Commentary: Big Tent Ideas

TERENCE P. JEFFREY: Democrats Are Hiding Biden — But Harris Can’t Hide From His Record

President Joe Biden on stage at the Democratic National Convention with his daughter, Ashley Biden, Aug. 19, 2024. (Screen Capture/CSPAN)

Voters in the key swing states of Georgia and Pennsylvania — which were crucial in determining the outcome of the 2020 presidential election in Joe Biden’s favor — would have needed to stay up until 12:18 on Tuesday morning to watch the entirety of the speech that President Biden began delivering late Monday night at the Democratic National Convention.

Biden was introduced by his daughter at 11:25 p.m. Eastern time on Monday and — after enthusiastic cheering by the crowd — began to actually deliver his speech at 11:30 p.m.

Who preempted the president’s access to the stage when the convention was being nationally televised during the prime-time hours before 11:00 p.m.?

Among the featured speakers in the 9 p.m. hour were Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez of New York and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. That hour also saw Golden State Warriors Coach Steve Kerr and United Autoworkers President Shawn Fain address the crowd — and the national television audience.

The 10 p.m. hour saw the likes of Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Rep. Jasmine Crocket of Texas — and Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina, Sen. Ralph Warnock of Georgia and Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky.

At 10.38 pm Eastern time — as primetime was nearing an end — a young married couple appeared on stage followed by two other young women to advocate for legalized abortion.

After 11 pm — with primetime over in Georgia and Pennsylvania — the president of the United States was still not allowed to immediately take the stage.

First, Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware spoke for about six minutes. Then First Lady Jill Biden took the podium for about five minutes.

Then, the stage was turned over to Biden’s daughter, Ashley. Her job was to introduce her father. It took her more than seven minutes.

Finally, after a sustained round of applause from the crowd, Biden started speaking at 11:30 p.m. Eastern time — as the CSPAN footage shows.

Twenty-eight minutes later, when he started talking about the abortion issue, he made a verbal gaffe.

“The United States Supreme Court majority wrote the following,” he said. “Quote: Women are not without electrical, were not — were not allowed — were not without, electoral, electoral or political power.”

When Biden completed his speech at 12:18 in the morning, how much time did hardworking Americans in states like Pennsylvania and Georgia have before they would need to get up and show up for their jobs? Did the Democratic Party expect them to stay up that late to listen to Biden — or did it expect them to have gone to bed before Biden even took the stage?

Or maybe Pittsburgh Pirates fans were watching their team’s game with the Texas Rangers Monday night — and not the Democratic convention.

To put Biden’s late-night appearance in perspective you can look back to the first night of the 1992 Republican National Convention in Houston — when a former president took the stage.

The two most prominent prime-time speakers on Monday night of that year’s convention were former President Ronald Reagan and his former communications director Pat Buchanan (for whom this writer had worked during that year’s campaign). As recorded by CSPAN, Buchanan’s speech started at 10:19 p.m. Eastern time and ended about 29 minutes later at 10:48 p.m. President Reagan’s speech started at 10:57 p.m. and ended 38 minutes later at about 11:35 p.m.

Then-President George H.W. Bush saw a significant jump in the polls after the convention that featured these Monday-night speakers. That Saturday, a headline in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram said: “Poll shows Bush leaped 14 points after convention.”

“Bush clearly got some of what he had wanted from his convention,” said the story. “Before the event, polls gave Clinton a 17-point lead, at 52 percent to 35 percent. The Times/CBS poll indicates Clinton’s lead has shrunk to 3 points, 45 percent to 42 percent.”

Bush, however, was unable to sustain the momentum he got from this convention that Reagan addressed — and ended up losing the election.

Democratic leaders clearly do not believe that Biden could help inspire potential voters today the way Reagan did in 1992. If they did, Biden would not only have spoken in primetime in Chicago, he most likely would have been the candidate they nominated there.

While Vice President Kamala Harris may have been able to escape another Biden-Harris ticket, she cannot escape the Biden-Harris record.

She, like Biden, is responsible for an administration that, according to the Census Bureau, has run up more than a trillion dollars in trade deficits with China; and that, according to the Treasury, has increased the federal debt by more than $7.4 trillion; and that, according to Customs and Border Protection, has overseen a Border Patrol that has encountered more than 5.6 million illegal aliens from fiscal 2022 to this year.

Terence P. Jeffrey is investigative editor of the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.