Sunday's one-on-one presidential debate from the CNN studio in Washington, D.C. featured the last men standing, Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders. As expected, the majority of their discussion centered on the coronavirus. They said some of the right things that Americans needed to hear, including the need to practice social distancing, washing your hands obsessively, and taking special care of the elderly. But the visuals were another thing. For instance, former Vice President Biden answered CNN's first question about the disease by coughing right into his hand. That was a great indication of how the rest of the debate would go.
Video of Biden coughing while answering a question about the coronavirus within minutes of the CNN debate starting. pic.twitter.com/hLmezArlGw
— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) March 16, 2020
A few minutes later, he forgot the name of the virus we're currently battling.
In the span of 10 seconds, Joe Biden:
— Trump War Room - Text TRUMP to 88022 (@TrumpWarRoom) March 16, 2020
- Mixes up the #coronavirus with the swine flu
- Mistakenly calls the H1N1 virus (swine flu) the "N1H1"
- Forgets the name of the Ebola virus, calling it "what happened in Africa"#DemDebate pic.twitter.com/O5cKNBPZSH
It's pretty surreal that Biden would mix up coronavirus with H1N1, and get that name wrong too, considering that pandemic broke during the Obama administration. He also jumped the gun on the new coronavirus emergency relief bill in Congress.
Joe Biden - someone who spent 36 years in the Senate - just incorrectly said we had "passed a law" to make coronavirus testing free
— Zach Parkinson (@AZachParkinson) March 16, 2020
That bill has not been signed into law yet (President Trump supports it) pic.twitter.com/KzxwNhPb8J
Following those mixups, Biden instructed the audience to avoid touching their faces. This was just after he touched his hand to his forehead.
the best moment of the debate was when joe biden said "knock on wood" & slapped his own forehead then moments later, in response to coronavirus, said "i don't touch my face"
— shy watson ?? (@localsingle69) March 16, 2020
Sanders didn't have a completely orthodox campaign appearance either. He was caught coughing and sniffling too.
Oh crap! Bernie just coughed and blew his nose. ?? pic.twitter.com/e7AN2Og7U6
— Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre aka “The Hyphenator” (@JLGP34) March 16, 2020
So, yeah, we couldn't help ourselves.
And that concludes the Coronavirus News Network Democratic Presidential Debate. pic.twitter.com/HKdrxyC5XI
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) March 16, 2020
Now they didn't do everything wrong. At the outset of the debate, the two candidates avoided the traditional handshake and opted for an elbow bump instead.