Most political advisers would normally advise against politicians screaming at voters. But not always. And not, I think, in regards to Joe Biden’s freakout at an Iowa voter on Thursday.
Challenged that he is too old and that his son Hunter Biden’s work in Ukraine was corrupt, Joe Biden didn’t pull any punches.
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On the question of Hunter Biden, Joe Biden responded, “You’re a damn liar, man. That’s not true. And no one has ever said that; no one has heard that …” On the question of his age, Biden said, “… I’m not sedentary … The reason I’m running is that I’ve been around a long time, and I know more than most people know, and I can get things done … And if you wanna check out my shape on, let’s do push-ups together, man. Let’s run; let’s do whatever you want to do.”
Pretty intense stuff. But I believe it will help Biden in the Democratic presidential primary race.
He is wise to address aggressively an issue that has hampered his campaign for too long. His age and mental fitness for a rather stressful job have continuously dogged him. And Biden’s choice to go for the jugular via his call-to-exercise challenge is likely to play well with voters. It shows energy, personality, and at least the pretense of physical prowess. These are things that voters like from their presidential candidates. Remember Barack Obama’s 2008 three-pointer? Recall 2016 Donald Trump squaring up to a stage invader?
This energy is especially important with Democratic primary voters. After all, those voters want a candidate who can go head-to-head with President Trump. And beat him. Biden hasn’t helped himself hereby bumbling his words and defining his campaign by boring lethargy. That wasn’t the Biden we saw on Thursday. Nor, as my colleague Phil Klein points out, is that the Biden that was advertised in a new campaign ad released on Wednesday.
Let’s see what the Iowa polls show, but I suspect Biden will get at least a small bounce on the back of this.
Watch the exchange below.
WATCH: A tense exchange with a voter at @JoeBiden’s event in New Hampton, IA this morning, where a voter started out by telling Biden he had two problems with him: he was too old, and his son’s work in Ukraine pic.twitter.com/ok7m0ShFPd
— Molly Nagle (@MollyNagle3) December 5, 2019
