Arduously avoiding the media during the Democrats’ sudden existential crisis over their highly-successful incumbent and projected nominee for president of the U.S., Falls Church’ s U.S. Rep. Don Beyer issued a brief statement of continued support of President Joe Biden last weekend. But otherwise he has stayed away from making on-the-record comments, due to unsubstantiated, false reports in some of the press about where he stands on the subject.
Beyer’s Deputy Chief of Staff Aaron Fritschner told the News-Press yesterday that Beyer has been very careful in his remarks on the subject beyond the brief statement his office issued last weekend, which reads:
“U. S Rep.Don Beyer issued the following statement today correcting an unsubstantiated report that he favored asking Biden to drop out. ‘I support President Biden. I support the Biden-Harris ticket, and look forward to helping defeat Donald Trump in November. I was proud to host an event this week in Northern Virginia with the President, and will continue doing all I can to support the Biden-Harris campaign in Virginia and across the country.’”
Perhaps similarly, Virginia’s U.S. Sen. Mark Warner offered a short statement last weekend which contradicted widespread reports that he was intending to create a committee of Democratic lawmakers with the intent of convincing Biden to withdraw from the race. However, Warner stopped short of expressing the kind of support for Biden that Beyer’s statement did.
The Warner statement said the following:
“Another Trump term would be perilous for rule of law and for our democracy. President Biden has made America stronger, guiding the nation through some of our most difficult days. I am proud of my work on his agenda.
“With so much at stake in the upcoming election, now is the time for conversations about the strongest path forward.
“As these conversations continue, I believe it is incumbent upon the President to more aggressively make his case to the American people, and to hear directly from a broader group of voices about how to best prevent Trump’s lawlessness from returning to the White House.”
By contrast, one with a lot to say about it all has been Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia’s 11th District, just to the west of Falls Church.
Connolly’s attention this week has been focused on his scheduled remarks to the NATO conference of heads of states and government, marking the 75th anniversary of the alliance, currently underway in Washington, D.C., where Biden was also scheduled to speak. Connolly was re-elected president of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly earlier this year, having served in that role from 2020 to 2022. He is also a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
On the Biden issue, Connolly has been vocal in interviews on CNN and MSNBC saying the following:
“I think most of my colleagues, like myself, are processing what happened. And we don’t want to make decisions in haste or in panic. Joe Biden is a consequential president. He’s been a friend of mine. In fact, I worked for him for 10 years, I’ve known him for 45. I’m not going to jettison Joe Biden based on a 90-minute debate. But I do want to be reassured that Joe Biden is capable of doing the job, wants to do the job, and that he can reassure the public to both of those things.
“My north star in this process is going to be how do we ensure Donald Trump does not get back to the oval office. That’s going to be my north star, and everything else is subordinate to that.
“I was hired by Joe Biden to work in the US Senate. I’ve known him for 45 years. I know his family. I’ve been to his home. I wrote speeches for him and bills for him and amendments for him. I traveled with him. This is a man I revere, and I am not about to throw him overboard because of a bad experience. I want to give him every opportunity to try to recover. Having said that, at the end of the day we cannot afford to make a mistake about Donald Trump. We’ve got to put our best foot forward. And I’m hopeful that’s Joe Biden, but I’m open to the fact that sadly that might not be.
“I do believe that what happened at the debate was more than a bad night. And that’s why that image is so indelible in so many minds and that’s why so much alarm has been raised about what does that mean? And President Biden – the burden is on him to prove, you know, ‘Yeah I stumbled. It was terrible. I had an episode, but I recovered from that.’”
