There has been ample opportunity to see the hypocrisy from the left as it relates to the Wuhan coronavirus—whether it’s over two sets of rules for protesting, mask-wearing, or social distancing, examples abound. Now, there’s one more instance relating to a traditional aspect of campaigning: door knocking.
For months Democrats and the Biden campaign said they would eschew this practice because it was too unsafe. Biden Campaign Manager Jennifer O’Malley Dillon said campaigning would have to look different amid a pandemic if the campaign “actually cares about its people.” Door knocking was something that “really doesn’t matter” anyway, she said.
DNC spokesperson Lily Adams accused the Trump campaign of “risking the lives of their staff, the lives of voters, and risking becoming a super spreader organization during the middle of a pandemic.”
But the Biden campaign announced this week it will begin the practice in some battleground states after Democratic groups “expressed concerns that its caution about social distancing was closing off a vital tool for reaching voters,” The Wall Street Journal reported. “Hundreds of volunteers will start hitting the streets this week in Nevada, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania, according to a Biden campaign official, with an expansion planned for next week.”
“We’re now expanding on our strategy in a targeted way that puts the safety of communities first and foremost and helps us mobilize voters who are harder to reach by phone now that we’re in the final stretch and now that Americans are fully dialed-in and ready to make their voices heard,” Biden campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon said in a statement.
The dramatic reversal was even pointed out in a Washington Post’s headline: “Biden campaign to begin door knocking after criticizing the Trump campaign for doing the same during the pandemic.”
Indeed, just four days ago, Biden spokesperson Andrew Bates had been continuing the criticism of Republicans for carrying on with the practice and said voters’ reactions would be: “Get the f*** off my doorstep before you give me coronavirus.” Twitter users wondered now if he had an “update on this sentiment.”