On Thursday’s broadcast of WBUR’s “Here and Now,” Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT), who has called for President Joe Biden to leave the 2024 presidential race, stated that the debate “really was a manifestation of an age issue.” And “there really is an age issue and an acuity issue that we can’t deny.” But if he stays in the race, Welch will back him.
Co-host Celeste Headlee asked, [relevant exchange begins around 3:00] “There are plenty of Democrats who say they will stick with Joe regardless of what his decision is. If he doesn’t drop out, I assume, will you still support him?”
Welch answered, “I would. But I think it’s much better if he steps aside. We’ll all get behind our nominee.”
Later, Welch added, “[W]hat we saw in that debate we can’t unsee. And I think Americans, rightly, concluded that that was not just a flubbed debate — which everybody can have — but it really was a manifestation of an age issue. That’s what’s on people’s mind, and it’s not going to go away.”
Welch further stated that Democrats have “a profound question that is resulting from what we saw in that debate, where there really is an age issue and an acuity issue that we can’t deny.”
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