Hillary Clinton made a peculiar campaign pitch for her embattled ally Joe Biden, urging Americans to "accept the reality" that he is old and vote for him anyway.

The comments from Clinton are a sign of how Democrats plan to address the issue going forward, with doubts growing louder over Biden's fitness ahead of the presidential election.

Democrats have shifted to a strategy of deflection, with Clinton arguing that "democracy" is at risk from Donald Trump.

Clinton's bizarre pitch

She also sought to draw an equivalence between Biden, 81, and Trump, 77, arguing that age is a problem for them both - but only Trump is threatening to the country's institutions.

"Somebody the other day said to me … 'Well, but, you know, Joe Biden's old.' I said, 'You know what, Joe Biden is old. Let's go ahead and accept the reality. Joe Biden is old," Clinton, 76, said in an interview with SiriusXM's Mornings With Zerlina.

"So we have a contest between one candidate who's old but who's done an effective job and doesn't threaten our democracy," she continued.

"And we have another candidate who is old, barely makes sense when he talks, is dangerous, and threatens our democracy."

“Pick between your two old ones and figure out how you’re going to save our democracy."

“Because no matter where you stand on the political spectrum, you want to maintain freedom, and the rule of law, and protection for people’s fundamental rights, or at least I used to think so."

Dems short on material?

Biden, in his State of the Union on Thursday night, conveyed a similar message, comparing Trump to Hitler and Vladimir Putin.

Trump has argued the shoe is on the other foot, casting Biden as a tyrant who is trying to interfere in the presidential election by jailing his political opponent.

Multiple criminal prosecutions against Trump have appeared to unravel, leaving Biden and his allies with the difficult task of convincing voters of Biden's merits.

Biden and his top surrogates appear to be short on material, as Clinton's comments make clear. When the public is concerned that the president may be going senile, "get over it" is not exactly a persuasive message.

A recent New York Times poll found that a majority of Biden's own 2020 voters think he is too old to run again. 73% of all registered voters said the same thing, while just 42% said the same about Trump.