Bernie Sanders urges Dems to 'stop the bickering' and back Biden

• Sen. Bernie Sanders urged Democrats to "stop the bickering" and support President Joe Biden against former President Donald Trump.
• Sanders admonished Democrats who have called for Biden to withdraw from the race following his disastrous debate performance, and chastised the media for "obsessively" focusing on Biden's health.
• Biden has repeatedly rejected the push for his withdrawal.

Sen. Bernie Sanders urged Democrats to "stop the bickering" and support President Joe Biden, admonishing those who have been spurred by fears about the incumbent's health to call for a new nominee to compete against former President Donald Trump.

"Enough!" Sanders, an independent from Vermont who caucuses with Democrats, wrote in a New York Times op-ed published Saturday.

"Mr. Biden may not be the ideal candidate, but he will be the candidate and should be the candidate," Sanders wrote. "And with an effective campaign that speaks to the needs of working families, he will not only defeat Mr. Trump but beat him badly."

Sanders, who at 82 is the second-oldest sitting U.S. senator after Iowa Republican Chuck Grassley, also chastised the "corporate media" for "obsessively" focusing on Biden's cognitive capabilities.

"The media has frantically searched for every living human being who no longer supports the president or any neurologist who wants to appear on TV," Sanders wrote.

"Unfortunately, too many Democrats have joined that circular firing squad."

Sanders' op-ed is the latest attempt to shore up Democratic support for the presidential ticket, which is suffering an unprecedented crisis of confidence following Biden's disastrous debate against Trump in late June.

Biden, 81, looked stiff and occasionally unfocused in that debate, and the answers