Biden's catastrophic debate performance sends Democrats into full-blown panic
Atlanta, Georgia - "Disaster," "catastrophe," and "disqualifying" – these were some of the more printable responses of Democratic analysts and supporters to President Joe Biden's performance in the first presidential debate against Donald Trump.
A tired-looking, incoherent-sounding Biden was trounced by Trump on a night that left everyone – from the candidates, to the moderators, and ultimately the country's two main parties – looking bad.
Given free rein to lie about every subject under the sun by the hapless Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, Trump was nonetheless declared the "winner" of what passed for a debate by some two thirds of CNN viewers.
That was entirely down to Biden's display, which shocked even his closest allies. CNN's Van Jones called it "painful."
"He's doing the best that he can. But he had a test to meet tonight to restore confidence of the country and of the base. And he failed to do that," he added.
Ex-President Barack Obama's former campaign manager David Plouffe went farther on MSNBC, calling it a "DEFCON 1 moment" for the Democrats.
"The biggest thing in this election is voters’ concerns, and it’s both swing voters and base voters, with his age, and those were compounded tonight," he said, pointing out that the two opponents "seemed 30 years apart."
CNN chief national correspondent John King claimed there was now a "a deep, a wide and a very aggressive panic in the Democratic Party" following Biden's "dismal" performance.
As a result, some in the party were "having conversations" about possibly asking Biden to "step aside," King said, something backed up by Al Weaver of The Hill, who said a Democratic member of Congress had told him: "This was a disaster. Biden’s team needs to convince him to withdraw and have an open convention."
Calls to replace Biden grow
Even Vice President Kamala Harris admitted that Biden had had what she euphemistically called a "slow start," though she went on to insist he finished strongly.
Harris is now among a number of names being frantically thrown around by those looking for a last-minute Biden replacement. Others mentioned are Democratic Governors Gretchen Whitmer, J. B. Pritzker, Gavin Newsom, and Andy Beshear, of Michigan, Illinois, California, and Kentucky, respectively.
But swapping out an incumbent at this stage is a tall order, both politically and procedurally, with a huge number of delegates already pledged to Biden.
Third-party candidates who were kept out of the debate by CNN, meanwhile, made hay of the debacle on social media.
"CNN kept me and Kennedy off the debate stage for this?" Green Party candidate Dr. Jill Stein wrote on X.
Independent Robert F. Kennedy held his own live-streamed event in which he answered the same questions put to Trump and Biden, said: "If you want more of the same, you should vote for President Biden or President Trump."
As the fallout continued well into the night, Biden was grabbing a bite at an Atlanta Waffle House.
His overall debate post-mortem? "I think we did well."
Cover photo: REUTERS