The Tennessee Democratic Party (TNDP) remained silent when The Tennessee Star questioned on Saturday whether it would stand behind Joe Biden despite Biden’s Thursday night debate performance, which reportedly has top Democrats in a panic.
At press time, the party hasn’t made any public statement about the debate on either Facebook or X.
Biden, who fumbled through the debate, even recognized his bad performance in a Friday post on X.
“Folks, I might not walk as easily or talk as smoothly as I used to. I might not debate as well as I used to. But what I do know is how to tell the truth,” said his official account, attaching a video of Biden at a rally saying that he intends to win the election in November.
Folks, I might not walk as easily or talk as smoothly as I used to.
I might not debate as well as I used to.
But what I do know is how to tell the truth.pic.twitter.com/ep5D0EhT5P
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) June 28, 2024
CNN panelists were critical of Biden after the debate.
“This was a game-changing debate in the sense that right now, as we speak, there is a deep, a wide and a very aggressive panic in the Democratic Party. It started minutes into the debate and it continues right now,” CNN co-host John King said. “It involves party strategists, it involves elected officials, it involves fundraisers. And they‘re having conversations about the president’s performance, which they think was dismal, which they think will hurt other people down the party in the ticket, and they‘re having conversations about what they should do about it.”
After Biden’s performance, Van Jones, a CNN commentator and former advisor to former President Barack Obama, was emotional.
“We‘re still far from our convention, and there is time for this party to figure out a different way forward, if he will allow us to do that,” he said. “But that was not what we needed from Joe Biden, and it’s personally painful for a lot of people. It‘s not just panic, it’s pain of what we saw tonight.”
The blowback did not stop at CNN.
The left-wing New York Times editorial board wrote an editorial on Biden titled “To Serve His Country, President Biden Should Leave the Race.”
Still, top Democrats are saying publicly that Biden is still their nominee.
After the debate, CNN’s Alex Wagner interviewed Governor Gavin Newsom (D-CA), a widely touted possible replacement for Biden.
He said any talk of replacing Biden was “unhelpful” and “unnecessary.”
You don’t turn your back because of one performance. What kind of party does that?” he said. “This president has delivered. We need to deliver for him at this moment.”
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on X/Twitter.
Photo “Joe Biden” by President Joe Biden.
