Democrats uneasy about Biden's 'crappy' debate night

“We have a president here who by all appearances is not up to the task, and these are very dangerous times. This is a very serious moment in American history, and it needs to be regarded and handled as such,” Johnson said.

During a campaign rally Friday afternoon in Raleigh, N.C., Biden didn’t go into his performance in depth, but he acknowledged, “I know I’m not a young man, to state the obvious,” adding, “I don’t debate like I used to.

“But I know when you get knocked down, you get back up,” he said to loud cheers, adding moments later that he wouldn’t be seeking a second term unless he knew “with my heart and soul that I can do the job.”

Biden also called Trump a “one-man crime spree,” prompting the boisterous crowd to chant, “Lock him up.” Biden chuckled and replied, “There’s time for that.”

Biden left the stage to Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down,” a new feature since his previous rally.

On the Hill, Democrats were willing to concede that the debate, as Texas Rep. Veronica Escobar put it, “was not the night any of us wanted.” But she then pivoted to what she contended was a night of falsehoods and lies from Biden’s twice-impeached and once-convicted predecessor.

“I think there needs to be a real conversation about the things that Donald Trump said. It is beyond vile — and that … should be unacceptable,” Escobar said.

Rep Troy Carter, D-La., said of Biden, “I think he can recover. I think that the facts will bear out.” He faulted the CNN moderators for “not point-for-point calling these things out.”

“You saw a president that … articulated the facts and … has receipts — not just promises made promises, but kept, versus the other guy who just repeatedly didn’t tell the truth,” Carter added. “It was frustrating for anybody who cared to listen, that Trump just didn’t tell the truth repeatedly.”

Specifically, Escobar pointed to Trump’s claims that Central and South American countries are sending individuals from their asylums and prisons into the United States. But she didn’t answer directly when asked why Biden was unable to counter that claim on Thursday night.

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