Gonzalez: Doggett has got it wrong about Biden

2 months ago 81

MCALLEN, Texas – U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, who briefly represented the western part of Hidalgo County in Congress, has become the first congressional Democrat to call for President Biden to withdraw from his reelection bid.

NPR reports that Doggett, D-Austin, issued a statement saying that Biden had failed to reassure voters in last week’s presidential debate and was trailing his Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump.

NPR points out that Biden, 81, badly stumbled in the debate, seeming at times to lose his train of thought, and struggled to defend his record. He and his campaign have insisted that he would stay in the race and make a comeback — despite calls from some Democrats and donors to step back and let another party leader run instead.

“President Biden has continued to run substantially behind Democratic senators in key states and in most polls has trailed Donald Trump,” Doggett said in a statement Tuesday. “I had hoped that the debate would provide some momentum to change that. It did not. Instead of reassuring voters, the President failed to effectively defend his many accomplishments and expose Trump’s many lies.”

Referring to the debate, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre acknowledged Biden “had a bad night.” But, she said, he was suffering from a cold.

U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-McAllen, told the Rio Grande Guardian he is sticking by the president.

“I don’t think you can evaluate someone’s performance based on a 90-minute debate. I’ve spent hours with the President. I flew down with him in Air Force One to the Rio Grande Valley. I’ve spent hours with the president, and he’s always been engaged. He’s been a critical thinker. It’s not what you would imagine based on the 90 minutes, and I don’t think we should sum up the entire presidential race on those 90 minutes. Furthermore, I think we should wait and see a second debate and a third debate,” Gonzalez said.

“Now, he’s 81, going on 82 years old. So, of course, he’s not going to be like you are when you’re 50 years old. But let me tell you, he’s an honest man. He’s a hardworking person. And he’s probably the only person that can defeat Donald Trump.”

Asked if Biden has the rigor to grapple with a slew of challenging internal and external issues for the next four years, Gonzalez said: “I really do. He has a great cabinet. He has good advisors, people like us, members of Congress who are engaged. So, the United States government isn’t run by just one person. It’s a team. But you want a leader that’s going to lead the country in a right and moral direction. And that certainly isn’t Donald Trump.”