Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said he would follow public health advisers’ advice if they called for a national shutdown should he take office and the coronavirus had not abated.
“I would be prepared to do whatever it takes to save lives. We cannot get the country moving until we control the virus,” Biden said in an interview broadcast Sunday night on ABC News.
Asked specifically whether he’d push to shutter economic activity if scientists said it was necessary, Biden replied: “I would shut it down.”
The former vice president’s remarks came as part of his first joint interview with vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris. The pair accepted their party’s nominations during a virtual convention last week. On Monday, Republicans begin their convention to nominate Trump and Vice President Mike Pence for a second term.
Biden and Harris, once primary rivals who sparred on the debate stage, sought during their sit-down with ABC to project a united front on policy issues from race to health care.
Harris, the first Black woman to join a major-party presidential ticket, vouched for Biden, a 77-year-old white man, when asked whether she’s privately addressed some of his missteps when discussing race. He declared in May that any Black American having trouble deciding who to support “ain’t Black,” a comment he walked back the same day and said again Sunday he regretted.
Harris described Biden as possessing “a deep sense of awareness and knowledge about racial disparities, inequities and systematic racism.” She added that Biden “actually knows how to say the words ‘Black Lives Matter,’” contrary to Trump, who “will never speak those words.”
The running mates downplayed their bitter debate encounter last summer, when Harris leveled deeply personal criticism against Biden over his opposition in the 1970s to federally mandated busing to desegregate public schools and for remarks he’d made about having worked amicably alongside racist senators when he first came to Washington.
Harris noted enduring racial wealth gaps in the U.S. and the disproportionate effects of COVID-19 on Black and Hispanic communities. Biden, she said, “is addressing these truths, he speaks these truths.”
Biden said, looking back, he understands how Harris, who was among the minority students bused in the 1970s, would criticize him so harshly. But he said she and others may not have known his full record on civil rights.
He said he, as a white man, cannot understand her lived experiences and that she, a 55-year-old daughter of Indian and Jamaican immigrants, can’t understand his. But, he said they “have the same value set” and are “on same exact page about what the possibilities are right now.”
They put similar framing on their primary-campaign differences on health care. Biden has consistently backed adding a “public option” to existing private insurance markets. Harris signed on to Sen. Bernie Sanders’ bill that would create a single-payer government insurance system to replace private insurance.
“I signed on to bills that were about great ideas to fix the problem,” Harris told ABC, arguing she and Biden “are completely aligned on … making sure everyone has health care.”
Biden called any differences “tactical” but said, “We both believe that health care is a right, not a privilege.”
Pressed about her record as a prosecutor, Harris tacitly acknowledged that some critics see her as part of the same criminal justice system she and Biden want to overhaul amid ongoing protests over the killings of Black Americans by police. Biden repeated that, contrary to Trump’s assertion, they do not support defunding police departments around the country.
The interview was Biden’s first extended sit-down with national journalists since Trump, who is just three years younger than Biden, mocked his Democratic rival as unable to handle such a venue. Trump has repeatedly suggested Biden is mentally unfit for the presidency. Biden smiled when asked about Trump’s characterization and said he remains eager to debate the president. Biden said he has no problem with voters questioning his fitness. “It’s a legitimate question to ask” about his and Trump’s ages, Biden said. “Watch me.”
Biden also laughed when asked about Trump’s recent statement that the only way he’d lose was if the election were rigged, and the Democratic challenger dismissed any notions that Trump wouldn’t leave the White House voluntarily if he loses.
“The American people will not let that happen,” he said. “No one’s going to allow that to happen.”
(AP)
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7 Responses
Yes, if the infection rate surged back to the highs we saw several months ago in certain areas, ANY normal President would take the advice of his public health advisors and medical professionals and impose shut downs wherever necessary to save lives. Of course, this is no normal president who knows better than all the doctors, scientists, generals etc. as to what is good for him and the stock market.
I find the discussion of the Biden-Harris platform comical, and would laugh if it wasn’t so tragic and ignorant. Firstly, the scientists contribute a huge volume to the discussion about public health matters. Not to be minimized. There are other factors, such as the livelihood of everyone else, and economy, and other safety concerns. This is why it requires a task force that contains all of these interests and others to participate in the consortium that reaches conclusions for what to do. Ignoring all the other factors is irresponsible. sadly, Democrats do that, and use verbal games to defend their irresponsible positions.
BLM might have once had meaning that was acceptable to a moral being. Today, it is the label of a terrorist movement, with zero push to advance anyone, including blacks or other minorities. It is a label that permits crime, violence, chaos, murder, etc., and applies the equivalent of a hechsher to it. Someone quipped quite accurately, “Lives Matter”. Any color placed before those two words spells racism. So Biden saying those words is reprehensible, and I hope it contributes to a gigantic loss at the polls.
Health care is a right, not a privilege. Ok, but who pays for that? The same money tree that gives the post office money they don’t need?
So Biden and Harris are not advocates of defunding police. Sorry, but I don’t believe it for a second. Biden has no mind of his own. He is a puppet, and many of the leftist radicals are holding those strings. He has a poor record from congress days, and lacks the experience to accomplish much. He can’t even manage to read well from a teleprompter. And with the socialist radicals in Congress today that get the media attention, Biden will be dancing to their music. Every one of those dance steps is another tragedy waiting to happen.
I still haven’t heard either Biden or Harris denounce the wanton violence, looting, murder, and destruction that is plaguing the cities. Their silence is a message of approval. That is frightening.
Is is the same senile Uncle Joe who said “We choose truth over facts.”? Is this the same Joe Biden who said there three genders? Does he trust the same scientists that claim that there are no biological genders. Are these the same scientist that scared us in 70′ about “Global; Cooling”, then switch to “Global Warming” in 2000’s and eventually settling on “Climate Change” to cover all the bases? Are these the same scientists who push ridiculous lies about Theory of Evolution?
All Biden has to do is get elected and the economy will shutter on it’s own 😉
To MoisheIG: Never use “Is is” in a sentence when you allege that someone other than you is senile.
And there was a time when “gender” was not used as a euphemism for “sex.” Instead, it was used by grammarians and linguists to characterize certain words, e.g., him and he are masculine, she and her are feminine, and it is neuter. In romance languages, e.g., French, Spanish, Latin, many words beyond pronouns are either masculine, feminine or neuter. In Latin, the word for “farmer” is feminine, even if the person who is doing the farming is a man. I won’t confuse you with information about a fourth gender (“common”).
No, GHT, shutting down the economy is NOT ACCEPTABLE, even if it costs a few thousand lives. Condemning the entire country to poverty in order to save a few thousand lives is NOT ACCEPTABLE AT ALL. We never do that, because only a wicked fool would do so. How much more so in this case, when almost all of the people in danger would not have lived much longer anyway.
“The little I know”
You are so right in depicting the mindset of the radical leftists. I have repeatedly voiced my opinion about how Biden is just a figurehead of a puppet government influenced by the far left progressives who are eagerly pulling the strings according to their whim. Neither Biden nor Harris were nominated for any worthy credentials, only for the sole reason of acting as front to the liberal terrorist agenda.