It was only a matter of time.
Our next installment of the Biden Tapes comes courtesy of the National Association of Black Journalists and National Association of Hispanic Journalists Virtual Convention. CBS reporter Errol Barnett asks Joe Biden whether he, like President Trump, has taken a cognitive test. The former vice president says he hasn’t, then talks about cocaine and elephants.
Watch for yourself, and read Cockburn’s careful transcription below:
“Why the hell would I take a test?”@JoeBiden scoffs at idea of taking a cognitive test.
Suggests @realDonaldTrump “can’t figure out the difference between an elephant and a lion.”
Full interview at @NABJ @NAHJ virtual convention Thursday 8am ET.@CBSNews pic.twitter.com/rGNJpjfbF6
— errol barnett (@errolbarnett) August 5, 2020
Errol Barnett: Mr Vice President, your opponent in this election, President Trump, has made your mental state a campaign topic, and when asked in June if you’d been tested for cognitive decline, you responded that you’re ‘constantly tested’ in ef-, in effect, because you’re in situations like this on the campaign trail. Please clarify, specifically, have you taken a cognitive tes-
Joe Biden: No I haven’t taken a test. Why the hell would I take a test?
Pause.
Come on man. That’s like sayin’, y’know, before you go on this program, ‘will ya take a test whether you’re taking cocaine or not, whaddya think, huh? Are-are you a junkie?’
EB: What do you say-
Biden laughs.
EB: -to President Trump who brags about his test and makes-
Biden laughs again.
EB: -your mental state an issue for voters?
JB: Well…if he can’t figure out the difference between an elephant and a lion, I don’t know what the hell he’s talking about…did you watch that-look, come on, man, I-I-I know you’re tryin’ ta goad me, but, I mean, I’m so forward looking to have an opportunity to sit with the President, or stand with the President in th’debates. There gonna be plenty o’ time. And by the way, as I joke with him, y’know, it…I-I shouldn’t say it, I’m gonna say something I don’t…I-I probably shouldn’t say. Anyway, I am, uh, I am very willing to let the American public judge my physical mental-phyl-, my physical as well as my mental fil-fitness, and uh, to, uh, make a judgment about who I am.
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Let’s hope Biden is more skilled at debating than he is at crafting similes. If not, perhaps a few pre-match lines from Hunter will straighten him out?
A fuller interview will apparently be broadcast at 8 a.m. ET tomorrow. Cockburn has set his alarm.
