Joe Biden Feels the Heat, Launches Attack on Elizabeth Warren: 'This Is Ridiculous'
Joe Biden must be feeling the heat.
After spending months atop the Democratic presidential primary pack by a comfortable margin, the former vice president is ceding ground to Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, according to RealClearPolitics — and he clearly thinks it’s time to start hitting back.
At a news conference Wednesday in Columbus, Ohio, he did.
In remarkably candid remarks a day after the fourth Democratic debate, Biden essentially accused Warren of lacking credibility, particularly when it comes to health care — an issue Democrats think they own.
And he took a veiled swipe at Warren’s “I have a plan for that” catchphrase while he was at it.
“It’s fascinating that the person who has a plan for everything has no plan for the single most consequential issue in this election in the minds of the American people, across the board,” Biden said.
“Credibility matters. It matters,” he said. “And the question that I think that Senator Warren is going to have to face, she’s going to have to tell the truth, or the question will be raised about whether or not she’s going to be candid and honest with the American people.
“I’m not picking on Elizabeth Warren, but this is ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous.”
WATCH: ‘It’s fascinating that the person who has a plan for everything has no plan for the single most consequential issue in this election…” @JoeBiden says day after debate on @ewarren healthcare plan. Adds, a Q is if she is going to be “candid and honest” w/Americans.@CBSNews pic.twitter.com/PSi6cs82XQ
— Bo Erickson (@BoKnowsNews) October 16, 2019
Set aside the dubious question of whether any of the Democratic candidates — or the party itself — is actually concerned with how their health care plans are going to be paid for.
The party that sold America on “if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor” during the Barack Obama presidency isn’t particularly interested in being truthful.
(Remember, the liberal “fact checker” PolitiFact called that doozy the “lie of the year” in 2013.)
What’s really noteworthy is how sharply worded Biden made his statement — a sign that, three months before the Iowa caucuses kick off the Democrat primary process in earnest, Biden is ramping up his attacks on his Democratic opponents.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders also came in for Biden’s fire.
Sanders, of course, is an avowed socialist who has at least acknowledged he plans to raise taxes to pay for his health care schemes (unlike Warren’s endless shucking and jiving that even the liberals at The Atlantic are getting tired of).
But Biden said Sanders still hasn’t been honest.
As The New York Times reported:
“God love Bernie, you know it was really good, I really mean it, to see him so healthy and moving last night,” Biden said, referring to Tuesday’s Democratic debate and Sanders’ recent heart attack. “But Bernie! Bernie doesn’t pay for half his plan.”
Again, the details of how any health care plan is going to be paid for aren’t really relevant at this stage.
The process that led to the passage of the Obamacare monstrosity almost a decade ago showed how little what Democrats say on the campaign trail actually matters when laws are being written.
What’s important now is Biden going on the offensive as his front-runner status is threatened — thanks in no small part to revelations that his son, Hunter, has been making millions just for being Biden’s son.
Iowa’s caucuses are famous for being freezing, and 2020’s gathering — scheduled for Feb. 3 — is likely to be no different.
But with revelations and accusations about his son and his own dealings in Ukraine hurting him publicly, and opponents like Elizabeth Warren presenting a real challenge for the nomination, the heat is already on for Joe Biden.
And on Wednesday, it started to show.
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