Vice President Kamala Harris was confronted with voters’ concerns about President Joe Biden’s age and told the Wall Street Journal she is “ready to serve.”
Her comments came in an interview with the outlet aboard Air Force Two last Tuesday – days before special counsel Robert Hur released his damning report on the Biden classified documents investigation, noted the Wall Street Journal national politics reporter Tarini Parti:
Vice President Kamala Harris was detailing her priorities for the campaign during a flight on Air Force Two early last week when she was asked a delicate question hanging over the Democratic ticket: Do voters’ concerns about President Biden’s age mean she must convince them she is ready to serve?
“I am ready to serve. There’s no question about that,” Harris responded bluntly. Everyone who sees her on the job, Harris said, “walks away fully aware of my capacity to lead.”
On Thursday, Hur published his report, in which he cited Biden’s memory as a factor in the decision not to pursue criminal charges:
We have also considered that, at trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory. Based on our direct interactions with and observations of him, he is someone for whom many jurors will want to identify reasonable doubt.
After the explosive report dropped, Biden delivered a special address to the nation aimed at pushing back on the narrative but, instead, brought further scrutiny about his age and mental acuity.
While taking questions from reporters following his brief remarks, Biden was pressed about his memory. In one instance, he snapped at a journalist who asked about voters’ concerns about his age, as Breitbart News noted:
“Mr. President, for months, when you were asked about your age, you would respond with the words, ‘Watch me.’ Many American people have been watching, and they have expressed concerns about your age,” she said before Biden interjected.
“That is your judgment! That is your judgment,” the president sternly argued with his finger pointed. “That is not the judgment of the press.”
“They express concerns about your mental acuity. They say that you are too old. Mr. President, in December, you told me there are many other Democrats who could defeat Donald Trump, so why does it have to be you now?” she followed up.
“Because I’m the most qualified person in this country to be President of the United States and finish the job I started,” he responded.
Polling conducted before the release of the bombshell report and disastrous presser showed that a majority of Americans have concerns about Biden’s mental and physical health to hold a second term.
An NBC News, published on February 6, found that 89 percent of registered voters have concerns, to varying degrees, that Biden lacks the physical and mental health for a second term in office. This included 62 percent of registered voters who have “major concerns.”
Moreover, 63 percent of voters had “doubts about his fitness for office,” while in a separate Harvard-Harris poll released in January, nearly 70 percent said he was “showing he is too old” for the presidency.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.