It truly is the worst of all possible worlds for Democrats. Joe Biden, with two major flubs yesterday, managed to give enough cover to the pundit class to quell some of the calls for his withdrawl from the presidential race.

While the media wimped out in the moment – after all, no one wanted to be THE ONE who took out old Grandpa Joe with a single question (but they are very indignant if you ask if they submitted the questions ahead of time) – the commentariat swooned. The Biden they all knew and loved – the creepy whisperer, the old man yelling at clouds, the word salad mixer – was back! Who cared if he had called Zelenskyy “Putin” or Kamala Harris “Vice President Trump”? Everybody messes up names sometimes!

On Biden's mixups y'day, campaign spox Michael Tyler says on AF1: "Joe Biden has been making gaffes for 40 years. He made a couple last night. He'll probably continue to do so."

Tyler then pivots to Trump contrasts and says, "We're confident that the American people are smart…

— Patrick Svitek (@PatrickSvitek) July 12, 2024

And right on cue, Joe Biden delivered yet another name flub. This time, he was at a rally in Michigan, which is very much a swing state at the moment.

While the entire night was full of… something… Biden launched the evening rally with a swing and a miss on Congresswoman Debbie Dingell’s name.

“I promise you, I am – I’m OK,” the 81-year-old president told supporters at a Northville, Mich., restaurant before heading to a larger rally in Detroit, where he stumbled attempting to shout-out Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.).

“Members of Congress – Debbie Haley,” Biden said, apparently referring to Dingell, a five-term congresswoman.

“And by the way, I want you to know that I’ve spent a lot of time with Debbie,” he added. “She helped me a lot.”

Biden went on to note Dingell’s resemblance to his wife, first lady Jill Biden.

“I forget which event we were at, and someone said, you’re his wife, aren’t you?” Biden said, explaining that Dingell “looks like Jill.”

Biden, who didn’t correct the gaffe, admitted much later in the event that “sometimes I confuse names.”

It took about 30 seconds into Biden's Michigan event for his brain to completely malfunction pic.twitter.com/UEeQXQBD4D

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) July 12, 2024

These moments, while pundits and the Biden campaign want to gloss over them, are what people are seeing and hearing. After the debate, the name gaffes are definitely what people are paying attention to, because these are the moments that are going viral.

But what did the viewing public actually take away from the press conference? Well, perhaps not surprisingly… it was the gaffes. Despite the White House’s victory lap, new data shows that not much else from the night played in the president’s favor. According to overnight polling from Welcome PAC—a political action committee that works to elect moderate Democrats in conservative-leaning congressional districts—the news conference did more to hurt Biden than help. In an online survey, they asked likely voters what they had heard about the NATO presser, providing examples of positive and negative narratives coming out of the night.

By Friday, nearly half of those surveyed (45 percent) said they hadn’t heard a thing about the press conference. But among those who did, Biden’s verbal flubs were the top takeaways: 61 percent said they’d heard about the Putin/Zelensky mix-up, while 58 percent said the same about “Vice President Trump.” Another 37 percent said they’d heard that Biden “seemed old or frail.” Only 25 percent of those surveyed said they’d heard that “Biden showed command of foreign policy details.” And just 21 percent had encountered the narrative that “Biden seemed presidential and authoritative.”

So add yet another gaffe to the list from this Michigan rally. Also, it’s just MILDLY CREEPY that Joe is comparing Debbie Dingell to Jill.

However, it was interesting that Dingell was pretty much the only prominent Democrat from Michigan to show up for Biden at this rally.

Warming up Friday night for Biden at Detroit’s Renaissance High School were Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, Lt. Governor Garlin Gilchrist and Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan. Those aren’t exactly prominent names.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who’s denied reporting she said Biden’s deplorable debate performance last month made the state unwinnable for him, was not present — and she’s frequently been touted as a solid replacement for the top of the ticket. She’s reportedly busy visiting Idaho for the Sun Valley Conference, a financial summit where tech moguls and prominent businessmen network.

Democratic congressional candidates Curtis Hertel Jr. and Rep. Elissa Slotkin, who are in competitive races, were also absent. Hertel, running for the House in a Lansing-area district, has stayed silent on the Biden campaign since the president’s disastrous debate night.

Slotkin, the Democratic Senate candidate, recently took a subtle jab at Biden when she told donors her race was only possible because departing Sen. Debbie Stabenow was “doing a radical thing and passing the torch.”

Sen. Gary Peters expressed his confidence this week that Biden “absolutely” could triumph over former President Donald Trump and Democrats would keep control of the Senate — but didn’t show Friday night.

I mean, who doesn’t watch to hitch their electoral wagon to this guy???

Crooked Joe — who backed out of his debate night challenge to golf against President Trump — repeated the same stupid golf joke twice in a span of two minutes.

You're doing great, Joe! pic.twitter.com/bb0ygsdkNM

— Dylan Johnson (@RealDylanMO) July 13, 2024

That’s really the biggest takeaway from the rally. Joe Biden is not quitting, and he can still pull in a crowd of enthusiastic sign-wavers from the local unions, but the Democrat politicians who are in competitive races or want a future shot at the presidency? They’re staying away.

On Friday, Biden told Congressional members that he’s going to get out there for people to see him.

President Biden on Friday told a Democratic lawmaker who called for him to step aside that voters should “touch me, poke me, ask me questions” if they have doubts about his ability to serve in the Oval Office or defeat former President Donald J. Trump in November.

Mr. Biden made the remarks during a virtual meeting with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, according to a partial transcript of the exchange obtained by The New York Times. He was responding to Representative Mike Levin of California, who told Mr. Biden during the meeting that he believed the president should not continue his bid for another term, according to two people familiar with the call. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it.

Mr. Levin is the 19th member of Congress to call for him to step aside in the two weeks since Mr. Biden’s disastrous debate performance, but he is the first one known to have done so directly to the president — even virtually.

“That’s why I’m going out and letting people touch me, poke me, ask me questions,” Mr. Biden told Mr. Levin. “I think I know what I’m doing, because the truth of the matter is — I’m going to say something outrageous — no president in three years has done what we have in three years other than Franklin Roosevelt.”

This is all hubris. The comparison to FDR aside, the idea that he’s going to be out in public to convince the voters that he’s totally okay? SURE JOE, GO FOR IT.

No wonder Democrats are staying away, and no wonder Donald Trump is hanging out in the background, doing or saying very little. Why should he? Joe Biden is doing all the work for him!

Featured image: original Victory Girls art by Darleen Click