House Democrats agree Biden had a 'bad night' but can't be replaced 

The typically united House Democrats had their biggest break from the president yet in a stinging post-mortem of Joe Biden 's debate performance Thursday night. Nearly all were in agreement that Biden had a 'bad night.' 'He's a great president, he got off to a bad start,' said former Speaker Nancy Pelosi. 'Integrity versus dishonesty on its worst night shines through.'

Other liberal lawmakers were more honest about their disappointment in the president's performance. 'I think we all know that it was not what we wanted,' said Progressive Caucus co-chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash. 'He had a bad night.' 'But he is the President, with Democrats, who instituted the largest investment in taking on climate change ,' she added.

Some are in all-out panic mode, worried that Biden lost the election for himself in those fateful 90 minutes and wondering if it would be possible to replace him. 'It's fancy dance thinking to start talking about other people,' said Jayapal. 'he's our candidate. He is our president.' Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., a top Biden surrogate, said he will tell voters to vote for the people in the president's inner circle who are pulling the strings.

'We have a great team of people that will help govern. That is what I'm going to continue to make the case for.' 'He had a bad night. He's a good man. He's got a great record,' said Rep. Steny Hoyer, longtime House Democratic leader and a friend to Biden. 'Some of us have bad nights sometimes.' Rep. Angie Craig, a vulnerable Democrat from Minnesota, called it a 'terrible debate' and said Biden 'couldn't communicate.' Asked if he should step aside, she said she was going home to Minnesota to discuss it with constituents.

'Did Joe Biden have a bad night? In my opinion? Yes, he absolutely did,' top Foreign Affairs Democrat Rep. Gregory Meeks said. He said Biden needs to do damage control. 'He needs to go out there and talk to the American people, answer the questions that need to be answered and not be on the defensive,' Meeks said. 'Have townhall meetings, even deal with you guys in the press, and then talk to you directly, answer all of the hard questions. Don't run away from them.'

'The debate last night I thought had some shortcomings,' said Rep. Jim Clyburn, the powerful Democrat who propelled Biden to the Democratic nomination in 2020. 'How many times did infrastructure come up? ... it never came up,' the South Carolina lawmaker went on. 'I believe that he has a tremendous record. I just think that he needs to share that record with the public.' The president's performance was off to a rocky start when he came out with a quiet, raspy voice - his team insisted he was recovering from a cold.

He then launched into a few indecipherable tirades, including one where he talked about beating Medicare. 'We'd be able to wipe out [Trump's] debt,' Biden said. 'We'd be able to help make sure all those things we need to do: child care, elder care, making sure that we continue to strengthen our health care system.' 'Making sure that we're able to make every single solitary person eligible for what I've been able to do with the ... with the COVID, excuse me, with um, dealing with everything we have to with, uh ...' he continued. 'Look, if we finally beat Medicare ...'

At one moment, Trump poked fun at Biden's confusing answer to a question on immigration. 'Since, I've changed the law, what's happened? I've changed it in a way that now, you're in a situation where there are 40 percent fewer people coming across the border illegally, it's better than when [Trump] left office,' the president said. 'And I'm going to continue to move it until we get the total ban on ... the total initiative relative to what we're going to do with more Border Patrol and more asylum officers.'

Trump responded with the following: 'I really don't know what he said at the end of that sentence. I don't think he knows what he said either.' And in a moment on abortion, Biden left viewers befuddled when he said Roe v. Wade had 'three trimesters.' 'I supported Roe v Wade, which had three trimesters. First time is between a woman and a doctor. Second time is between the doctor and an extreme situation. And a third time is between the doctor – I mean, it'd be between the woman and the state,' Biden said.

'The idea that the politicians – that the founders wanted the politicians to be the ones making decisions about women's health is ridiculous. That's the last – no politician should be making that decision.' He continued: 'A doctor should be making those decisions. That's how it should be run. That's what you're going to do.' Roe v. Wade legalized abortion up to 20 weeks. It was overturned two years ago.

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