Democrats Vent Anger at Sanders, Conflicted Over Biden’s Wuhan Coronavirus Strategy
“The only a–hole doing damage to the party is Bernie Sanders. He’s not going to win. He’s wasting time.”
I cannot remember a time when a presidential election took a backseat during the election year. Do you sometimes forget we have an election in November? I do! It’s all about the Wuhan coronavirus.
Democrats have shown determination to oust President Donald Trump since he won in November 2016. It looks like the coronavirus has caused doubts while Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is a thorn in their side once again.
State and local governments have closed non-essential businesses, leaving people without jobs. Social distancing orders have made it hard for people to buy groceries or necessities to live at home. Parents have to home school their children while balancing working from home.
In other words, Americans have a lot more on their minds than the presidential election.
Fox News reached out to Democratic consultants and those who worked with President Barack Obama.
Biden has a significant delegate lead over Sanders, but the self-proclaimed socialist will not drop out:
To top it off, Biden still can’t shake Sen. Bernie Sanders, who seems determined to pursue his campaign as long as possible, even though Biden has a powerful delegate lead.
“The only a–hole doing damage to the party is Bernie Sanders,” said Joe DiSano, a Democratic political consultant based in Michigan. “He’s not going to win. He’s wasting time. Every minute that Joe Biden spends focused on Bernie Sanders is one less he’s spending on Donald Trump.”
The coronavirus caused the economy to tank, erasing the gains made during Trump’s administration. This is one reason why some have not written off Biden in November, but the pandemic might not last as long as predicted.
Trump will have a significant positive on his side if the economy bounces right back:
“The economy tends to determine a lot of voter behavior,” said Hank Sheinkopf, a longtime New York political consultant who has worked for former President Bill Clinton and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. “But if you put the economy together with more people dying — if this continues into June — the stress on the president will be very, very significant. If the economy starts to lift and the pandemic starts to subside, well then he [Trump] can claim victory.”
The coronavirus wiped out the economy, but it also erased Biden’s wins and his momentum. Biden and Sanders cannot travel to campaign, leaving them to virtual campaigning.
Trump remains all over the TV with coronavirus updates every day from the White House. This allows him to take jabs at Biden, who, in turn, cannot always fire back.
States have pushed their primaries to the summer, which put a damper on the Democratic primary. It has also helped dissipate the election from the media’s attention.
“I think people have forgotten who Biden is,” said Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y. “When he does make the occasional appearance he screws it up. Biden is almost yesterday’s man already. All the luster of the primary wins is gone. Trump is the guy who is out there. He’s the one people see. He’s the one in charge. And the fact that he’s out there every day reassures people.
King added: “Whatever faults Trump has are faults he’s had all along – he exaggerates and all that – but he shows himself to be alert and knows what’s going on, while Biden just looks confused. I like Biden. He seemed to be on a bit of a roll, but now he’s just disappeared. I think Obama or even Trump would have found a way to stay in it, but he’s just disappeared.”
The virtual campaigning has hurt Biden due to technical difficulties and walking off camera. He does not appear alert and offers word salads to the audience.
CNN’s Jake Tapper had to remind Biden to cough into his elbow instead of his hand.
David Plouffe, who ran Obama’s campaign and became an adviser, said that no one had blamed Trump for the damage to the economy. I mean, duh. The virus caused it, and Trump doesn’t have magical powers to cure the illness. Also, people want to hear from leaders, not the candidates:
“You look at the economic situation and say, ‘How can an incumbent win in that?’ But, you know, no one’s blaming Trump for the damage,” Plouffe told the “Fox News Rundown” podcast. ” … I think if you can lay his crisis response at his feet and connect that to the economy, I do think that’s some headwind he’s got to run into.”
“But,” Plouffe continued, “almost no matter what happens, [the question is] can Donald Trump win Wisconsin? Can he win Michigan? Can he win Pennsylvania? Can he win Florida?’ Sure, because his base is so solid. And I think he’s going to turn out voters almost at a historical level on his behalf, so that makes him very dangerous if you’re Joe Biden.
“There’s nothing he [Biden] can do about it. He’s not in office. He’s not a governor. He’s not the president. And truthfully, [New York Govornor] Andrew Cuomo, [California Govornor] Gavin Newsom … Donald Trump, citizens want to hear from those folks because they’re the folks making decisions.”
Biden’s campaign and allies at least say they have no worries. Something tells me they have their doubts unless they don’t live in the real world:
Off the campaign trail and stuck at home like most Americans, Biden retooled his outreach to become digital. He’s now podcasting to speak directly with voters, holding virtual fundraisers, participating in TV townhalls and hosting targeted online forums, including a happy hour with young voters.
“I think you’ll continue to see us experimenting with different kinds of new digital formats,” Biden national press secretary T.J. Ducklo told Fox News.
“Obviously there is no playbook for this, but I think you’ve seen us take some big steps to adjust over the last couple of weeks and do a lot of things that have been pretty effective as far as adapting to these circumstances but still accomplishing the same objectives of the campaign which is to reach out to voters, have the vice president engage with voters, build our coalition and expand the kind of the community of supporters that we have,” Ducklo said. “We’ve been doing that.”
DiSano brushed off Trump’s approval ratings, which has gone up since the impeachment and the pandemic began. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MD) thinks Biden will “look even better in comparison” after the epidemic ends:
“I don’t think he’s trying to do anything right now to upend the president, which is appropriate. I think people are going to take that into consideration.”
“It would be awkward and tacky for Biden to try to get on television every day to criticize the president,” said Cleaver, a prominent Biden ally, adding that “Biden has never been much of a TV hog.”
Cleaver acknowledges that the most prominent Democrat in the country right now is Cuomo, who is at the heart of the pandemic response in New York, though he doesn’t think the governor, a Biden backer, would do anything to upstage the likely Democratic presidential nominee.
“The history books will record that the person who was most instructive on this [coronavirus] issue in the country is Andrew Cuomo,” Cleaver said. “….The amazing thing is the whole country is now tuning in to Andrew Cuomo.”
Some would think fewer media appearances would kill a campaign, but DiSano said it means no new gaffes: “Less press attention means less chance for misplaced words.”
Biden has used this time to reach out to young voters and far-left groups of the party. The situation to Biden’s campaign could be a lot worse:
“While I think this would have been a disaster for almost any candidate, maybe perhaps someone new, fresh on the scene, this would be a worse problem than it is now,” DiSano said. “But everyone knows Joe Biden. Everyone’s opinion of Joe Biden’s already formed. So the effect of this is a negative, but it’s not the negative it would be for someone else.”
Chris Moyer, a Democratic strategist and veteran of the 2016 Hillary Clinton presidential campaign and the 2020 Cory Booker presidential campaign, said “the good news for the Biden campaign is that people know Joe Biden, his middle-class values, and how he’ll fight for workers and families.”
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Comments
Bernie may be setting himself up for a third party run. Isn’t that what the pundits hoped that Kasich would do in ’16?
If you’re like Sanders and call yourself an Independent (Angus King from Maine is the other Senator with that designation), you need to “caucus” with one of the GOP or Democrats in order to get on Senate committees.
He has some pretty nice committee spots, including Ranking Member of the Budget Committee (no, that’s not a joke). If he runs third party, he will lose them, guaranteed. No way Schumer would let him keep those.
No way the GOP would throw him a lifeline either. He’d be a senator without any committees and thus a whole lot less influence.
Very true, but I think he’s ready to retire, milk the lecture circuit, and write a few books. With a third party run he’ll go out with a bang.
Biden has a C19 strategy? Oh, that’s right, the latest video explains it..
“We cannot let this, we’ve never allowed any crisis from the Civil War straight through to the pandemic of 17, all the way around, 16, we have never, never let our democracy sakes second fiddle, way they, we can both have a democracy and … correct the public health.”…
He keeps that up, he should pick Revrun Sharpton as his running mate. Put them both on a stage. Biden in his normal state, Sharpton with a scrambled TelePrompTer.
/ yeah. I’m a meanie.
Oh… I was just thinking about Al on the ticket…
While Biden has the excuse of dementia onset, Sharpton is just out of his depth. Stupid in the real sense of the word.
But the Despicable Al Sharpton is not a woman.
He is just one chainsaw accident away.
I don’t think that Biden has ever had much chance – his appeal has always been strictly that of an “Let’s return to the old status quo” avatar. Before the Virus, that combined with “He’s not Trump” may have been enough to keep the election at least close. However everything has changed and the old status quo is not what the times call for. Joe is going to lose.
If things get better, I think Trump will get (outside the press) most of the credit and the electorate will respond. However, if things get worse, I don’t see the American People wanting to change horses, and especially not when Hobson’s Choice equals Joe Biden.
Bernie remains in the race for a simple reason – he can recognize how close to leaving the race Biden is. It’ll only take one spectacular implosionOn video by Biden to blow him out of the race.
I actually think that Bernie would get more votes than Biden in a general election because at least he seems to have some ideas. Crazy ideas maybe, but at least he can remember if he put on his pants this morning.
Your mention of an implosion brings to mind it incident from way in the past. A congressman from California named Claire Ingle had a stroke. This is back in the days when strokes were something about which not much was know . Treatment was something that was tried on the fly, so to speak. There were no real set procedures.
Ingle recovered somewhat, and tried to make a return to public life. He went on television to make a speech, and just crumbled into incoherence. It was very sad to see. I was just a young child when this took place, and even I recognized he was a very sick man.
I think that Biden is likely to drop out because of a medical problem and that would make Bernie the only viable Democratic presidential candidate for 2020. If the DNC refused to let him run it would be a disaster for the party. I could see Bernie running as a 3rd party with his supporters abandoning the Democratic Party.
The entire country is not tuning in to Cuomo because they really want to see Cuomo. They are doing it because the national media are thrusting it in their faces….overhyped and I hope his mafia tactics get blared out to everyone when this is all over.
I can’t help but laugh.
Bernie Sanders is not even a member of the Democratic Party.
He will tear them apart, but should not feel flattered. Bernie is a Communist and his long term goal is to also tear apart the Republican party and the United States as you know her.
Ain’t gonna happen, though.
A-hole? Is that the top, front, or back hole? We live in the age of progressive confusion (PC).
democrats (and GOPe) significantly contributed to the covid19 or created the conditions that outright caused it. How is it anyone believes they can fix it or mitigate it in any way? The dems were just recently calling for ICE to be abolished, open borders and unrestricted international travel among other disastrous policies. The old political class outsourced our manufacturing and supply chains to China. Politicians like biden are bought and paid for Chinese puppets. Not only have they contributed to this crisis, they have no idea how to solve it.
The Commie is hoping to be the last man standing come convention time. I’d take the bet too if I was Bernie. Quid’s decline is there for all of us to see.
If The Commie doesn’t grab the Brass ring, Hillary or Cuomo or Kerry or Bloomberg will grab it.
They’re all jockeying for position and they’re all on the same “Biden Health Watch”.
“Plouffe”
That sound you hear in the Port-a-Jon after eating too much cheese
If Biden has a strategy for anything, he plagiarized from someone. He has never had an original thought on anything. Now with his current declining mental acuity, any lucidity at all is nothing more than a fading memory.
Bernie can’t quit. There are still people who are working and not dependent on government.
It reminds me of that old saying that “liberalism is that uncomfortable feeling that somebody somewhere is enjoying their freedom.”
As we ramp up to the next level of crack-down, I plan to start distributing the “if you like lines, you will love socialism.” One of the first grocery stores to form entrance lines is one known for employing Bernie supporters. You could just see the glee in the eyes of the customer service minion as she gave explicit instructions on how to shop to customers that were far superior to her in every way. Perhaps a key reason that socialism fails is they promote the stupid to run things, and the stupid support socialism because they understand it is their only chance. Economic Darwinism does not favor their type.