Apparently former Vice President Joe Biden hasn’t noticed that he enjoys a commanding lead in the polls over other contenders for the Democratic nomination. Either that, or it hasn’t dawned on him that support from the moderate wing of the party and some independents is the reason.
How else to explain his bizarre announcement yesterday that he is abandoning his career-long support for the Hyde Amendment, which bars the use of federal funds to pay for abortion except to save the life of the woman or if the pregnancy arises from incest or rape.
Here he is, claiming that the Republicans (aka the devil) made him do it, when in fact it was pressure from the Left that led to the ill-fated decision.
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
BREAKING: Democrat Joe Biden announces he can no longer support the Hyde Amendment after getting attacked by Democrats over the last 24 hours for supporting it
He blames Republicans for his decision pic.twitter.com/vV1wTD3B3q
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) June 7, 2019
While the far Left is applauding Biden’s “getting with the program,” many in the media are firing off warning flares. “Biden’s abortion flip-flop shows how fast and far Democrats have shifted” reads a headline in the Los Angeles Times, while S.E. Cupp at CNN asks, “Biden caves on the Hyde Amendment: what was the point of his candidacy?”
Former Obama campaign manager David Axelrod notes an even deeper problem for the Biden candidacy, and that is that Biden’s reversal was not merely a flip-flop but rather what Axelrod dubs a flip-flop-flip:
I think that this was a parable about Biden that goes to question marks about his candidacy. His rollout was flawless, in my view, and he’s had a very solid spring, but this underscores questions that people have had about whether he can go the distance. …
… [A] voter challenged him on the question of Hyde, video was rolling, and he said he would reverse this policy.
Then the next day when it came to light the campaign put out a statement and said, no, he still believes in the Hyde amendment. Then there was a furor and last night he flipped again. So that was a flip, flop, flip, which is never a good thing in politics and it raises questions about his own performance and his own steadiness and his campaign’s performance. …
If Biden does win the Democratic nomination, expect his flip-flop-flipping to come back to haunt him in campaign ads and debates with incumbent Donald Trump.
