Ex-CNN CEO Walter Isaacson: Joe Biden’s Gaffes ‘Don’t Hurt Him’

Appearing Friday on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, former CNN CEO Walter Isaacson claimed former Vice President Joe Biden’s frequent gaffes do not hurt his chances of winning the 2020 Democrat primary nomination.

A transcript is as follows: 

KATTY KAY: We’ve just been talking about the criticism that Joe Biden gets for mashing up two stories. Now, you compare that with the lack of criticism that Elizabeth Warren has been subjected to — at what point do you think that shifts? At what point does she become the focus of more media scrutiny that could be harmful for her?

WALTER ISAACSON: I think you’ll see something fundamentally different, because Biden and Warren, who seem like now the two people contending most closely for this nomination, are fundamentally different in their personalities. Warren is giving you plans. She’s a very rigorous thinker who has thought through every policy. You ask her a question, you get a policy answer. Joe Biden, as we just said, is a storyteller, and he connects emotionally and sometimes I think these gaffes don’t hurt him. Because when he makes those gaffes, people say, “Hey, he’s normal. He’s a person like me.”

And so, I think Elizabeth Warren could use a little bit more of that ability to be a storyteller and connect emotionally. I think Joe Biden could use a lot more of that ability of Elizabeth Warren to think rigorously. And so I’d throw it back to you all, which is the real question for me, is whether Elizabeth Warren can give those anecdotes. I have seen her do it. She does it sometimes, that connect emotionally, and I think that’s more important for her than avoiding gaffes.