‘|! know how to do this job: Biden seeks to repair debate disaster

His team in damage control mode even as New York Times urges him to step aside

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RALEIGH, North Carolina - A firedup Joe Biden came out swinging on June 28 as he tried to make up for a disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump, insisting he was the right man to win November's presidential election.

US President Biden's appearance at a campaign rally in the battleground state of North Carolina came amid rumblings in his alarmed Democratic Party about replacing the 81-year-old as their nominee and shortly before the nation's most influential newspaper urged him to step aside.

"I don't walk as easy as I used to. I don't speak as smoothly as I used to. I don't debate as well as I used to," Mr Biden admitted to supporters in unusually confessional remarks.

"But I know how to tell the truth.

I know how to do this job," he said to huge cheers, vowing that "when you get knocked down, you get back up".

Mr Biden's team was in damage control mode after the June 27 debate when he often hesitated, tripped over words and lost his train of thought - exacerbating fears about his ability to serve another term.

He had hoped to allay qualms about his advanced age, and to expose Trump as a habitual liar.

But the President failed to counter his bombastic rival, who delivered an unchallenged reel of false or misleading statements about everything from the economy to immigration.