Fantastic Excuses for Joe Biden's Dreadful Debate

There is certainly, no shortage of fantastic excuses being offered for Joe Biden's dreadful performance in last week's presidential debate. 

 

The first one was that he was suffering from a cold. Biden's voice was raspy and his eyes looked glassy at times. But despite the cold, he went from the debate to a watch party and then a Waffle House. Then he spoke at a North Carolina campaign rally in Raleigh a day after. It would seem that the cold had promptly deserted him once the debate concluded.

The second was that Biden had studied far too hard. The claim that he had simply overprepared during his time at Camp David – that the president had simply crammed too many facts in his little head. FYI, he reached the presidential retreat located in the Catoctin Mountain Park near Thurmont, Maryland on June 20, seven days before the debate. 

 

The third was offered by Biden himself, saying his problem was jet lag. 

 

“I decided to travel around the world a couple of times, going through I don’t know how many time zones”, said Biden, adding that he went through “15 time zones” and joking that he “then came back and nearly fell asleep on stage”. 

 

That explanation raised more questions about how long Biden requires to recover from travel.

 

Not only that but he wildly exaggerated. As always. Biden's so-called multiple world tours were actually two trips to France, a 5-day trip that included a commemoration of the 80th anniversary of D-Day with World War Two veterans in Normandy and a state visit in Paris, and Italy, where he spent roughly 48 hours on the ground to attend the G7 summit. 

 

In fact, after returning from Europe, two days of debate preparations were nixed from Biden’s schedule, The New York Times reported Tuesday. After resting at home, he ultimately had six days of practice at Camp David prior to the televised debate on June 27. Sessions did not start before 11 AM and time in the afternoon was carved out for a nap, according to the newspaper, which cited a person familiar with the process.

 

Biden's wife, Jill, joined in on Friday to say that he didn't “feel that great” during the debate. It's not clear what that meant, whether it was the cold, a sense of exhaustion or something else. But the first lady put forward the campaign's main argument that 90 minutes should not define his entire presidency.

 

On Wednesday, White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre declared that there is zero chance her boss is pulling out of the White House race. “Absolutely not”, she said adamantly.

 

“The president is clear-eyed and he is staying in the race”, she added for good measure.