Amid recurrent speculation about Vice President Joe Biden’s potential 2016 campaign bid, a Biden for president Super PAC, aptly named Draft Biden, has released an emotionally-manipulative video advertisement, exploiting the tragic death of Beau Biden, the Vice President’s deceased son, in a seedy political way.
The distasteful video is a little less than two minutes long and features an affected Biden voiceover. “Things can change in a heartbeat,” bemoans Biden as narrator, “I know.” Maxims and motivational clichés follow the rest of the video down an avenue of contrived melancholy. Entitled “My Redemption,” the politicized clip displays a series of black-and-white Biden family photographs designed to evoke intimacy with and sympathy for the Vice President, and his seemingly-inevitable campaign announcement.
Ultimately, this unfortunate spectacle of a campaign ad crescendos to: “Joe, Run.” About one second later, the name of the sponsor ever-so-slowly fades onto the screen with the flash of “DraftBiden2016.com.” Shamelessly, the group then asks viewers for financial support and contributions.
The Super PAC’s advertisement did not spawn from thin-air, but rather rode off the coat-tails of Biden’s own apparent campaign leaks.
This specific advertisement was not authorized by “any candidate or candidate’s committee,” according to the Draft Biden Super PAC. Federal Election Commission laws mandate a “disclaimer notice…defined as a statement placed on a public communication that identifies the person(s) who paid for the communication and, where applicable, the person(s) who authorized the communication.”
The Super PAC’s advertisement did not spawn from thin-air, but rather rode off the coat-tails of Biden’s own apparent campaign leaks. In a media-frenzied exclusive for Politico, Edward-Isaac Dovere exposed the Vice President’s own purported scheming:
According to multiple sources, it was Biden himself who talked to [New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, a well-known Hillary Clinton critic], painting a tragic portrait of a dying son, Beau’s face partially paralyzed, sitting his father down and trying to make him promise to run for president because “the White House should not revert to the Clintons and that the country would be better off with Biden values.
While Biden’s grief is indeed heartbreaking and undoubtedly sincere, this allegation muddies the waters and tarnishes the Vice President’s moral integrity. “Joe Biden has been making his 2016 deliberations all about his late son since August,” writes Dovere, “Biden has portrayed his decision about a 2016 run as purely emotional, a question of whether he and has family have the strength. That’s a big part of it. But it’s not all of it.”
If true, Dovere’s damning words may haunt the likely Biden 2016 campaign. For a man that’s always been portrayed as off-the cuff and unscripted, this highly-calculated and deliberately manipulative move damages the Vice President’s image. The American public, of course, will mourn the loss of Biden’s son, Beau, with a heavy heart and prayers. However, the American people may not take kindly to these reports, complicating their relationship with Joe Biden. “The vice president is mourning. He’s also calculating,” insists Dovere, “…in truth Biden had effectively placed on ad in the New York Times.”
Already, the Biden camp is pushing back against these claims with force. According to the Associated Press’ Josh Lederman, “Biden’s office [has said] Politico story on Beau is ‘categorically false and the characterization is offensive.”
As Biden struggles to save face amidst these allegations, Biden-for-president Super PACs take advantage of his son’s death, jerking the heartstrings of the American public in a Machiavellian ploy for power. Draft Biden’s video, however, is not without precedent.
When Democrat Wendy Davis unsuccessfully ran for governor of Texas in 2014, losing by nearly 20 percentage points, her team released a foul ad against her Republican opponent, Greg Abbott. “In the ad, Davis and her team label Abbott a hypocrite for suing and receiving financial compensation following an accident that left him paralyzed,” writes political blogger Kerry MacLaine, “The entire ad, from the empty wheelchair to the accusatory text, leaves a bitter taste in the mouths of viewers.”
Now in 2015, Draft Biden’s similarly squalid ad, “leaves a bitter taste in the mouth of viewers.” The Super PACs’ exploitation of Beau Biden, and his memory, will not resonate well with an American populace searching for authenticity and candor. Although Biden has yet to announce his candidacy, his incipient campaign is not off to a great start.