Size matters: Joe Biden scolds FNC reporter about crowds in Iowa

Good old Joe Biden snapped at a Fox News Channel (FNC) reporter Tuesday in Iowa. He didn’t appreciate being corrected after he boasted of being the king of crowds when it comes to campaign events.

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FNC’s Peter Doocy asked Biden, the Democrat front-runner if he was concerned that he isn’t drawing as big of crowds as are other candidates. It’s a fair question given that Biden was bragging that he draws the biggest of crowds.

“What I’m trying to do is go around from town to town and I’m drawing as big of crowds, or bigger than anybody,” Biden said in Iowa on Tuesday. “Have you seen anybody draw bigger crowds than me in this state?”

Well, yes, Doocy answered. He saw a bigger crowd in Des Moines for Senator Elizabeth Warren. Ouch. The exchange seemed innocent enough but political egos are large and a career politician possesses the largest of egos, generally speaking. Joe Biden isn’t an exception to that generalization. In politics, especially in the heat of a campaign, size matters. The optics of a large crowd listening to a candidate are essential. That’s why President Trump obsesses over crowd size. He knows the importance of crowd size. Biden was doing what he and other Democrats mock Trump for doing – claiming to garner the biggest crowds.

The fact that Doocy mentioned Elizabeth Warren as an example of a candidate drawing a larger crowd had to sting. She has risen to second place in both the polling average at Real Clear Politics and specifically in the Iowa polling. Biden is hanging in there for the time being but Warren has definitely captured the imagination of the media as a possible nominee if the Democrat primary voters are willing to go for a far-left candidate instead of settling on a comfortable choice, like Biden. The question is if voters think Warren could beat Trump in the general election because the top-selling point for Biden’s candidacy is that he is the only one that can beat Trump.

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It is clear that Biden is growing concerned with the race. He’s trying desperately to put forth a macho-like presence – or as macho as a 76-year-old man can appear. As of right now, only Biden and Bernie Sanders can beat Trump according to the Politico/Morning Consult survey. The possibility that Sanders will be the nominee is slim to none. Warren has stepped over Bernie to rise to the second place in most polls. Primary voters are finding everyone’s angry older auntie more palatable than everyone’s angry grandpa.

About ten minutes after Doocy fact-checked Biden on the size of his crowds, Biden singled out the FNC reporter to specifically tell him that he’s “a big boy” and can handle Doocy. He went so far as to say that he knew that Doocy was “going to go after” him.

Biden told Doocy he was a “big boy” and could handle Doocy allegedly coming after him. “I mean, I know you, I know you’re going to go after me no matter what I’ve got. Yeah, you and it’s OK. Good. I’m a big boy. I can handle it,” he said.

Doocy has been covering all of the candidates in the comically large Democrat primary in Iowa for months. He delivers brief interviews on the ground with candidates that are normally not seen on FOX – not because they aren’t welcome on the cable news network but because they don’t sit for interviews with the network. They stick to CNN and MSNBC in hopes of interviews with softball questions. That is how the game goes. The telling thing with Biden is that he continues to single out the rising generation of reporters to aggressively make points with when he is challenged. Remember when he grabbed the arm of the young woman, a college student in Iowa, as she walked away from him in a crowd during the Iowa State Fair? He wanted to make his point to her on how pro-gay-marriage he is, though that wasn’t her question to him. Wait a minute, kid.

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Some level of panic is setting in as the campaign goes on. Can we acknowledge how pathetic it was watching the clips of Jill Biden beg Democrats in New Hampshire to vote for her husband? She acknowledged that they probably didn’t particularly like him or his policies but they have to vote for him because he can beat Trump. Yikes! Dr. Jill admits it doesn’t matter what the candidate’s ideas are, the most important thing is beating Trump. If his own wife can’t give a glowing recommendation for Biden, who will?

Maybe it’s time for Biden to have one of those town halls on FOX with Bret Baier or Chris Wallace. He’s starting to look a bit entitled to the nomination. That didn’t work out so well for Hillary in the heartland.

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John Sexton 1:20 PM | November 06, 2024
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