With polls showing that Democrats’ embrace of violent protest movements is hurting them politically, Joe Biden was pressured into condemning some of the violence gripping cities across the country.
And when he did, his supporters in the media praised him for it, even though he was just copying what Vice President Mike Pence had said days earlier at the Republican National Convention.
A few minutes later the thought was expanded:
One Atlantic editor nearly tweeted an audible sigh of relief:
What was amazing was that Biden merely restated what Pence had said days earlier, without pressure.
In his speech at Ft. McHenry August 26, Pence said:
President Trump and I will always support the right of Americans to peaceful protest, but rioting and looting is not peaceful protest; tearing down statues is not free speech. And those who do so will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
Today, Joe Biden echoed Pence’s remarks:
Rioting is not protesting. Looting is not protesting. Setting fires is not protesting. None of this is protesting.
Biden’s running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., had previously encouraged her millions of followers to give money to a fund that bails rioters out of jail.
Media supporters of Biden’s suggested that Biden’s remarks on violence, which were an echo of Pence’s earlier remarks, would be sufficient to distance himself from the violent protests that he and his campaign had previously been muted about or supportive of.
