On Monday’s broadcast of Comedy Central’s “Daily Show,” host Jon Stewart stated that the dismissal of concerns about President Joe Biden’s age “also erodes confidence and faith in the system of government. Get on board or shut the [bleep] up…is not a particularly compelling pro-democracy bumper sticker,” and stated that his campaign has been massively dishonest with its spin about the debate.
Stewart began by saying, “I thought I would take a moment to explain where the concern about Biden’s performance might be coming from, and why these concerns may be seen as a more foundational issue. You see, even before the debate, there had been some troubling moments of disconnect from the President.”
After laying out some examples, Stewart stated, “Then, of course, to be fair, the State of the Union, concern dropped a little bit at the State of the Union, he kind of nailed it. But then the debate happened…to my mind, the debate was a shocking display of cognitive difficulty, recognizable to, unfortunately, anybody who’s dealt with aging parents, and it’s a hard watch.”
He added that 2024 Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump has been “bad since he [started]. … The difference is this, … Trump delivered at the debate to expectation. We expect him to be [bleep] crazy. But Biden’s performance and inability to articulate at times was stunning. Like, I could not believe what I was watching.”
He added, “But then it got worse. Rather than respecting the American people and having an honest, at least partial conversation about what we had all seen, we were told, immediately, these are not the droids you’re looking for.”
Stewart then turned to excuses for Biden’s poor performance and said, “[F]or a campaign based on honesty and decency, the spin about the debate appears to be blatant bullsh*t. And the redemption tour hasn’t gone that much better.”
Stewart further stated, “There was no real primary. Biden ran against Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN). … And let me say this, authoritarianism and Donald Trump aren’t the only threats our democracy faces. An arthritic status quo, unable or unwilling to respond, in any way, to the concerns of voters who just received new and urgent information about their candidate, also erodes confidence and faith in the system of government. Get on board or shut the [bleep] up…is not a particularly compelling pro-democracy bumper sticker, nor is, whattaya gonna do?”
Stewart argued that there’s plenty of time to have a vote on if Biden should be the nominee.
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