White House explains ‘We finally beat Medicare’ debate flub

The White House on Wednesday explained what President Biden meant when he misspoke and said “We finally beat Medicare” in last week’s presidential debate.

“He meant to say he beat big pharma,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a briefing when asked about the president’s words. “I mean, that’s what he meant to say.”

The statement about Medicare by the president last Thursday night left some confused, and the president has faced an overall negative review of his performance in the debate against former President Trump. The debate, in which Biden spoke with a raspy voice and stumbled over his words, sent Democrats into a state of panic and sparked questions about if the president should remain at the top of his party’s ticket.

On Wednesday, the White House was insistent that Biden is not leaving the presidential race, and Biden said in a fundraising email the same day that nobody “is pushing” him “out.”

“I’m the Democratic Party’s nominee,” according to the fundraising email. “No one is pushing me out. I’m not leaving, I’m in this race to the end, and WE are going to win this election. If that’s all you need to hear, pitch in a few bucks to help [Vice President Harris] and me defeat Donald Trump in November.”

Some Democrats have even called for Biden to step out of the race or be replaced as the Democratic nominee. On Tuesday, Rep. Lloyd Doggett (Texas) became the first House Democrat to publicly push Biden to leave the presidential race in the wake of the debate. 

“President Biden has continued to run substantially behind Democratic senators in key states and in most polls has trailed Donald Trump. I had hoped that the debate would provide some momentum to change that. It did not,” Doggett said in a statement. “Instead of reassuring voters, the President failed to effectively defend his many accomplishments and expose Trump’s many lies.”