As Joe Biden Takes Time off in Delaware, David Axelrod Rips Suggestions His Campaign Events Be Scaled Back

On Thursday, I wrote about reports that some of Joe Biden’s allies were growing increasingly concerned about the number of gaffes he’s made just this month alone. Some of the unnamed allies suggested his campaign consider cutting back on his public appearances to lessen the chances of him making more mistakes.

Here’s a brief recap of what else the allies were saying, via The Hill:

Biden has a tendency to make the blunders late in the day, his allies say, particularly after a long swing on the road, like he had last week in Iowa. They say something needs to be done to give the candidate more down time as the campaign intensifies in the fall.

“He needs to be a strong force on the campaign trail, but he also has to pace himself,” said one ally who has talked to members of the campaign team and others in the broader Biden World about how to move forward.

The ally said it was unclear whether the campaign would make any changes to Biden’s schedule, particularly because Biden was criticized recently for not doing as many events as his Democratic rivals.

Campaign officials for Biden have grasped on to the “Joe being Joe” excuse in recent days in attempting to explain away his gaffes, and have accused the mainstream media of essentially making something out of nothing. One top Biden adviser told CNN this was a “press narrative, not a voter narrative.”

Biden’s press secretary T.J. Ducklo also took a swipe at media coverage of Biden’s flubs earlier this week:

**Joe Biden goes to Iowa to talk about the threat of white nationalism and the national gun violence epidemic**

Iowa press: The stakes of this election couldn’t be higher

National press: “But his gaffes!” pic.twitter.com/UrTiteGGYn

— TJ Ducklo (@TDucklo) August 12, 2019

President Barack Obama’s senior adviser David Axelrod, who is not shy about weighing in on the Democratic presidential race, on Thursday ripped suggestions that Biden’s schedule load be lightened to avoid the possibility he’d commit another embarrassing flub:

And it’s not only bad advice, it’s advice that should be given in private and not through the media!

— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) August 15, 2019

The Biden campaign’s agitation with the press over their focus on his gaffes, and the reports about the advice some allies are giving the campaign about thinning out Biden’s schedule come at a time when the candidate himself is vacationing in his home state of Delaware:

Two 2020 candidates fully off the campaign trail at the moment:
–@TulsiGabbard is in Indonesia doing National Guard training through the end of the month
–@JoeBiden has been on vacation since Sunday in Delaware

— Edward-Isaac Dovere (@IsaacDovere) August 14, 2019

It’s unclear whether Biden’s vacation was scheduled in advance or if it was a decision hastily made in the aftermath of all of the gaffes his made over the last several weeks.

A couple of months ago, President Trump insinuated there might be a more troubling reason why Axelrod’s former boss President Obama was not outright endorsing his former veep for President that went beyond merely not wanting to show favoritism before the primaries even started.

Trump told reporters last week when asked about Biden that he believed the Democratic frontrunner was “not playing with a full deck.” The President told a crowd of supporters in Manchester, New Hampshire Thursday that he would never be able to get away with scaling back his appearances. “If I ever did that it would be over. The fake news would get us.”

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— Based in North Carolina, Sister Toldjah is a former liberal and a 15+ year veteran of blogging with an emphasis on media bias, social issues, and the culture wars. Read her Red State archives here. Connect with her on Twitter. –

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