We've been ready to crown Joe Scarborough the King of Biden Sycophants on MSNBC.
But not so fast! Looks like Alicia Menendez is determined to give Scarborough some serious competition for that dubious title.
On Saturday's The Weekend, the MSNBC show she co-anchors, Menendez actually expressed the hope to be like Biden when she's his age! Although, as you'll see, she cut a decade off Biden's age.
After the show aired a clip of a Biden campaign ad in which he bragged about his supposed accomplishments [though nothing about the two issues Americans care most about: immigration and crime], Menendez said:
"So as someone who experiences a ton of existential dread, I hope that I am this prolific in my 70s and getting this much done. It gives me some sense of calm."
Wanting to be like Biden when she's his age? That is some serious sycophancy! Scarborough will have to up his game if he wants to secure his standing as the network's premiere Biden bootlicker!
Menendez's statement was also personally revealing. She "experiences a ton of existential dread?" And seeing Biden in action gives her "some sense of calm?" Could the legal travails of her father, Sen. Robert Menendez [D-NJ], be the source of some of Alicia's anxiety?
Sarah Longwell, publisher of the Never Trump website The Bulwark, was a guest on the show. And whereas Longwell is devoted to depriving Trump of another presidential term, she did speak a truth uncomfortable to the all-liberal panel when asked to compare Trump and Biden on the issues of age and mental acuity. She moderates focus groups of voters:
"Look, whether it is fair or not, voters don't question Trump's mental acuity. They question his sanity. They question whether or not he's fit to be Commander-in-Chief from a moral and ethical standpoint. But Trump, because he has sort of big, lunatic energy, he just doesn't come off the same way that Biden does. And so, the concerns for voters around age really do rest with Joe Biden . . . It is not because the media talks about his age that voters think that Joe Biden is old. They think it because when they see Joe Biden, they think he seems old. "
Longwell offered what's become the standard advice Biden supporters are giving: don't run from the age issue--embrace it! With age comes wisdom!
And remember: Biden is smart--very smart! After all, he graduated in the top half of his law school class, and has three undergraduate degrees! Oh, wait.
Here's the transcript.
MSNBC
The Weekend
3/9/24
8:07 am ETALICIA MENENDEZ: So, to your point, about the president going on offense, showing he's a fighter, there is a brand new ad out from the Biden campaign this morning. And in part what it goes after is this idea that the president's age is a liability and not and asset. Take a look. Listen.
JOE BIDEN: Look, I'm not a young guy. That's no secret. But here's the deal. I understand how to get things done for the American people. I led the country through the Covid crisis. Today, we have the strongest economy in the world. I passed the law that lowers prescription drug prices. Caps insulin at $35 a month for seniors. For four years, Donald Trump tried to pass an infrastructure law, and he failed. I got it done. Now we're rebuilding America. I passed the biggest law in history to combat climate change, because our future depends on it. Donald Trump took away the freedom of women to choose. I'm determined to make Roe v. Wade the law of the land again.
MENENDEZ: So as someone who experiences a ton of existential dread, Eugene, Sarah, I hope that I am this prolific in my 70s and getting this much done. It gives me some sense of calm.
And there are two things, to me, that the Biden campaign is doing though. One, they're saying, we're not going run away from his age. You want to talk about his age, let's talk about the number of things that he's been able to accomplish. And secondarily, the comparison to Trump, right?
And I wonder, Sarah, in your focus groups, how those two issues or bearing out, both the question of the acuity of both of these candidates, and the comparison points between the two them.
SARAH LONGWELL: Well look, whether it is fair or not, voters don't question Trump's mental acuity. They question his sanity. They question whether or not he's fit to be Commander-in-Chief from a moral and ethical standpoint.
But Trump, because he has sort of big lunatic energy, he just doesn't come off the same way that Biden does. And so, the concerns for voters around age really do rest with Joe Biden.
But this is super smart of the Biden campaign. And something, if you do listen to my podcast, we've sort of been begging them to do for a while, which is to not run away from the age thing. It is not because the media talks about his age that voters think that Joe Biden is old. They think it because when they see Joe Biden, they think he seems old.
And so, the opportunity is, you have to just hang a lantern on it. You have to say, yeah, this is experience. You have to say, I am Yoda. I am the wise protector. He is -- whoever the old other bad guy is in the Star Wars movies. You have to make it a moral contrast.
MICHAEL STEELE: That would be Darth Vader.
LONGWELL: [As panelists laugh and talk over each other] I think it's not Darth Vader, there 's like an old -- but anyway, the contrast has to be, it has to be good old, and then there's bad old, right? And so, I think that Joe Biden going on offense, you know, going out and saying, yeah, I'm old, and that brings wisdom and that helps me understand what the country needs, and I want to leave this country in a better place because I love it. That is the right way to handle this age question, not to ignore it.
SYMONE SANDERS-TOWNSEND: Apologies to all of the Star Wars fans out there who are watching. We will get it right.
