Former Vice President Joe Biden has been seen as the most electable of the Democratic primary since before he announced his candidacy. He has also used “electability” as a rallying cry for his campaign.
This past weekend, he told an audience in Manchester, New Hampshire: “Everybody knows two things. You have to win, you have to be able to beat Trump and you have to be able to elect Democrats in states we have to win.”
Polls have also demonstrated Biden’s electability. The most recent Quinnipiac University poll showed 27% of respondents believed Biden was the most likely to beat President Donald Trump in November. Granted, that was a steep drop from the January Quinnipiac poll, which found 44% thought Biden was the most electable.
Tuesday morning, however, Biden undermined his entire campaign point by telling the hosts of “Morning Joe” on MSNBC that he refuses “to suggest any Democrat can lose.”
Biden was asked by host Willie Geist about recent comments from Democratic pundits saying the party had to stop Sen. Bernie Sanders (-VT) from getting the nomination because he would lose to Trump. Geist said people wouldn’t vote for socialism.
Biden responded by saying, “I refuse to suggest any Democrat can lose.”
“I think we could run Mickey Mouse against this president and have a shot,” he continued, to audience applause.
“I refuse to suggest any Democrat can lose. I think we could run Mickey Mouse against this president and have a shot.” —@JoeBiden pic.twitter.com/91dJpO5zCf
— Morning Joe (@Morning_Joe) February 11, 2020
If any Democrat could beat Trump, then what’s the point of the primary? What’s the point of candidates like Biden making an argument for the part to elect him as the nominee? What was the point of his whole “electability” campaign?
Biden’s campaign has been in an apparent meltdown since his fourth-place showing in the Iowa caucuses (we think, we may never know who truly won the caucuses since there were so many errors). The Daily Wire’s James Barrett reported last week that Biden’s loss in Iowa was a “gut punch,” the candidate told Politico. Biden then went “missing” from the campaign trail in New Hampshire, The Washington Post reported, as his campaign gathered to seek “a reset and perhaps a last-ditch effort to save his candidacy, beginning with a debate Friday night.”
“Following dismal results in the Iowa caucuses that have rattled many in his orbit, his campaign is now simultaneously trying to lower expectations here — with some suggesting they would consider a finish as low as third place a victory — while also bracing for a second straight difficult Election Day,” the outlet continued.
Further, the Post noted that Biden’s campaign is hemorrhaging cash and “canceled nearly $150,000 in television ads in South Carolina, which votes Feb. 29, and moved the spending to Nevada, whose Feb. 22 contest follows New Hampshire’s.”
Polling suggests Biden will come in fourth place again in New Hampshire.
As part of his campaign meltdown, Biden has increasingly said some non-sensical things on the trail. Several days ago, he told an audience in Hudson, New Hampshire: “Those who say ‘the tree of liberty is watered with the blood of patriots’ — a great line, well, guess what: The fact is, if you’re going to take on the government you need an F-15 with Hellfire Missiles. There is no way an AK-47 is going to take care of you.”
Biden: “Those who say ‘the tree of liberty is watered with the blood of patriots’ — a great line, well, guess what: The fact is, if you’re going to take on the government you need an F-15 with Hellfire Missiles. There is no way an AK-47 is going to take care of you.” pic.twitter.com/npmW40DHS2
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) February 9, 2020