When will ‘Basement Biden’ get in the game?


The following is an excerpt of my news analysis at The Hill:

Less than six weeks before the election, one of the most profound disappointments among some of Joe Biden’s supporters is that he doesn’t even seem to be trying.

If some Democrats are correct, crushing “The Donald” should have been easy. After all (according to them), Trump is an impeached, sex-offending, tax-evading, white supremacist, coronavirus-mismanaging, sexist, racist, Islamophobic, homophobic, mysogynistic, sexist liar who is wildly unpopular. And Biden has long showed a hefty advantage in the polls.

If all of that’s true, then Biden need do little more than show up, and winning should be a piece of cake — a massive blowout. 

But even to some of his cheerleaders, it feels like Biden hasn’t even been showing up. From March until the last week in August, according to news reports, Biden made no in-person speeches or campaign appearances at all.

On Thursday, President Trump stopped by the Supreme Court to pay respects to the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, made a health-care policy speech in North Carolina, then flew to Jacksonville, Fla., for a giant campaign rally at the airport. 

Biden? He had no public events on his calendar.

When Biden does get out, such as his visit to Charlotte, N.C.,, on Wednesday, it’s for low-key, understated events. His enthusiastic fans don’t come out by the thousands, hours in advance, lining the streets hoping to just catch a glimpse. 

Yet, don’t allow some media reports to fool you. I try to watch most of the candidates’ events, and Biden is not the confused, befuddled old man glued to the teleprompter that some edited videos make him out to be. I, for one, anticipate he will largely appear informed and calm during the debates, as he does at his campaign appearances.

So why, exactly, the low profile?

On many days that should be his busiest, from a campaign standpoint, Biden’s often calling a “lid” in the mornings. That means the candidate is telling the media, in advance, that there will be no public events the rest of the day; the press can pack up and come back tomorrow. The calling of so many lids at a crucial phase of Campaign 2020 is naturally stoking rumors. A lid theoretically removes some of the prying eyes of the press from scrutinizing — well, whatever you may not want them to scrutinize. It keeps them from following you to — well, wherever you may not want to be followed.

If it were President Trump being so dialed back at this key stage, it likely would be the subject of endless headlines, day in and day out. 

But that’s not an issue. Trump looks like he’s running circles around Biden. Whether you believe the precise polls or not, wherever you think Trump’s popularity stands, there seems to be general agreement that he is gaining ground. Thousands come out and wait in long lines to see him; even when he’s not present, there are boat parades and motorcycle parades. He’s said to be picking up votes among blacks, Latinos and police unions that traditionally support Democrats. And then there’s the Black Lives Matter protests and urban violence — or, as I and many others have come to think of them, the “Get-Out-The-Trump-Vote Brigade.” (Continued…)

Read the rest of the article at the link below:

https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/518180-when-will-basement-biden-get-in-the-game


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11 thoughts on “When will ‘Basement Biden’ get in the game?”

    1. I dont know what it means by you “following” me. If you mean Twitter, just click the unfollow button on my page. Same with Facebook.

    2. Johnson, obviously you rode the short bus. The easiest way to ‘unfollow’ as such would be to delete her posts when they arrive.
      Sharyl is unusually straight forward and calls it as she see it. You are used to getting your news from the HuffPo & Mother Jones, and view them as vertical, not slanted.

      Abrasive, that would be a “NO”. Only a snowflake, you and your ilk, would feel that way.

  1. Frankly this is a clueless article. Sharyl, u maybe a good journalist but politics is clearly not your forte. For real. The Prez ain’t looking like a ‘winner’. He’s looking like a wack ! All his racist remarks, & obviously false claims, on z trail are making him look like a total nutjob. His rallies r getting smaller & smaller.. Just because someone is yapping 24/7, it doesn’t mean he’s doing himself any good. A simple clue, Sharyl. Hillary Clinton at this stage just prior to z first debate had a 2 point lead. Joe has 7. That should be an obvious indicator if z Prez is looking like a ”winner’ or not. Waweeee

    1. I appreciate your perspective but it is false that “his rallies r getting smaller & smaller” and I have previously described the polling issues that mean we cannot rely on them for accuracy; maybe some are; maybe some aren’t. He definitely looks like a winner to his followers and at least a good number of those whom I know who dislike him.

    2. Jusin,
      Justin, or more likely Justine,
      I haven’t seen Trump so far behind since he beat Hillary in 2016.
      In your mind, Trump did not look like a winner when he was sworn into office.
      I would say you are suffering from a most serious case of butt-hurt from Hillary’s defeat in 2016.

  2. non·par·ti·san
    /ˌnänˈpärdizən/
    adjective
    adjective: non-partisan
    not biased or partisan, especially toward any particular political group.
    “senior civil servants are nonpartisan and serve ministers loyally irrespective of politics”

    I don’t think that word means what you think it means

    1. Crissy,
      Crissy, you and your ilk believe that unbiased is someone with a rabid, foaming at the mouth, hatred of President Trump. That is just one of your mulitude of your problems.

  3. Biden is in the Game, 47 years in politics and what has he accomplished. Besides, we do not need him in the game, What we do need is Trump in the Oval Office.
    If Biden was to win the election I believe he will stay in the basement and Harris and her criminal cabal will run the US.

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