President Joe Biden defiantly insisted in an interview tonight with ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos that he was the best and most-qualified qualified to run the country and beat Donald Trump.
“I just had a bad night,” Biden repeatedly insisted as Stephanopoulos pressed him on voters’ concerns about his mental and physical state following his disastrous debate performance against his Republican rival, former president Donald Trump.
Biden also refused to give a straight answer when Stephanopoulos asked him if he’d commit to taking an independent medical evaluation and releasing the results to the public.
“Look, I have a cognitive test every single day,” Biden responded. “Everything I do. Not only am I campaigning but I’m running the world.”
The interview was the Biden reelection campaign’s attempt to blunt the damage from the debate debacle, which has led to rising panic inside the Democratic Party about Biden’s viability as a candidate. The New York Times reported this evening, shortly before the interview, that Sen. Mark Warner (D–Va.) is meeting with other Senate Democrats next week to discuss concerns about Biden.
In the immediate aftermath of the debate, Biden’s team offered a litany of excuses for his performance: jet lag, a packed schedule, a cold. Biden, too, cited his travel schedule and a nasty cold.
“[The doctor] just looked at me and said, ‘You’re exhausted,'” Biden told Stephanopoulos.
But Biden’s debate performance was so bad that it shook even the president’s staunchest defenders in the media, who had thus far dutifully ignored Biden’s advancing age. And it pierced “operation bubblewrap,” the name White House insiders reportedly gave to their efforts to carefully manage Biden’s public appearances to avoid senior moments.
Hellbound and Down 