Democratic 2020 frontrunner Joe Biden is reliably gaffe-prone and is leading in the polls chiefly due to his association with former President Barack Obama, according to Sean Spicer.
The former vice president's name identification is another reason he leads a pack of more than 20 candidates -- not because he is running a good campaign, Spicer, a former White House press secretary under President Trump. said Friday on Fox News' "Hannity."
"I think there's a false narrative out there that Joe Biden is some sort of political success," Spicer told guest host Jason Chaffetz. "He's been saying dumb things since he was first elected in the early 1970s. He has run for president twice and epically failed.
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"I think there's a false narrative out there that Joe Biden is some sort of political success. He's been saying dumb things since he was first elected in the early 1970s. He has run for president twice and epically failed."
"Biden right now benefits from eight years of ... being vice president to, frankly, a popular president from the Democratic Party."
However, Biden's penchant for making public gaffes and the absence of Obama at his side will hurt him when he joins his fellow contenders for next week's primary debates in Miami, Spicer said.
"He is a flip-flopping gaffe machine," Spicer claimed.
"Right now, once the other candidates have an opportunity to go after him on the debate stage coming up ... and he doesn't have Obama to carry the ticket, he will fail epically as he has twice before."
Most recently, Biden remained defiant after making comments about how he was able to work well with former Sens. Herman Talmadge, D-Ga., and James O. Eastland, D-Miss., despite the fact they were avowed segregationists.
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Biden's campaign defended the comments while the candidate himself rebuffed calls for his apology -- and has fired back at his critics.
“Apologize for what?” Biden told reporters Wednesday night when asked about the criticism over his remarks. “Not a racist bone in my body. I've been involved in civil rights my whole career. Period. Period. Period.”
Fox News' Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
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