‘Peak cringe’: New York Times roasted for Biden ‘hottest-bad-boy’ election campaign strategy article

The New York Times is being credited with finally achieving “peak cringe” on the topic of Joe Biden, after the publication of an election strategy article that casts the presidential hopeful as “the hottest bad boy” in media.

The opinion piece by Democratic communications strategist Lis Smith attempts to plot Biden’s course to the White House amidst the unprecedented election scenario brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.

Smith, who was an adviser on Pete Buttigieg’s failed presidential bid, says that the pandemic could be a “blessing in disguise” for Biden, as it offers him the opportunity to skip the grueling travel schedule of a normal presidential election and instead to beat incumbent Donald Trump by broadcasting from his basement.

"If Joe Biden plays his cards right, the death of the traditional presidential campaign will turn out to be a blessing in disguise. The 77-year-old Mr. Biden, whom the president derisively calls 'Sleepy Joe,' can become the hottest bad boy and disrupter in the media gam," Smith writes.

“Instead, he can be digitally omnipresent – at a small fraction of the cost and physical toll – and create a new paradigm for how presidential campaigns communicate in the press for years to come,” she adds.

The Democrat adviser recommends using her former boss Pete Buttigieg, along with Elizabeth Warren, Andrew Yang and Bernie Sanders to help blanket local, national and partisan media.

She also touted Biden’s “human touch” as his greatest campaign asset, a somewhat awkward choice of words given that the 77-year-old has had a sexual assault allegation leveled against him by former staffer Tara Reade.

The article has been panned on Twitter, with Intercept journalist Jeremy Scahill labeling it “peak cringe.” Another vexed responder added: “I had to read it for myself. Thanks, I hate it.” While for one commenter the author of the piece was as far as they could get.

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