Face masks are all the rage among the Democratic political class. For much of the summer, presidential nominee Joe Biden has been hyping the covering as a significant difference between his COVID-19 policy and that of President Trump. In fact, one could easily make the case that a mandatory face mask order for all Americans has been the cornerstone of Mr. Biden’s COVID-19 policy.
Until now.
In a one-on-one interview with a local Phoenix, AZ, television station, Mr. Biden made the proverbial 180: “There’s a constitutional issue whether the federal government can issue such a mandate. I don’t think constitutionally they could – so I wouldn’t issue a mandate.”
How did Mr. Biden come to this shocking realization? It’s unclear. Perhaps some pro-abortion lobbyists took him aside to make the point that people have the right to choose what they want to do with their bodies – even if it includes the killing of an innocent child. So how could he order more than 300 million people to put on a mask? Such an edict may be just peachy for Communist China, but it doesn’t pass the smell test in the United States.
One wonders who is concocting the policies over at Biden 2020 headquarters. For the candidate to keep changing his mind is simply not a beneficial optic. However, there may be more to this about-face than finding out that your one great idea to save America from the Coronavirus stomps all over liberty. And that is the figurative re-emergence of that popular summer footwear known as the flip-flop.
Joe Who?
With almost a half-century as a politician under his belt, Mr. Biden ought to have enough flip-flops in his past to shod all of Delaware or at the very least Scranton, PA. And the hits keep on coming. Last week it was a breathtaking flip on hydraulic fracturing. Despite making a plethora of anti-fracking statements, Mr. Biden went to Pittsburgh and said just the opposite. Raising both hands for emphasis, he spoke forcefully into the microphone: “I am not banning fracking.”
While this might be the latest example of Mr. Biden’s extremely flexible and malleable stands on significant campaign issues, during the Democratic debates his own running mate, Kamala Harris, gave us a ringside view on the former vice president’s support of forced busing and its negative impact on the African American community. Apparently Harris has decided that the top of her ticket has made an evolutionary journey, not a flip, on what she clearly characterized as a racist social experiment.
But what about the Hyde Amendment, the measure that prohibits federal funding for abortions, which Mr. Biden had defended staunchly for years? In the face of heavy criticism from his party, its top candidate has come to heel. Perhaps The New York Times described it best: “His turnaround was abrupt …”
Then there’s NAFTA, which Pennsylvanians remember well since it put a whole lot of them out of work. Biden loudly promotes “made in America” on the campaign trail now that practically everything is made in China.
Don’t forget the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 that Biden voted for – a measure that one could legitimately say put a whole bunch of folks “in chains” in Biden-speak. As Bob Anderson wrote for The Federalist, “… after watching Biden over his career, and more closely this year, I’m left feeling like a panelist on the old ‘To Tell the Truth’ television show. Somebody please say it: ‘Will the real Joe Biden, please stand up?’”
Therein lies the crux of the matter: You can’t say what you mean and mean what you say if you don’t know what you are saying or just can’t stick with it. So the American electorate is left to wonder when Mr. Biden takes a stand on critical issues, how long before he changes his mind?
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Read more from Leesa K. Donner.
