SAM ROSENTHAL, sam@rootsaction.org, @Roots_Action
JEFF COHEN, jeff@rootsaction.org,
Rosenthal and Cohen are with the Step Aside Joe campaign, a project of RootsAction, which just released a statement: “We dread a re-run of 2016, when all the background noise about alleged Hillary Clinton corruption – such as high-paid corporate speeches and Clinton Foundation donations – hurt her with some voters on the fence. Pro-Biden news outlets have so far generally played down the evidence, but during a very personalized, one-on-one Biden vs. GOP candidate race, we think that drumbeats about alleged corruption of Biden and his family would have significant impact on some swing voters. We believe it’s one more reason Biden is a risky candidate.

“Right-wing partisans on Capitol Hill and in media tend to exaggerate every piece of evidence that makes Biden look bad, but even undecided voters might wonder about certain basic questions: For instance, as vice president, why was Biden the White House point person on Ukraine when his son was pocketing big sums of money from business interests there? Similarly, why was Hunter Biden flying to China aboard Air Force Two when Hunter had private business interests there?

“Such self-enrichment allegations against the Biden family reduce the effectiveness of Democratic attacks on Trump’s get-richer-quick hustles and GOP corruption in general. Likewise, Biden’s mishandling of classified documents has reduced his ability to critique Trump’s more egregious mishandling of such documents.

 “As the group that launched Don’t Run Joe a year ago and now is persisting with the Step Aside Joe campaign, RootsAction believes there are more profound and crucial problems with the Biden campaign than corruption. We want a Democratic nominee who is progressive and dynamic – and can be a strong candidate against the Republican contender. Biden does not qualify.”

Rosenthal is the political director of RootsAction. Cohen is the co-founder of the group.