Joe Biden apparently doesn't care if you vote for him. No, really. On Tuesday in Iowa the former vice-president had the latest in a series of bizarre encounters with potential voters, telling a man who asked him about the issue of building new pipelines and where he stood on the climate crisis to "go vote for someone else".
The man, the former Iowa state representative Ed Fallon, said that he would support him in the general election against Donald Trump but not in the Iowa primary, which irked Biden, who wrongly assumed he was a Bernie Sanders supporter.
"You're asking [for] a picture of me, coming in to tell me you don't support me, my plan," Biden said.
"In the general. I'm running for a primary, a caucus, that's what I'm running for, OK," he said pointing in the man's chest.
Biden then assumed the man was a Sanders supporter, to which the man replied: "I'm actually supporting Tom Steyer."
"This is no way to treat an Iowan," Steyer
responded on Twitter. "He said he'd vote for the Dem in the general b/c he knows how important it is to beat Trump. We need immediate action on climate. If you don't agree, happy to talk @ debate. But don't take it out on voters we need to win in Nov."It wasn't the first time Biden had suggested he didn't want someone's vote. In November, he
dismissed questions from Carlos Rojas, a member of the immigrant support group the Movimiento Cosecha, over the Obama administration's deportations."You should vote for Trump," Biden told him."You have the power to stop all deportations on day one through executive actions," Rojas continued, before chants from the crowd joined in with him. He would later be hired by the Sanders campaign.
The previous month in North Carolina, Biden
was dismissive of an 18-year-old member of the Sunrise Movement who expressed concern over his acceptance of Super Pac donations. "Look at my record, child," he said
He would have another argument with a member of the same group in December over the issue of fracking. After being unable to see eye to eye on the issue of banning the use of fossil fuels, Biden dismissed him.
"Well, you oughta vote for someone else," he said.
Throughout much of the primary Biden's status as the frontrunner may have provided him some leeway to dismiss voters. But with a surging Sanders he may come to regret it. He might need all the votes he can get.
