The New York Times’ Thomas Friedman’s suggested debate conditions for Joe Biden are obviously designed to help protect the Democrat nominee from going up against President Trump has Sen. Ted Cruz mocking Friedman’s column by proposing some other debate conditions.

But CNN analyst and former Bill Clinton press secretary Joe Lockhart is, like Friedman, helping the Biden campaign come up with excuses for not taking the debate stage:

Really?

Maybe Trump’s counteroffer should be “no debates, no tax returns.”

It’s abundantly clear that Democrats and the Biden campaign do not want their candidate speaking off-the-cuff on a stage during a debate with Trump.