Merle Gorman raised the question of Hunter Biden’s “work” on the board of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma at an Iowa town hall this past Thursday. Given Biden’s status as the Dem frontrunner at this point, it’s still worth taking a look at how Biden handled the obvious question (edited video below).
Gorman prefaced the question with the familiar criticism of President Trump’s “messing around in Ukraine” and added that Trump has “no backbone. We know all that.”
“But you, on the other hand,” Gorman asserted, “you sent your son over there to get a job and work for a gas company where he had no experience….In order to get access for the president… You’re selling access to the president just like [Trump] was.”
Responding to the assertion that he had “sent” his son to Burisma, Biden responded: “You’re a damn liar, man. That’s not true and no one has ever said that.”
Looking Gorman up and down, Biden called him sedentary. He implied he’s watching too much television, or perhaps the wrong cable channel.
The reason he is running for president, Biden explained, is that he knows more than most people know.
Then he challenged Gorman: “And if you wanna check out my shape on, let’s do push-ups together, man, let’s run, let’s do whatever you want to do.”
When Gorman denied saying Biden had done anything wrong, Biden instructed Gorman to “get your words straight, Jack.”
“That’s what I hear on MSNBC,” Gorman explained. This is what is known as a complete defense in Democratic Party circles. Biden accordingly denied he had heard it on MSNBC.
“Look, fat, look, here’s the deal,” Biden continued. “You’re too old to vote for me,” Biden added.
Biden is 77. Gorman stated that he (Gorman) is 83.
Following the event, of course, a Biden spokesman denied that Biden had called Gorman fat. Campaign spokeswoman Symone Sanders wrote Thursday: “To be clear: Any assertion VP Biden said a word about the gentleman’s appearance is making this something it is not. In the latter part of the exchange, the VP began to say ‘Look, facts’ then said ‘here’s the deal.’ If you’ve been to a Biden event, you’ve heard this before.”
Biden apparently stands by the denial that Gorman doesn’t get his news from MSNBC and his assertion that the Gorman is too old to vote for him. What about that?
News accounts of Biden’s exchange with Gorman have not done justice to it. The whole thing is weird beyond explanation.
Notice: All comments are subject to moderation. Our comments are intended to be a forum for civil discourse bearing on the subject under discussion. Commenters who stray beyond the bounds of civility or employ what we deem gratuitous vulgarity in a comment — including, but not limited to, “s***,” “f***,” “a*******,” or one of their many variants — will be banned without further notice in the sole discretion of the site moderator.