Parkinson’s is not really the issue – cognitive ability is the issue
It’s possible the public has been lied to about whether Biden has Parkinson’s, and is still being lied to about it. That would be serious, but not new. We’re used to being lied to quite regularly in order to protect Democrats and harm Republicans.
On the other hand, Parkinson’s is often not an easy diagnosis to make even for experts, and if Biden has it (and I happen to think he does, or some related illness) he has an atypical case without the characteristic tremor. That happens sometimes.
But why would a Parkinson’s diagnosis matter, except in terms of truth-telling versus lies? The motor problems characteristic of Parkinson’s wouldn’t necessarily be a bar to being a competent president. But two problems that often go with Parkinson’s would be. The first is fatigue, one of the most common and debilitating symptoms of Parkinson’s. And the second is, of course, dementia.
Biden either has those symptoms – irrespective of a Parkinson’s diagnosis – or he doesn’t. He certainly seems to have both. That’s the issue, of course.
We have zero reason to trust the Biden camp on this, or the Democrats, or the press, or even his doctors.
One thing that has become quite clear is that the 25th Amendment is unworkable unless an administration can be trusted to have the integrity to apply it when necessary, and to have the good of the country at heart. This is obviously not the case right now, and I wonder whether it will ever be the case again. Maybe it’s been a long long time since it was ever the case. Power corrupts, and people in power ordinarily wish to cling to it.
I was surprised to see on Fox, that someone had searched the White House visitors logs and discovered many visits by a Parkinson’s expert. And there didn’t seem to be an easy or benign explanation for it.
Yesterday, Mark Levin was pointing out that Kamala Harris as VP has the responsibility ( my para phrase) to push the 25 th Amendment.
I suspect that the nature of the thing is that Biden gets by during the day but must take breaks and quit earlier in the day than most Presidents in modern times.
That debate started at 9 PM Eastern Time and probably ended after Biden normally is retired for the night.
Based on various things I have read.
Someone could resurrect that old Hillary political add about the call to the President in the middle of the night. Wasn’t that the Hillary campaign?
Well yes, it was…except that that huge “H” stood for “Hypocrisy” and the directional arrow stood for “Up Yours’”…
– – – – – – – – –
“…Kamala Harris…has the responsibility…”
Never realized that Mark Levin had that lively a sense of humor…
I suspect that the 25th A letter has been drafted and some of the cabinet members have been asked about signing the letter. The reason would be that 3 am call sometime in the future.
Well, I hope they are thinking that far ahead.
A struggle with Parkinson’s would likely get Biden labeled “heroic,” as I guess was true of the fictional president in “The West Wing” and his struggle with MS.
BTW, I never watched “The West Wing” but reading about it now, it’s not hard to miss how drawn the Democrats are to political fantasy.
“…heroic…”
Yer certainly onto something:
Nor should anyone forget—Evuh!—Decent Joe’s HEROIC, unadulterated, undying love for his (kinky, degenerate, feral) prodigal son…
Nor should anyone forget—Evuh!—Decent Joe’s HEROIC, unadulterated, undying love for his (kinky, degenerate, feral) prodigal son…
Tucker Carlson has talked about his friendship with Hunter in the past and conversations about addiction. He commented that he really liked Hunter’s wife, who often accompanied Joe on long trips when “Doctor Jill” didn’t go. One of the very few human things I have heard from Michelle Obama is her anger at Hunter for his treatment of that first wife who Michelle liked.
“Come the Revolution”… as it were, it seems to me that one thing that is needed is an independent body, not staffed by anyone who is, or has been, or has any relation to, or any relation in… the government — state, OR federal.
And who automatically has “standing” for any @#$#$% damned legal case they, the group, choose to bring a suit in regards to.
}}} One of the very few human things I have heard from Michelle Obama is her anger at Hunter for his treatment of that first wife who Michelle liked.
Nothing “human” needed for that. He was a “bad man mistreating a woman”. This automatically makes him into the devil incarnate, to someone like MO. You don’t need to know any facts about things, because that’s the whole point of “Me Too!!” women are never ever responsible, under any circumstances.
And no, I’m not saying Hunter isn’t/wasn’t a total dick in this case. I’m saying it wouldn’t matter if he was a total dick or Little Lord Fauntleroy, and her Snow White’s stepmother. He would be at fault.
Parkinson’s is not really the issue – cognitive ability is the issue
–neo
Not entirely. People relate to other people on the basis of nonverbal cues as well as what they think and say.
Citizens don’t want their top leader unable to speak clearly or shuffling around with poor gait and fixed facial expressions, however sharp that leader may be cognitively.
It doesn’t make a good statement either when such a leader meets with other leaders, especially gangster types like Putin and Xi. When a leader looks old and frail, he gets picked off by the younger and stronger.
That’s just the way we are.
Forget it, Jake. It’s biology.
the 25th Amendment is unworkable unless an administration can be trusted to have the integrity to apply it when necessary, and to have the good of the country at heart.
The 25th Amendment is not a one-step process, and that’s why it’s not going to happen. It gives Biden the right to dispute the inability. A President functional enough to dispute it simply won’t be removed through that process, by design. If Biden (or someone acting for him, like the First Lady) disputes Harris and the Cabinet, he gets his powers back or it goes to Congress to decide.
Harris is not going to do something that won’t work. The bar for Congress–it’s not JUST up to the administration–to enforce removal under the 25th Amendment is significantly higher than it is for impeachment and removal, a 2/3 majority of both Houses. As it SHOULD be. We really don’t want it to be too easy for a VP and a Cabinet to eject an elected President. They would have done it to Trump if it were, the media talking heads were talking about it a few years ago:
If Harris and the Cabinet did it tomorrow, Biden would dispute it and be in front of every camera complaining about it, calling in every favor he’s owed in DC and rattling every skeleton in every closet. There is no way 2/3 of both Houses would agree to make the removal stick. Only 37 Senators, or a handful of the Cabinet, would have to take Biden’s side and he’d get his powers back.
And then there’d be some epic revenge taken.
The 25th would work for a comatose President or one held hostage, but not one who can have a letter drafted for him sign.
Chuck Schumer did his best Pontius Pilate impression, repeating three times “I’m with Joe” as he shakes water from his hands.
Re: 25th Amendment
Jon Stewart is on when he is on.
After dismantling Biden for his absurd and incoherent remarks during the debate, Jon Stewart then showed a segment of Biden listening while Trump spoke, and distilled three shots of Biden with mouth agape looking confused.
_________________________________
[Stewart ran through his quizzical “How can this be?” expressions, paused, then explained:]
A lot of people have resting 25th Amendment face.
_________________________________
Which is a reference to a rather unpleasant expression applied to some women for “resting bitch face.”
Parkinsonian conditions are more easily defusible, or diffusible, from the position of a Presidential Spokesman handling difficult questions. Is it Parkinson’s disease, or just Parkinsonism? Either of these could be used to confuse the issue, to steer questions that lead to a culdesac. A smaller segment of the population will know what these two words actually mean, and the reality of living with either condition. A very much smaller segment will know the distinction between the two, and what it means.
Senile? Dementia? Everybody knows what those are. We don’t want Joe being identified with those things.
The buzz on X from a long list of Lefty “influencers” is “I’m with Joe”. Even Maria Shriver reposted/quoted a post declaring vote for Team Biden.
They really don’t have any other option. Their Ace in the hole is the readily available fake ID and 10 million illegal aliens. No path to audits in the swing states. Math.
Most doctors are very reluctant to diagnose someone who they have not examined, but here is a video, from NBC, of a very credentialed Neurologist–a self identified Democrat, by the way–whose practice focuses on Parkinsons, who says that just given the symptoms which the public has seen, he could ID Biden as having Parkinsons from across the room. *
* See https://pjmedia.com/paula-bolyard/2024/07/09/democrat-nbc-neurologist-blows-up-biden-narrative-he-definitely-has-it-n4930517
Cognitive ability is not really the issue – incompetence is the issue.
Biden’s decision making abilities have not waned one iota. They are just the same as they were thirty years ago.
}}} Biden’s decision making abilities have not waned one iota. They are just the same as they were thirty years ago.
True, but back then, he had the capacity to bluff it out. Now he has no such capacity. 😛
The issue is who is going to decide how the US will respond when China attacks Taiwan and the US bases on Guam in the middle of the night DC time. Is Jill going to make that call? Hunter? Some anonymous staffer? Honestly, I’d rather have Kamala Harris making that decision than the Biden “team.”
@ Douglas > “I’d rather have Kamala Harris making that decision than the Biden “team.” -”
I prefer neither, but do we know whether China owns Kamala as well as the Bidens?
“….an administration can be trusted to have the integrity…”
Is there any administration that’s ever had that much integrity?
Something like the 25th Amendment should be difficult to implement, otherwise we’d be treated to an endless parade of Soviet-style “disappearings,” but entrusting the foxes with the keys to the henhouse doesn’t seem like the best option, either.
WRT “competence”, since THE GOAL of the “Biden” administration is the utter “transformation” (i.e., destruction) of the USA as we know it (i.e., as the Founders envisioned it), can there be any doubt that Decent Joe—and his uber-competent team—is THE man for the job (i.e., that he—and they—has/have MORE THAN ENOUGH COMPETENCE to fulfil this ambitious goal)?
(…Unless one would deny that THE GOAL is as described above…in which case all bets are off.)
It really has become ” he might be a SOB but he’s my SOB!”
And right on cue!
“Biden Administration Promises To Veto Any Legislative Effort That Blocks Vote Or Ballot Fraud”—
https://blazingcatfur.ca/2024/07/10/biden-administration-promises-to-veto-any-legislative-effort-that-blocks-vote-or-ballot-fraud/
To Save Democracy(TM), no doubt…or whatever…
And proving that Decent Joe has created for himself a very special place in American history…
File under: Fraud Squad.
Yesterday, Mark Levin was pointing out that Kamala Harris as VP has the responsibility ( my para phrase) to push the 25 th Amendment.
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There is nothing in the text which requires her to do that and there are prudent reasons for her to allow others to take the initiative. Such a declaration does require her approval, but that can be given after a requisite number of cabinet secretaries have signed (eight, I believe). I think if you did a deep dive through their employment history and character references, you’d discover that Janet Yellen is the only cabinet member a decent politician would want to have around.
Mike, OBH, the difference between Biden 30 years ago and Biden now is that 30 years ago he was one of one hundred. Today he is the only one.
I’d say the issue is neither the disease nor the incompetence. It’s the attempt to avoid disclosing a pertinent piece of information to the American public prior to an election.
It may actually NOT be “pertinent”, since if Trump has been sufficiently demonized—and he has, in the eyes of many—then one SHOULD vote for his opponent, even if that opponent is a lying, thieving, conniving, destroying, utterly corrupt rutabaga….(which, in Joe Biden’s case is being far too kind).
I’d say the issue is neither the disease nor the incompetence. It’s the attempt to avoid disclosing a pertinent piece of information to the American public prior to an election.
This is precisely the issue. For all the good it does us to identify it.