Joe Biden isn’t asked many tough questions. Partly because he doesn’t campaign in person much and actually talk to reporters. But when he finally submitted to a press conference on Wednesday, the Democratic presidential nominee complained about the presence of a Fox reporter, sneering that “you always ask me a hostile question.” Other queries included a MSNBC journalist wondering (hoping?) if there was “anything” that would prompt him to skip the presidential debates.
Biden actually ended the press conference and was on his way out when Fox’s Peter Doocy stepped up to actually grill the former Vice President. The Democrat grumbled, “I know you always ask a hostile question, but go ahead.”
Doocy asked this straight forward, but probing question: “You said that you warned President Trump in January that there was going to be a pandemic and what needed to be done. If you knew that, then why were you still hosting crowded campaign rallies in March?”
Biden offered a somewhat rambling non-answer, insisting, “I said you got to take this seriously. You’ve got to insist that we have access to Wuhan. Insist we have access to China to find out for ourselves.”
Earlier, MSNBC’s Mike Memoli wondered if there was anything that could keep the presidential candidate from debating Donald Trump:
They announced the format and the moderators of the presidential debates today. NBC's Kristen Welker batting cleanup for that last presidential debate. Is there anything that could dissuade you from participating and how have you begun to prepare?
Biden responding with a plea to journalists to assist him: "I've begun to prepare by going over what the President has said, multiple lies he's told. What I'd love to have is a crawl at the bottom of the screen, a fact checker when we speak."
Kudos to CBS reporter Ed O’Keefe for actually pressing Biden with one of the other few tough questions. He wondered what power the candidate would use to shut down the whole country a second time and if he’d even considered the economic ramifications.
I wanted to ask you something you said last week about the potential of having to shut down the economy again. You were asked if you would be willing to shut it down if your health experts advise you to do so, and you said, quote, “I would be prepared to do whatever it takes.” But I'm curious how you would do that at a federal level and how you would balance that call economically, if you have economic advisers saying, “If you do this again, you could plunge the country into an even deeper economic crisis?”
The MSNBC segment was sponsored by Volkswagen. Click on the link to let them know what you think.
A partial transcript is below:
Joe Biden press conference
9/2/2020
MSNBC
1:35 PM ET
UNIDENTIFIED: Just quickly on a different topic, there's a new book by The New York Times's Michael Schmidt that says when President Trump made an unannounced visit to Walter Reed Hospital in 2019, Vice President Pence was told to be on standby to take over in case President Trump had to receive anesthesia. Pence said last night he doesn't recall being told that. As Vice President, were you ever told to be on standby or given any kind of special alert when President Obama was going in for a medical appointment? I also just wonder whether you have any concerns about the fact that that Walter Reed visit that President Trump made, it didn't follow prior protocol about presidential visits for medical examinations?
…
MIKE MEMOLI: The fact that you're traveling to Wisconsin at all, I believe this is only the third time in the last few months since the onset of the pandemic that you'll be on a plane. You’ve talked about how you want to make sure you follow all the advice of your doctors in terms of campaigning safely. But the question we keep hearing from voters and others is why aren't you out there more? You may be aware the president was calling into question your campaign schedule today. How far are you willing to push the envelope of what's safe in order to get the message out and speak to the voters directly?
…
1:39
MEMOLI: Quickly, they announced the format and the moderators of the presidential debates today. NBC's Kristen Welker batting cleanup for that last presidential debate. Is there anything that could dissuade you from participating and how have you begun to prepare?
…
1:52
ED O’KEEFE: Thank you, Mr. Vice President. You talked today about reopening schools. I wanted to ask you something you said last week about the potential of having to shut down the economy again. You were asked if you would be willing to shut it down if your health experts advise you to do so, and you said, quote, “I would be prepared to do whatever it takes.” But I'm curious how you would do that at a federal level and how you would balance that call economically, if you have economic advisers saying, “If you do this again, you could plunge the country into an even deeper economic crisis?”
…
BIDEN: I know you always ask a hostile question, but go ahead.
PETER DOOCY: So you said, and you have to agree with me, that you have warned -- you said that you warned President Trump in January that there was going to be a pandemic and what needed to be done. If you knew that, then why were you still hosting crowded campaign rallies in March?
