Biden's Performance Was Far More Than a "Crummy Night" and Who Could Replace Him - Prof. Lawless
Biden's Performance Was Far More Than a "Crummy Night" and Who Could Replace Him - Prof. Lawless
“I should note that any pundit/analyst /journalist who suggests that it wasn't as bad as people are saying or that Joe Biden just had a crummy night but we should move on isn't worth their analysis. There is no way to look at what happened last night and think that it was okay or think that it was just one stumbling block,” said Lawless, chair of the political science department.
“Joe Biden walked onto that stage and was basically a caricature of everything that the Trump campaign had been accusing him of being - he didn't look 81, he looked like he was in his late 90s he was not able to string together a series of thoughts in a coherent way at the beginning of the debate. He froze; I don't know if it was a matter of over preparation under preparation, him not feeling well — it doesn't matter,” said Lawless on GoLocal LIVE.
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“The fact is that he gave pause to anybody who was already on his side, and he gave reason not to turn out to vote to a lot of the members of the Democratic base who thought he was too old to begin with,” added Lawless.
She added, “So it couldn't have gone more poorly for Joe Biden.”
Lawless made it clear that it is Biden’s decision to step away from running for reelection.
Top Candidates to Replace Biden
Regarding who would be the strongest Democratic candidate to replace Biden, Lawless said, “I think Gretchen Whitmer is my number one. Josh Shapiro and Gavin Newsom are probably two and three.”
In a highly unusual move, the editorial board of the New York Times published a Friday night editorial titled “To Serve His Country, President Biden Should Leave the Race.”
The Times editorial is a blow to Biden.