It’s fair to doubt how many of these newfound skeptics are all that bothered by Biden’s handsiness or runaway mouth, or O’Rourke’s empty platitudes and vague happy talk. The moment that either man either quits the race or wins the nomination, these issues will suddenly disappear outside of the Trump campaign and the RNC. What really bothers Democrats now is that Biden’s bad habits or O’Rourke’s thin résumé and lack of specifics might jeopardize the party’s chance of victory in 2020. They might seem minor, but Democrats convinced themselves that the Clinton Foundation’s shady ties, the former secretary of state’s private email server, and her other scandals and flaws were minor in 2016 — and were stunned to find that enough voters in enough states disagreed.
What’s forgivable in an incumbent becomes inexcusable in a challenger to Trump — because Democrats just don’t trust the electorate to see past those bad habits anymore. Nor do they have faith in their own ability to spin those flaws anymore. All things considered, that’s a good thing.
And the transparency in the media coverage of these men’s flaws, turning to a topic suddenly and en masse and then abandoning the topic just as quickly, like a school of fish moving in synch, is a good thing, even if it’s annoying. It reveals that conservatives’ worst suspicions about the national media were credible all along.
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