When former Vice President Joe Biden declared himself to be the "most progressive candidate" in the run up to the 2020 Democratic primary, we were skeptical. Even Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) called BS on that one, recalling Biden's vote in favor of the Iraq War, for NAFTA, for trade agreements with China, and for the deregulation of Wall Street. The media weren't fooled either. In February, New York Magazine dedicated a whole feature to Biden's moderate record. Others have mused how he could win his party back blue collar workers. In fact, he's probably a sigh of relief to some traditional Democratic voters in light of new progressive lawmakers like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who is busy pushing things like the radical Green New Deal.
Heck, Biden has even dared to compliment more than one Republican.
Yet, consider what Biden just said about granting health care to illegal immigrants.
Biden says we're obligated to give health care to all if "they are documented or undocumented” https://t.co/HjrWjcGdXe pic.twitter.com/adrVyKVjrl
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) May 9, 2019
"Anyone who is in a situation where they are in need of health care, regardless of whether they're documented or undocumented, we have an obligation to see that they're cared for," he told a group of reporters Thursday.
He proceeded to explain that a lot of those "undocumented immigrants" are not people crashing through the border, but they are here because they've overstayed their visas. Regardless, outraged voters on Twitter let the former VP know that hard working Americans are not about to pay for the health care of non-citizens.
Voters don't want this Biden, according to a new Wall Street Journal op-ed. They want the "plain vanilla" Biden they know and love to take on Trump in 2020.
"So what do unteachable Democratic voters say?" writes Daniel Henninger. "Thanks for the thought, but they’ll take plain-vanilla Joe Biden as their standard-bearer. Or if one’s taste runs far left, the default choice is the Vermont socialist out of a 1940s movie, Bernie Sanders."
At a rally Wednesday night, President Trump said he doesn't care who the Democrats pick, he just wants them to get on with it.
"They have a choice between Sleepy Joe and Crazy Bernie," he said. "And I'll take any of 'em, just pick somebody please and let's start this thing."
If today's polls are any indication, Biden is far and away the frontrunner.