President Joe Biden, now 80 years old and running for reelection, suggested during his 1972 U.S. Senate race that his 63-year-old opponent was too old to serve.
When he ran against incumbent Sen. Cale Boggs (R-DE), a former two-term governor, in 1972, Biden, a local councilman in Delaware at 29 years old, used his opponent’s age to criticize him on multiple occasions, CNN first reported.
“Cale doesn’t want to run, he’s lost that old twinkle in his eye he used to have,” Biden said of his opponent in 1972. The then-councilman used the senator’s age enough times that a reporter eventually labeled the tactic “Dear old dad.”
CNN reported that advertisements for Biden in the local paper and on the radio used the line, “He understands what’s happening today,” and targeted the senator’s age by bringing up historical topics from his generation:
“Cale Boggs’ generation dreamed of conquering polio, Joe Biden’s generation dreams of conquering heroin,” read one newspaper ad. “To Cale Boggs an unfair tax was the 1948 poll tax. To Joe Biden an unfair tax is the 1972 income tax,” read another.
One radio advertisement targeted Boggs as too focused on past threats from Russia, while ignoring domestic issues like crime.
“One of the biggest differences between Cale Boggs and Joe Biden is the things they worry about,” said the radio ad. “In Cale Boggs’ day when Stalin ruled, Americans had visions of the Russian soldiers in our streets. In Joe Biden’s day, Americans have visions of American criminals in our streets. Joe Biden, he understands what’s happening today.”
Biden eventually won the election and became one of the youngest senators in the U.S. Senate. In fact, at the time, the Associated Press declared, “Biden stressed age to defeat Boggs.”
White House spokesman Andrew Bates responded to CNN by claiming the president has made “historic progress” and has been “enthusiastically welcomed by younger Americans.” However, despite what the White House claims, a poll released Monday found that only 38 percent of 18 to 29 American registered voters approve of Biden.
Bates also claimed that Biden’s progress included “unprecedented investments” in climate change, his “first-of-its-kind” executive order on police reform, actions to support decriminalizing marijuana, and getting more health coverage for more Americans.
On Tuesday, at 80 years of age, he announced his plans to run for reelection via video format on social media. At the end of a second term, he would be 86.
As Breitbart News’s Joel Pollak noted, Biden’s launch video failed to name a single achievement in his first term or what he has planned in a second term if he is reelected. Instead, the video talked about abortion (“personal freedom”) and “MAGA extremists,” who the president said must be defeated in what he calls the “battle for the soul of our nation.”
Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jbliss@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter @JacobMBliss.
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