Joe Biden at the Final Presidential Debate, October 22, 2020 (a few excerpts)

“…220,000 Americans dead. You hear nothing else, I say tonight, hear this. Anyone who is responsible for not taking control. In fact, not saying I take no responsibility initially. Anyone is responsible for that many deaths should not remain as president of the United States of America. We’re in a situation where there are a thousand deaths a day now. A thousand deaths a day. And there are over 70,000 new cases per day. Compared to what’s going on in Europe as the New England Medical Journal said, they’re starting from a very low rate. We’re starting from a very high rate.

“The expectation is we’ll have another 200,000 Americans dead between now and the end of the year. If we just wore these masks, the president’s own advisors have told him, we can save 100,000 lives. And we’re in a circumstance where the president, thus far, still has no plan, no comprehensive plan.

“What I would do is make sure: we have everyone... wear a mask all the time. I would make sure we move in the direction of rapid testing [and] investing in rapid testing. I would make sure that we set up national standards as to how to open up schools and open up businesses so they can be safe and give them the wherewithal, the financial resources to be able to do that.

“We’re in a situation now where the New England Medical Journal, one of the serious, most serious journals in the whole world said for the first time ever that the way this president has responded to this crisis has been absolutely tragic. And so, folks, I will take care of this. I will end this. I will make sure we have a plan…

“He says that we’re learning to live with it. People are learning to die with it. You folks at home will have an empty chair at the kitchen table this morning. That man or wife going to bed tonight and reaching over to try to touch, there out of habit where their wife or husband was, is gone. Learning to live with it. Come on. We’re dying with it, because he’s never said... ‘It’s dangerous.’ When’s the last time? Is it really dangerous still?... You tell the people it’s dangerous now. What should they do about the danger? And you say, ‘I take no responsibility.’

“…[T]hink about what the President knew in January and didn’t tell the American people. He was told this was a serious virus that spreads in the air, and it was much worse, much worse, than the flu. He went on record and said to one of [his] colleagues, recorded, that in fact he knew how dangerous it was, but he didn’t want to tell us. He didn’t want to tell us because he didn’t want us to panic. He didn’t want us… Americans [to] panic. He panicked! But guess what, in the meantime, we find out in the New York Times the other day, that in fact his folks went to Wall Street and said, ‘This is a really dangerous thing.’ And a memo out of that meeting — not from his administration, but from some of the brokers — said, ‘Sell short, because we’ve got to get moving. It’s a dangerous problem.’

“…What I’m going to do is pass Obamacare with a public option and becomes Biden care. The public option is an option that says that if you in fact do not have the wherewithal, if you qualify for Medicaid and you do not have the wherewithal in your state to get Medicaid, you automatically are enrolled, providing competition for insurance companies. That’s what’s going to happen. Secondly, we’re going to make sure we reduce the premiums and reduce drug prices by making sure that there’s competition. That doesn’t exist now, by allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices with the insurance companies. Thirdly, the idea that I want to eliminate private insurance, the reason why I had such a fight with 20 candidates for the nomination was I support private insurance. That’s why. Not one single person with private insurance would lose their insurance under my plan, nor did they under Obamacare. They [will] not lose their insurance unless they choose to go to something else…

“These 500-plus kids came with parents. They separated them at the border to make it a disincentive to come [here] to begin with... Coyotes didn’t bring them over. Their parents were with them. They got separated from their parents. And it makes us a laughingstock and violates every notion of who we are as a nation… Their kids were ripped from their arms and separated, and now they cannot find... those parents, and those kids are alone. Nowhere to go. Nowhere to go. It’s criminal. It’s criminal…

“The fact of the matter is, there is institutional racism in America. And we have always said, we’ve never lived up to it, that we hold these truths to be self-evident, all men and women are created equal. Well, guess what, we have never, ever lived up to it. But we’ve always been moving the needle further and further to inclusion, not exclusion. This is the first president to come along and says, that’s the end of that. We’re not going to do that anymore. We have to provide for economic opportunity, better education, better healthcare, better access to schooling, better access to opportunity to borrow money to start businesses, all the things we can do. And I’ve laid out a clear plan as to how to do those things just to give people a shot. It’s about accumulating the ability to have wealth as well as it is to be free from violence…

“[He] is one of the most racist presidents we’ve had in modern history, he pours fuel on every single racist fire, every single one. [He] started off his campaign coming down the escalator saying he’s getting rid of those Mexican rapists; he’s banning Muslims because they’re Muslims. He has... made everything worse across the board...  About the Proud Boys, last time we were on stage here he said, ‘I tell them to stand down and stand ready.’ Come on, this guy has a dog whistle about as big as a foghorn…

“Climate change, global warming is an existential threat to humanity. We have a moral obligation to deal with it. And we’re told by all the leading scientists in the world we don’t have much time. We’re going to pass the point of no return within the next 8 to 10 years. Four more years of this man eliminating all the regulations that were put in by us to clean up the climate… To limit the emissions will put us in a position where we’re going to be in real trouble. Here’s where we have a great opportunity. I was able to get both the environmental organizations as well as the labor, [and] the people worried about jobs, to support my climate plan…

“I do rule out banning fracking because... we need other industries to transition, to get to ultimately a complete zero emissions by 2025. What I will do with fracking over time is make sure that we can capture the emissions from fracking [and] capture the emissions from gas. We can do that, and we can do that by investing money in doing it, but it’s a transition…

“When I was growing up in Claymont, Delaware there [were] more oil refineries in Marcus Hook and the Delaware River than there is any place, including in Houston at the time. When my mom got in the car to drive me to school during the first frost, turning the windshield wiper on, there [would be an] oil slick on the window. That’s why so many people in my state were dying and getting cancer. The fact is those frontline communities — it’s not a matter of what you’re paying them — it matters how you keep them safe. What do you do? You impose restrictions on the pollutions…

“I’m an American President. I represent all of you, whether you voted for me or against me, and I’m going to make sure that you’re represented. I’m going to give you hope. We’re going to move; we’re going to choose science over fiction. We’re going to choose hope over fear. We’re going to choose to move forward because we have enormous opportunities, enormous opportunities to make things better.

“We can grow this economy; we can deal with the systemic racism. At the same time, we can make sure that our economy is being run and moved and motivated by clean energy, creating millions of new jobs. That’s the fact, that’s what we’re going to do.

“And I’m going to say, as I said at the beginning, what is on the ballot here is the character of this country. Decency, honor, respect. Treating people with dignity, making sure that everyone has an even chance. And I’m going to make sure you get that. You haven’t been getting it the last four years”—Joe Biden (rev.com).