Ever since former President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign, Democrats have tried to claim they are the party of technology.
They’re not.
This fact was made clear once again Thursday evening when de facto Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden tried to hold a virtual campaign rally in Tampa, Florida. It was plagued by technical issues that made it nearly impossible to watch, including seven full minutes of a black screen. The campaign has edited the video for its own YouTube channel to remove many of the awkward starts and glitches, but those who watched it live will know what really happened.
Biden’s campaign attempted to recreate a real live rally over a live stream, with a musical act, a reading of the pledge of allegiance, and multiple local politicians praising the former vice president before he actually spoke. None of it went as planned.
DJ Jack Henriquez pushed beats from his home studio, complete with several keyboards and awkward lighting. Speakers appeared demonically pixelated as they spoke, their feeds, as described by the Tampa Bay Times, “delayed as if they were transmitting from Afghanistan, not Tampa Bay.”
The campaign had a local high school student read the pledge of allegiance, which seemed awkward given people were watching alone in their homes. The student also adjusted the camera and at first seemed unaware he was live before reading the pledge. The feed then failed to cut away immediately when he was done.
Much of the stream included a slide show of pictures of Biden throughout his career, with that same awkward DJ music playing along.
At another point, a man who is clearly not former Florida Gov. Charlie Christ is shown on screen with a label that he is Charlie Christ. The man does not get a chance to speak before the live stream cut away.
When Biden is about to finally speak – close to 40 minutes into the rally – he looks as though he was unaware it was his time, as he is leaning against a wall wearing sunglasses. He then walks toward the camera, glitching so terribly he is shifting from side to side like he’s trapped in some sci-fi horror film, and says off camera, “Just me?” before asking, “Now?”
Then he removes his sunglasses and tries to speak, but the connection is so bad it’s almost impossible to make out what he said. Even worse, there appears to be a MAGA-supporting bird in the background whose constant chirping makes it difficult to focus on Biden. The bird’s commentary was restricted in the version of the video the Biden campaign posted online.
Biden didn’t do himself any favors, either, incorrectly referring to Rep. Kathy Castor (D-FL) as “Castro.”
The disastrous rally is reminiscent of when the Obama administration – which included Biden – unveiled its nearly $2 billion HealthCare.gov website that was supposed to help people sign up for health insurance, but crashed spectacularly on its launch. Biden also stopped giving daily shadow coronavirus briefings due to embarrassing issues.
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