Bernie Sanders on Biden's performance: 'Not terribly articulate, to say the least'

In his first public comments since President Biden took to the debate stage last night, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said the president failed to clearly articulate his achievements or vision for the future.

“I have to also be very honest with you and tell you that I think the president was not terribly articulate to say the least, and he was not focused,” Sanders said of Thursday’s debate, at a rally in Steven’s Point, Wisconsin. “He did not defend a very strong record.” 

Sander’s rally is part of a week-long campaign swing in the Badger state. The Daily Cardinal, the University of Wisconsin’s student paper, provided audio of the Steven’s Point event.

Biden's stumbling debate performance Thursday had spurred panic within the Democratic party, along with discussion of whether Biden should step down and for an open Democratic convention in August.

The Biden campaign has said he will not step down and at a rally in North Carolina on Friday, the president addressed the concerns.

“I don't debate as well as I used to," he said. “But I know what I do know. I know how to tell the truth. I know right from wrong. And I know how to do this job. I know how to get things done. And I know what millions of Americans know: When you get knocked down, you get back up.”

Sanders on Friday criticized the president for not “being loud and clear” about being the first American president to walk a picket line and his record on job creation and infrastructure spending. 

“I thought he was lacking in not doing what we all have to do, telling the American people what the agenda is for the next four year,” he added.  

“So, why don’t I do that?” Sanders quipped before launching into a stump speech in support of Biden and the Democratic agenda.

Sanders promised that a second Biden term would see an increase in infrastructure investment in Wisconsin and a lowering of prescription drug prices and health care costs. 

During the rally, Sanders also slammed Trump, calling him a “pathological liar.” 

“The vast majority of the American people distressed by what they saw in Donald Trump,” Sanders said. “They saw a pathological liar who lied and lied and lied.” 

Sanders is barnstorming across the state that he once beat former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) in during the 2016 presidential primaries, shocking many at the time. Clinton went on to lose the state to Trump and was criticized for not spending any time campaigning in the state. 

Biden won Wisconsin by a 21,000 vote margin in 2020. The Republicans will be hosting their convention in Milwaukee in a little less than a month. Earlier this month, Democrats in the state and across the country attacked Trump for reportedly calling Milwaukee “a horrible city” during a meeting with House Republicans.