More on the oft-discussed topic of Biden’s cognitive health and what the Democrats might do about it, as well as what the MSM says about it
[Hat tip: Scott Johnson at Powerline.]
The question of Joe Biden’s age, recently vaulted onto front pages by the devastating Hur report on the President’s retention of classified material, has become a political football. Montages of Biden’s senior moments, his trips on the stairs, his new sturdy sneakers, his bizarre whispering, his frequent confusion etc etc etc have become staples in opposition news dumps.
But that’s been highlighted on the right for his entire presidency and even during his 2020 candidacy. It was just that the MSM protected him.
To a certain extent, the MSM still does. But now the MSM reporters go back and forth between denial that anything is wrong other than a few “gaffes” – which is their old line – and admitting that he’s not quite as sharp as he used to be.
Biden is clearly in some sort of decline, but he never was mentally sharp and he always lied or made egregious errors that the MSM would have called him out on had he not been useful to the Democrats. In fact, back in the 1980s, when Biden was not senile and was just one of a large group of presidential candidates, the MSM did call him out on his plagiarism.
This Time article is from 2019; the topic is his campaign for the 1988 nomination for president [emphasis added]:
“Then, as now in fact, Biden is not as fast on his feet as a successful candidate usually is,” argues Laurence I. Barrett, a former TIME national political correspondent who profiled Biden during his three-month-long presidential bid in the run-up to the 1988 election. …
Not that the candidate was without his drawbacks: “Biden’s mouth is both his greatest asset and his greatest liability,” Barrett wrote [in 1987] shortly after Biden announced his candidacy. That analysis would prove enduringly prescient.
A few days before [the Bork hearings] began, video surfaced that spliced together footage of U.K. Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock giving a speech and Biden clearly quoting Kinnock at the Iowa State Fair without attribution. More examples of misattribution came to light, and the plagiarism scandal became more memorable than [Biden’s] leadership during the Bork confirmation hearing. His mouth — or rather, what he failed to say — got him in trouble again.
Here’s how TIME described [the article is from 1987] why the fallout was so intense:
[T]he Biden brouhaha illustrates the six deadly requirements for a crippling political scandal.
1) A Pre-Existing Subtext. “The basic rap against Biden,” explains Democratic Pollster Geoff Garin, “is that he’s a candidate of style, not substance.”
2) An Awkward Revelation. The Kinnock kleptomania was particularly damaging to Biden since it underscored the prior concerns that he was a shallow vessel for other people’s ideas.
3) A Maladroit Response. Top Aide Tom Donilon claimed that Biden failed to credit Kinnock because “he didn’t know what he was saying. He was on autopilot.”
4) The Press Piles On. Once textual fidelity became an issue, reporters found earlier cases in which Biden had failed to give proper citation to Humphrey and Robert Kennedy. By themselves these transgressions would not have been worth noting.
5) The Discovery of Youthful Folly. During his first months at Syracuse University Law School, in 1965, Biden failed a course because he wrote a paper that used five pages from a published law-review article without quotation marks or a proper footnote. Since Biden was allowed to make up the course, the revelation was front-page news only because it kept the copycat contretemps alive.
6) An Overwrought Press Conference. With a rambling and disjointed opening statement, Biden failed to reap the benefits of public confession, even though he called himself “stupid” and his actions “a mistake.” Part of the problem is that he contradicted himself by also insisting that it was “ludicrous” to attribute every political idea.
The “final blow” for the campaign came when Newsweek unearthed C-SPAN footage of Biden rattling off his academic accomplishments, including saying that he graduated in the top half of his law school, when in fact, he ranked 76th out of 85.
Note the following: he’s not a candidate of substance, he’s “a shallow vessel for other people’s ideas,” “he didn’t know what he was saying,” he gave “a rambling and disjointed opening statement,” and he lied about his accomplishments and was a serial plagiarizer. All known and acknowledged in 1987, when the MSM could afford to notice because there were plenty of other candidates. If Biden had revealed himself to be one of the weaker candidates instead of one of the stronger ones, then he was dispensible and the MSM would help get rid of him by highlighting these flaws.
In 2008, Obama picked him, partly for this very reason: that he is “a shallow vessel for other people’s ideas.” That’s exactly what Obama needed. Biden also had the undeserved reputation – which the MSM would support because of its need to have Obama win – of being a mature and seasoned expert on government and especially foreign policy. And so, although Biden was neither of these things, the press was all too happy to ignore that fact, especially when it was revealed during Biden’s debate against the supposedly ignorant Sarah Palin.
If you’ve forgotten what Biden said in that debate, here’s something to refresh your memory. The whole thing is worth reading, but here are a few examples, especially a relevant one on foreign policy:
“Article I of the Constitution defines the role of the vice president of the United States, that’s the Executive Branch,” Sen. Biden said, dismissing Sarah Palin’s expressed intention to play a role in legislative affairs.
Article I of the Constitution defines the role of Congress, the legislative branch, and declares that “The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no vote, unless they be equally divided.” That is the only responsibility of the vice president delineated anywhere in the Constitution. …
“When we kicked — along with France, we kicked Hezbollah out of Lebanon,” Sen. Biden said.
“Biden said the strangest and most ill-informed thing I have ever heard about Lebanon in my life,” said Michael Totten, who reported from there during the so-called Cedar Revolution. “Nobody has ever kicked Hezbollah out of Lebanon. Not the United States. Not France. Not Israel. And not the Lebanese. Nobody. Joe Biden has literally no idea what he is talking about.”
Despite that, the MSM coverage focused on Palin and her supposed errors, and often took this form. An excerpt:
Biden offered a fluent, self-assured performance of the sort that cannot be especially hard for him after two presidential campaigns, 35 years in the Senate and countless appearances on Sunday morning programs. People impressed by references to legislation, or citations of his record in world hot spots from Bosnia to Darfur, got these in spades.
Hezbollah – what’s that?
We all saw years later in 2020 how the MSM covered for Biden, when his decline – from the supposed high-water mark of 2008 – was obvious. The current back-and-forth on the issue of his cognitive function reflects, I believe, a behind-the-scenes uncertainty and dissension on what to do about it. There is probably a wing that thinks keeping him is okay – perhaps the “rigging” and the “fortifying” or the anti-Trump lawfare, or some combination of all of them, will pull Joe across the finish line. Another wing almost certainly thinks he needs to go, and if they can figure out the best way to do that and the best person to replace him, they will.
And the MSM will do their bidding.
But why have a stupid, dishonest, corrupt person as your candidate, unless your party was good with that?
A Special Counsel determines that Biden broke laws but will not be prosecuted because of his deteriorating mental condition. The Democrats insist Biden is “just fine.” Democrats are not “just fine.”
Because Decent Joe’s useful.
(Ah, but useful to whom, you might ask…?)
…and for what?
Yes they are fine with it
The huntress was more right on matters than shambling had forgotten she was naive in some ways that maverick would not betray her like he had done other women in his life likewise by schmidt and wallace
It does seem some people are perpetuated despite all the harm they do and some are driven from public life conversely
Btw she predicted the ukraine invasion that many years ago
She saw what was at stake in 2008 i havent veered from that in 15 years
the six deadly requirements
That 6 part list a choice description of the toxic mess that is Joe Biden.
with biden, this is more than a mere mistatement, the French and the US did support Hariri, but Hezbollah blew him up, there was an investigation the Mehlis report, but many of the witnesses were intimidated, the mastermind was probably Imad Mugniyeh, the terror of the 1980s in Beirut, as far as Buenos Aires, but that was largely Mossads doing, I think there were some charges in absentia, but nothing concrete came of it, of course Hezbollah launched attacks into Israel in 2012 and 2014, this is so far from the truth, to be almost funny,
one might say Beirut is like China Town, as the police captain tells Gittes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mehlis_report
now among Biden’s brain trust at the time was Sam Nunn and another swamp thing, who occasionally pops to speak nostrums on Morning Joke, Richard Haas these fakirs all sound alike, he was the one that the Perky Katie used as a sounding board, asking questions of Palin that were patently ridiculous, interesting Biden opposed the Gulf War but voted for the Iraq War, perhaps on the advice of another one of these brahmins Peter Galbraith, who did occasionally some good work, like uncovering Halabja but was just as often pushing his grift, like Norwegian concessions in Kurdish lands or trying to topple Karzai, in an opera buffa version of the Diem coup, where the punchline is we all lost, eventually Ghani replaced Karzai how did that work out,
POTUS Biden made a trek to the border. For what?
1. To talk about the unseasonable wildfires in Texas. Climate change, ya know.
2. To tell the locals in the Brownsville area how much money he’s going to spend on infrastructure in their area. A new bridge, no less.
3. To explain that the immigration system is broken and cannot be fixed unless the Republicans get on board and pass his bipartisan border bill, which calls for spending a lot more money to process the illegals. (Although he didn’t use that term.) He claimed that his hands were tied without the bill.
It was not a stop intended to explain how he’s going to fix the illegal alien crisis. Nope, it was a campaign speech to tell voters how much of their money he’s going to spend on them, to champion his climate change program, and to blame the GOP controlled house for being unwilling to “compromise.” which he explained is a necessary part of government. (Except when he has to do it.)
I used my anger management skills as I watched his speech by shouting BS!! at the appropriate points.
Joe has always been a prevaricator par excellence, but he was in fine form today.
For a change, he seemed relatively alert, didn’t make many gaffes, and knew where to go after his talk. I think they may be using uppers. Or maybe he just had a good day cognitively speaking. 🙂
I just heard a couple of brief excerpts from that Biden speech, J.J., and I understand why you were shouting.
I heard it in Spanish, it was more rambling, and they sped it up 3X to make it seem self aware, Even people in Brownsville which used to be a major crossing point 30 years ago, know the score,
Biden was expendable the first two times he ran for president. If he slipped under the bus nobody was going to pull him out and save him. In 2020 he was indispensable. He was the only candidate who could unify the party. Biden actually was the Democrat with the best chance of winning. So now, is he expendable or indispensable to his party and its donors/owners?
An experienced and competent interviewer could destroy Biden with three questions or in three minutes. But Biden’s staff takes care to ensure that he never faces such an interviewer, and the major media isn’t going to ask him any tough questions. Also, destroying Biden would hurt the party and the replacement nominee, so Democrats and the media aren’t going to risk it. Barring a health crisis, Biden’s not going to step down now and his side isn’t going to force him out.
Michael Barone on the Biden-Palin debate:
I thought Sarah Palin won–because she (far) exceeded expectations, because she showed considerable suppleness (countering Joe Biden’s statement that the commanding general said that John McCain’s surge strategy would not work in Afghanistan), and spotlighted her winning personality. She showed the same smiling confidence that she did in her acceptance speech September 3 and that was missing in her interview with Katie Couric. Biden’s performance was by and large acceptable, but he made some significant misstatements, notably on the Constitution. Article I of the Constitution is not about the executive branch, as Biden said, but about the legislative branch, in which Biden has served for 35 years. And the vice president doesn’t preside over the Senate just in cases of ties; he (or she) is entitled to preside over the Senate at any time. Imagine the uproar from Mainstream Media if Palin had made such errors! She does seem to be taking a little flak over her seemingly bizarre statement that she would seek more constitutional powers for the vice presidency. But, as you may remember, Lyndon Johnson, one of our most experienced vice presidents, sought to continue to attend Democratic Caucus meetings after he was elected vice president. He was hastily disinvited.
…Biden clearly quoting Kinnock at the Iowa State Fair without attribution. More examples of misattribution came to light…
It was non-attribution, not “misattribution.” Typical Time/leftist lying.
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Long story short: Biden is a lying fool and a scoundrel. But you knew that.
The Biden Dilemma is truly a case where the Democrats have been hoist by their own petard.
Wiki says I got the preposition wrong, but so do enough other people that it’s generally accepted.
Next time I will look before I leap.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoist_with_his_own_petard
Regarding what the Dems might do about it:
Early in the Democrat convention, in prime time, Biden will make a speech that he has decided not to run. It will be emotional and big on patriotism and love of country. This will be huge news and draw all eyes to the convention for the rest of the week.
The Dems will appear to be in shock and “scramble” to put together a slate of candidates for delegates to vote on. This will consume at least one news cycle. Kamala Harris will be one of the candidates. She may, or may not declare that she does not wish to run (and later receive some pre-arranged sinecure that sets her and Doug up for life; Netflix deal, book deal, K Street gig…)
Several days of the Convention will involve people lauding Joe and his Presidency and plumping for each of the candidates. The ratings will be massive. This DNC version of “The Apprentice” will be Y-U-G-E!
After several ballots a candidate will be selected. He or she will be young-ish and accept the nomination with humility. He or she will have none of the baggage of the current administration; bad economy, bad immigration policy… “I come to heal, not divide, etc…”
This all happens in August and after the RNC convention giving the Republicans little time to adjust.
Game, set, match.
The Biden crime family is over without Jo Jo. They don’t have a Michael. They don’t even have a Fredo. They have Hunter. No more money and no protection. The wolves will on them like a wounded moose.
Hes not a beloved old man hes a corrupt hack who has wrecked this country fine put up kamala as slattern in chief
I think Rufus may have correctly predicted what the Dems will do at their convention. But who will they select? For some reason, Hakeem Jeffries comes to mind. Young, energetic, reminds voters of Obama, and he can therefore finish what Barack started.
It would be like caligula replacing himself
Leonard jeffries (ice people) nephew ok