inaugurated in 2009 as Barack Obama’s vice president.
Sure, he represented Delaware in the upper chamber of Congress for more than three decades prior to that. But 11 years is a long time, which makes his comments Tuesday all the more confusing.
According to the Washington Examiner, the head-scratching moment came as Biden spoke at the South Carolina Democratic Party’s First in the South Dinner.
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South Carolina has become something of a must-win state for Biden, who was long considered the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination before his weak showings in each of the first three states to cast their ballots.
“You’re the ones who sent Barack Obama the presidency. And I have a simple proposition here: I’m here to ask you for your help,” Biden said. “Where I come from, you don’t get far unless you ask.”
“My name’s Joe Biden. I’m a Democratic candidate for the United States Senate.”
Joe Biden: "My name is Joe Biden. I'm a Democratic candidate for the United States Senate…if you don't like me, you can vote for the other Biden."
Joe Biden is running for… Senate? pic.twitter.com/7EcO3ajAOu
— Jessica Fletcher (@heckyessica) February 25, 2020
It’s worth wondering what kind of message this sends to voters.
Watch: Fireworks as Black Student and Talarico Voters Meet – Begin Hating, Attacking Each Other in Seconds
Coworker accused of slashing woman’s throat during ride home, victim escaped moving car: police
Ouch: ‘Saturday Night Live’ Turns Jelly Roll Into a Punchline
DNC Chair Ken Martin defends ‘Big Tent’ strategy when pressed on democratic socialists
Mamdani unveils sweeping NYPD use-of-force review, but stops short of fulfilling key campaign promises
Retired police sergeant shoots deputy chief wife and their daughter in wealthy, coastal enclave home
Ilhan Omar Tries to Talk Tough in Response to DHS Raid, But One Glaring Detail Betrays Her Cowardice
Keep Paying Up to 27% – Or Take Two Minutes to Check If You Qualify for 0%
Hackers target refrigerators at French supermarkets, overheating them and causing fires
Ilhan Omar says she will ‘not be silenced’ following raid on Washington home
Biden-appointed judge with history of fiery Trump clashes erupts at DOJ: ‘You’ve lost all credibility!’
AIPAC takes another shot at el Sayed and hands Rogers a political gamble in Michigan Senate race
Republican lawmakers break with Trump on diesel deal with Russia
Federal agents conduct predawn search of Ilhan Omar’s home in Washington
Watch: Talarico Said He Went to Urgent Care, Now Says He Went to His Doctor 200 Miles Away – What Do We Know?
Consider that Biden’s campaign is in serious trouble.
He’s 12 percentage points behind Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in the RealClearPolitics national polling average.
Top Democratic donors are abandoning him.
While he was once expected to win South Carolina in a landslide, he’s now clinging to a thin 5-point lead over Sanders in the RealClearPolitics polling aggregate.
If he doesn’t start gaining momentum soon, Biden’s campaign is toast — yet the man can’t even seem to remember that he’s running for president, not Senate?
And that wasn’t the only gaffe Biden made Tuesday night.
Seconds after saying he was running for Senate, Biden sure made it sound like he was encouraging voters who don’t like him to “vote for the other Biden.”
“Look me over. If you like what you see, help out. If not, vote for the other Biden. Give me a look, though, OK?” Biden said.
Of course, there is no “other Biden” currently running for, well, anything.
If this was a one-time occurrence, then perhaps it would be a bit more understandable. But Biden says head-scratching things like these all the time.
Earlier this month, for instance, Biden claimed he was a victim of apartheid in South Africa.
“This day, 30 years ago, Nelson Mandela walked out of prison and entered into discussions about apartheid,” he told voters. “I had the great honor of meeting him. I had the great honor of being arrested with our U.N. ambassador on the streets of Soweto trying to get to see him on Robbens Island.”
Watch: Fireworks as Black Student and Talarico Voters Meet – Begin Hating, Attacking Each Other in Seconds
Coworker accused of slashing woman’s throat during ride home, victim escaped moving car: police
Ouch: ‘Saturday Night Live’ Turns Jelly Roll Into a Punchline
DNC Chair Ken Martin defends ‘Big Tent’ strategy when pressed on democratic socialists
Mamdani unveils sweeping NYPD use-of-force review, but stops short of fulfilling key campaign promises
Retired police sergeant shoots deputy chief wife and their daughter in wealthy, coastal enclave home
Ilhan Omar Tries to Talk Tough in Response to DHS Raid, But One Glaring Detail Betrays Her Cowardice
Keep Paying Up to 27% – Or Take Two Minutes to Check If You Qualify for 0%
Hackers target refrigerators at French supermarkets, overheating them and causing fires
Ilhan Omar says she will ‘not be silenced’ following raid on Washington home
Biden-appointed judge with history of fiery Trump clashes erupts at DOJ: ‘You’ve lost all credibility!’
AIPAC takes another shot at el Sayed and hands Rogers a political gamble in Michigan Senate race
Republican lawmakers break with Trump on diesel deal with Russia
Federal agents conduct predawn search of Ilhan Omar’s home in Washington
Watch: Talarico Said He Went to Urgent Care, Now Says He Went to His Doctor 200 Miles Away – What Do We Know?
Even The New York Times called him out on that one.
“But if Mr. Biden, then a United States senator from Delaware, was in fact arrested while trying to visit Mr. Mandela, he did not mention it in his 2007 memoir when writing about a 1970s trip to South Africa, and he has not spoken of it prominently on the 2020 campaign trail,” The Times reported. “A check of available news accounts by The New York Times turned up no references to an arrest. South African arrest records are not readily available in the United States.”
And in calling for more gun control last week, Biden said he would “do everything in my power … to get those clips that have multiple bullets in them not for sale, not be able to sell silencers.”
That’s a nonsensical statement, of course, as all gun magazines, by their very definition, hold multiple bullets.
The point is, Biden doesn’t seem to be thinking about what he says anymore — he just says the first thing that comes into his head.
He appears to have very little desire to actually be elected president, and instead seems to be going through the motions with half-baked proposals and gaffes that he isn’t bothering to correct.
If I were a Democratic primary voter who was considering Biden for president, I’d be very concerned.
Story cited here.
