Julián Castro questioning Joe Biden’s memory was the most tweeted exchange at Thursday’s Democratic debate and today, it is the most talked-about moment.
Here’s video of that Castro-Biden clash over health care — with Castro repeatedly saying “are you forgetting what you said two minutes ago?”
Already heard from several Dems who called it an ugly + disrespectful exchange. pic.twitter.com/AcOAtX808U
— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) September 13, 2019
Mediaite covered reaction from ABC correspondent Jonathan Karl and contributor Rahm Emanuel:
“I think for Castro — he could have made the point, he had a legitimate point, but its a disqualifier the way he handled it,” Emanuel said. “It will come across as mean and vindictive. That’s not who he is.”
During the next segment, Karl joined ABC’s coverage and found that after reviewing the transcript, “Julian Castro was just flatly wrong … It seemed to me that Biden was right and that Castro mischaracterized what he said.”
And Senator Chris Coons (D-DE) said: “That kind of needless and groundless personal attack out of Julián Castro I think will be promptly rewarded with a drop in the polls.”
.@edokeefe says he heard from campaign aides who called Julian Castro's #DemDebate attacks on Joe Biden "a low blow" and "disqualifying" https://t.co/Ffui0ubVCZ pic.twitter.com/Hgn0q6SPSL
— CBS News (@CBSNews) September 13, 2019
Now Castro has been making the rounds defending his comments. While on with MSNBC, Chris Matthews confronted Castro saying they got word ahead of time that Castro was going “to go on the attack against Biden, that it was all telegraphed.” Castro denied it (watch above). He is also denying it was a comment about age.
Julián Castro defends his criticism of Joe Biden’s memory during last night’s #DemDebate: “I wouldn’t do it differently. That was not a personal attack. This was about a disagreement over what the vice president said regarding health care policy.” https://t.co/yZoeaHTt6K pic.twitter.com/zd3wLU1PyK
— CNN This Morning with Kasie Hunt (@CNNThisMorning) September 13, 2019
While Castro is defending the comment, many fellow Democrats are chiding him for it.
"This is why presidential debates are becoming unwatchable," Pete Buttigieg says after Julián Castro and Joe Biden argue over health care.
Castro: "That's called an election"
"A house divided cannot stand," Amy Klobuchar chimes in https://t.co/FpyGKLIArc #DemDebate pic.twitter.com/BGlH0W3MTi
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) September 13, 2019
Beto O’Rourke on Julián Castro’s jab at Joe Biden’s memory: "That will not defeat Donald Trump. That won’t bring this deeply divided country back together again … That kind of personal attack I don’t think is what we need right now and is insufficient to the challenges we face” pic.twitter.com/EoCA5SIyBG
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) September 13, 2019