If “the polls are plummeting, the fundraising is drying up, and the interviews are going badly. He’s not oblivious.”
“He sees the moment. He’s clear-eyed.”
In Tuesday’s private conversation, Biden was also “chastened” as he “blamed himself” – not his staff – for the debate performance.
“He said: ‘I have done way too much foreign policy.’” He said to me: ‘I have over done it. I did too much travel. I did too much back and forth. I did too much time change. I had a cold. That was a mistake.’”
This is new and portentous:
…at one point in their conversation, Biden asked this person for advice – and then there was silence, the person told CNN, as the president waited for input.
If this is Jim Clyburn, and to a standard of satisfy the conscience it is, then if the president asked Jim Clyburn for advice and Jim Clyburn didn’t respond, then it’s over. Biden cannot lose Jim Clyburn.
CNN, NOT this ally on the Virginia fundraiser, “nearly fell asleep” line:
The remark was met with brief laughter from those in attendance, according to a recording of the president’s remarks.
Multiple reporters who were in the room said that they believed the “fell asleep” line appeared intended to be a joke and that Biden was trying to make light of the situation in a self-deprecating way, but it did not land, in their view.
