Joe Biden was out of his basement studio today. The career politician, 77, gave a prepared speech from Pittsburgh's Carnegie Mellon University from what looked like a warehouse. The camera did not pan to a crowd, nor was there any applause at the beginning or end of his remarks, so presumably those in attendance were staffers and crew.
The event wasn't devoid of entertaining moments. Just short of the ten-minute mark in the video below, there was a technical issue, and the word "militias" was repeated several times. Twitter user @StarChamberMaid called it Biden's "Max Headroom moment."
Biden's remarks, while dry and monotonous, were noteworthy insofar as they bound together the loose logs of his campaign's attacks into something like a raft. For the first time in his long campaign, Biden delivered something that resembled a coherent take on current affairs, and he finally denounced the violent protests in cities across the country.
In lockstep with national media, Biden and Democrats have decided that now, three months after violent protests have torn city after city apart, overwhelmed police, and turned off voters, it's time to come out against lawlessness.
Before this sudden switch, the Dems strategy was to embrace BLM and Antifa, hoping that voters would perceive protests as organic. That narrative hasn't played out.
Even in his "let me be clear" moment, Biden did not name the groups responsible for the violence. He named neither BLM nor Antifa, choosing instead to speak vaguely of "white supremacists" and "far-right militias," but he did try to tie the violence to President Trump. Instead of accusing Trump of stoking violence, Biden said "stroking violence," which was a perfect Freudian slip, inasmuch as the left has been the natural home and shelter of the Trump-hating rioters.
He also claimed several times that the American people deserve a president who gives it to them "straight from the shoulder." I'm familiar with "straight from the heart" and "shoot from the hip," but what does it mean to get something straight from the shoulder? Is it a Bobby Blue Bland reference?
At any rate, it got worse. See the video below for one of Biden's signature train of thought derailments.
"COVID has taken this year, just since the outbreak, has taken more than one hundred year--look--here's the--the lives--it's just, just, wh-wh-you--think about it. More lives this year than any other year for the past hundred years."
--Joe Biden
In the latter half of his speech, Biden unveiled his new weapon: fear. Maybe it's not so much new as repackaged. Biden asked rhetorically, "You know what people are afraid of in America? They're afraid they're going to get COVID. They're afraid they're going to get sick and die." After rattling off statistics about the virus, Biden asked, "Do you really feel safer under Trump?"
According to Biden, Trump will deplete Social Security, and America is playing a "subservient role" to Russia. "Donald Trump is a bystander in his own presidency," Biden droned. And that Trump is racist: "He doesn't have any problem with white supremacists." Biden then pivoted to Jacob Blake's mother, quoting her plea for national healing, then wrapped up by saying Trump relies on fear to motivate people.
Yes, Biden is finally on the campaign trail, a full 300 miles from home. It's the same Biden and the same dark, uninspiring shouts: Trump is a liar, Trump is responsible for a pandemic, Trump is why your kids don't eat their vegetables. His promises that he will fix it all are equally unbelievable and low-wattage.
He left the stage, forgetting his mask on the podium.
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