Let me start by saying that I hate everything Joe Biden stands for, but he's still the president of the United States. For better or worse, he's the man in the office, and his send-off last night was a disaster. It's not only that it was virtually a carbon copy of his blood-red Independence Hall speech in 2022, but the program went so far over that the president was pushed out of primetime. I'm thinking about the office, and Democrats treated one of their own with gross disrespect on Monday. In short, what happened last night would have never happened to Barack Obama.
An extremely guilty looking Crazy Nancy chants “We Love Joe” just weeks after removing him from the ticket.
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) August 20, 2024
Awkward… pic.twitter.com/AuK6xImDur
It was already primed to be an awkward moment: Democrats forced Joe Biden to quit the 2024 race. And now he'll be given his flowers, showered by love and affection by those who disemboweled him politically behind the scenes. Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) chanted, "We love, Joe," the theme of day one of the convention. It shows how ruthless politics can be and how merciless Ms. Pelosi can become when she feels her party risks annihilation.
One longtime Biden aide texts: “This is awful. He literally set up a campaign and handed it over to them—do they have to cut him out of prime time?" https://t.co/2PyoKkxrzL
— Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) August 20, 2024
It appears Biden will get knocked out of primetime by DNC programming
— Kathryn Watson (@kathrynw5) August 20, 2024
Democrats mean-girl with the best of them. “Fly on up, Joe! We’ll give you a speaking slot. Prime time! We are gonna give 👏🏻 you 👏🏻 your 👏🏻 flowers! 💐💐💐 Nevermind, a bunch of C- and B-listers had to speak and now you speak at midnight. Good luck, sundowner.”
— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) August 20, 2024
I think the guy’s a mediocrity at best, but he’s the president of your own party. Come on. At least pretend better.
— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) August 20, 2024
“It’s just a ridiculous and silly suggestion,” a Harris-Walz campaign aide tells me of gripes that DNC disrespected President Biden with delays that bumped him out of prime time.
— Philip Melanchthon Wegmann (@PhilipWegmann) August 20, 2024
The “we opened schools” lie. I can’t take it.
— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) August 20, 2024
Biden's farewell address to the DNC delegates was supposed to begin around 10:45 PM ET. It was damn-near midnight when he took the stage. He was pushed out of primetime because D-list Democrats and other losers had to get their money's worth.
Are they chanting "Thank you Joe" or "Thank u next"?
— Molly Ball (@mollyesque) August 20, 2024
They’re chanting “Thank You Joe” for being involuntarily forced out of the race by a donor putsch…?
— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) August 20, 2024
Letting the president wait in the wings like this was a disgrace, but that wasn't the final insult. The president then subjected us to an hour of yelling, lies, and outright myths about Trump, Republicans, and his presidential record, which is the definition of unremarkable.
I'm not joking. Follow the transcript https://t.co/mEUrE05vfp https://t.co/zxy2B2ytR6
— Noah Rothman (@NoahCRothman) August 20, 2024
We're 26 minutes in... and Biden has broached Trump far more than Kamala Harris. This is the 2022 Philadelphia red background speech almost literally word-for-word. Embarrassing.
— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) August 20, 2024
Last, the simmering tensions beneath this whole circus were evident. Biden is still seething at his detractors, though he put on a good show. The audience was more excited about him quitting and passing the torch forcibly than they were about his record as president. Democrats are animated that there's something to get jacked up about right now. It was a prolonged exercise to push this man off the cliff. At least try to be on schedule for the president.
So, in a way, I feel a little bad for Biden, though this mess is entirely the fault of his party, which decided not to bump the no-names off last night's agenda.