POOL
Warm Springs, Georgia - 27 October 2020
1. SOUNDBITE (English) Joe Biden, US Democratic presidential nominee:
"The tragic truth of our time is that COVID has left a deep and lasting wound in this country."
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2. SOUNDBITE (English) Joe Biden, US Democratic presidential nominee:
"If you give me the honor of serving as your president. Clear the decks for action, for we will act. We will act on the first day of my presidency to get COVID under control."
++SOUNDBITES SEPARATED BY WHITE FLASH++
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Joe Biden, US Democratic presidential nominee:
"This place, Warm Springs, is a reminder that though broken. Each of us can be healed. That as a people and a country, we can overcome this devastating virus. That we can heal a suffering world. And, yes, we can restore our soul and save our country."
++SOUNDBITES SEPARATED BY WHITE FLASH++
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Joe Biden, US Democratic presidential nominee:
"This administration has yet to offer a single plan. Yes, one of the reasons why the most one of most prestigious medical journals in the world, the New England Journal of Medicine, called the president, quote, 'dangerously incompetent." Went on to say president turned a crisis into a tragedy.'"
++SOUNDBITES SEPARATED BY WHITE FLASH++
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Joe Biden, US Democratic presidential nominee:
"Then his chief of staff just last week made a stunning admission. An admission that I believe, but never thought he'd say. Saying, quote, 'We're not going to control the pandemic,' end of quote. 'We're not going to control the pandemic.' It's a capitulation. It's a waving of a white flag. It's a window into the shocking truth about this White House -- that they've never really tried."
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FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4294630
Joe Biden is telling Americans to "clear the decks for action" on everything from the coronavirus pandemic to the economy if he is elected president.
In remarks at Warm Springs, Georgia, Biden went after President Donald Trump and his administration for saying they can't contain the virus, calling it a "capitulation" and "a waving of a white flag" on the virus. Biden said it revealed "the shocking truth of this White House: that they've never really tried" to deal with the pandemic. He says Trump "turned a crisis into a tragedy."
In contrast with Trump, Biden pledged that he would act "on the first day of my presidency to get COVID under control." Biden also said he'd pass an economic plan that would "finally reward work," a health care plan and a climate plan, and he pledged to address systemic racism.
Biden is offering a hopeful call for healing in the face of the "lasting wound" the coronavirus pandemic has left on the country.
With just a week left until Election Day, Biden is making his closing pitch to the nation with a message focused on unity and a call to rise above the division he says Trump has sown while in office. It's a message with which Biden launched his campaign in May 2019, and it's one he's returned to again and again as he's sought to draw a contrast with Trump.
Previously, Biden's last major speech on the theme of unity was held at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in early October. His setting Tuesday was intentional as well: Warm Springs was home to Franklin D. Roosevelt's private retreat and where he came to recover from polio. Biden made reference to the history made there under Roosevelt, saying the site was "a reminder that, though broken, each of us can be healed" and the country "can overcome this devastating virus" and "heal a suffering world."
The remarks come as Biden made a late play for Georgia, a traditionally red state where Democrats see an opening because of Trump's mishandling of the pandemic. He's also slated to speak at a drive-in rally in Atlanta on Tuesday evening.
