Everyone seems to be promoting presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s run for the White House except the candidate himself.
Pundits and Democratic Party members alike, including former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, have pushed for Biden to stay out of the spotlight, arguing his candidacy fares better if he allows Trump to do the talking. But his choice to hide away from the media over the last several months has pushed staff members and his wife to the forefront of his campaign to pitch a candidate whose main calling cards are his anti-Trump posture, policy positions, and a notion of electability supported by those desperate to oust President Trump in 2020.
In two appearances on Fox News over the past 24 hours, Biden was nowhere to be found as surrogates, including his wife Jill Biden and campaign spokeswoman Kate Bedingfield, have attempted to pitch the former Delaware senator as the man to replace Trump.
In a combative interview on Monday night, Bedingfield repeatedly dodged questions about how far-left Biden’s policy position would shift since he included supporters of Bernie Sanders as advisers following the Vermont senator’s departure from the primary race. She argued that Biden is the candidate “who’s all about bringing people to the table.”
Bedingfield said Biden is “casting the widest, most inclusive net” while simultaneously running a campaign rooted in “bold, progressive plans” that appeal to a growing liberal base in the Democratic Party.
Speaking with Fox News host Dana Perino on Tuesday, Biden’s wife Jill promised that the former vice president is mentally fit enough to become the chief executive in the United States and that he has no plans of missing a set of debates with Trump, which has been rumored for much of July.
When pressed by Perino to respond to accusations that Biden’s campaign was “an empty vessel for the far Left,” the former second lady responded by saying her husband’s politics can be best described as a bit of everything rolled into one.
“Joe’s a moderate. That doesn’t mean that his ideas aren’t progressive and bold and forward-thinking, but he’s not someone who’s Left, and he’s not someone who’s Right, he’s a moderate,” she told Perino.
Biden, who still has yet to name his running mate, has not been seriously interviewed since he claimed to not remember former staffer Tara Reade, who accused him of sexual assault while she was working in his Senate office building in 1993. Fox News host Chris Wallace noted that Biden’s team turned down an interview request following his extensive sit-down with Trump last month.
