May 13, 2025

"Biden's physical deterioration — most apparent in his halting walk — had become so severe that there were internal discussions about putting the president in a wheelchair, but they couldn't do so until after the election."

Write Jake Tapper and Thompson in a book they call "Original Sin," quoted in "Exclusive: Biden aides discussed wheelchair use if he were re-elected, new book says" (Axios).

The book will be out in a week, so presumably Axios can excerpt anything from the text and call it "exclusive."

Nothing wrong with needing a wheelchair while serving in government. Obviously, Franklin Roosevelt did it, but he also hid it. What's up with the shame? What does it say to people with disabilities to hide your need for a wheelchair? How can it be better to walk in a "halting" style and to risk falling? Was he in pain? Was he on painkillers?

It might be Bad Analogy Day on this blog — see the previous post — so I'll say it: It reminds me of a gay person in the closet. The hiding expresses shame that hurts others in your group and that underestimates the intelligence and empathy of those you're hiding from. Is that a bad analogy?

Speaking of things not done until after the election, here's Chuck Todd, denying responsibility for hiding Biden's fitness. I'm embedding this because Todd's inability to enact sincerity is so funny that I think an aspiring comic actor could use this as a model:

The stressed phrase "to me" — at 0:26 — jumps out at meeeeeee. I hear that a lot these days — to meeeee. Listen for it. It's a tell.

CORRECTION: That's Chuck Todd in the video, as the text now reflects. He does not look that much like Jake Tapper, and I don't know the extent to which Tapper accepts blame.

ADDED: Here's Tapper, expounding on his scoop about the wheelchair. 

AND: I can't believe that, after mistaking Todd for Tapper, correcting it, finding a Tapper video, I fell into the same mixup again and wrote "Here's Todd"! It's corrected now. The second video is, indeed Tapper. Do the 2 men look alike? Are the names Tapper and Todd too similar? For years, I used to watch the Sunday morning news-talk shows, including Tapper's and Todd's. I tivo'd them and systematically watched and blogged them all. But I have not done that in years, and not just because I've retired the TiVo and I don't subscribe to any service that feeds me network TV. I don't want to watch ANY TV news shows or news commentary. It's undifferentiated rot (plus Fox News, which is differentiated). I'll read my news and look up clips if there is video of some event that I want to see. I have no desire to passively follow the talking heads.

PLUS: They were lying then and they're lying now — lying about lying. If they weren't lying, they are terrible journalists. If they're honest, what good are they? If they're not honest, it's just bad in a different way. The media needs to end its enmeshment with the Democratic Party, but I don't think they can, I don't think they want to, and it's too late now anyway. 

124 comments:

RideSpaceMountain said...

"Nothing wrong with needing a wheelchair while serving in government."

Jasmine "Hot Wheels" Crockett might disagree.

n.n said...

While Democrats thought their future was weird, wired, Clinton came out of the water closet, Biden had a gay old time, then came Walz 'n Kamala, and they were too queer for Austin.

bagoh20 said...

Oops

Peachy said...

We don't hate the Hack Soviet-Democrat Media enough.

The hacks in the Democrat Party Media covered up Biden's obvious decline - because the puppet show was all part of the media BS show.

Peachy said...

4 years of complete corruption. Congrats, Soviet leftists.

Peachy said...

So now we are switching to Biden's physical decline.
A less important factor. (FDR was still mentally fit.)

Biden's mental decline is inconvenient... So the focus must shift.

Dogma and Pony Show said...

"Considered" covers a lot of ground. I seriously doubt we were ever close to seeing Biden in a wheelchair. The election was six months ago and he's still not using a wheelchair.

ThatsGoingToLeaveA said...

Wouldn't a wheelchair give the impression that he was declining significantly? To be contrasted with the Left of center position that Biden was still as sharp as ever and at the top of his game? And now I laugh at my own sentence. Yes Biden was as sharp as he ever was and yes he was still at the top of his game. But the Left seemed to be avoiding any appearance that would be advantageous to the Right. This is not shame though.

ron winkleheimer said...

Choose one:

A) We are incompetent morons who will believe anything we are told if it is from people we support.
B) We are partisan hacks who will say anything we need to in order to support the Democrat party.
C) A and B

What I find amusing is that the blind partisanship painted the Democrat party into a corner from which they couldn't win. Not only are they partisan hacks, they are stupid partisan hacks.

PJ57 said...

Wait a second! That's not Jake Tapper, that is Chuck Todd who seems to have really gone to seed.

rehajm said...

There is plenty wrong with it when he’s a front man for the cabal running the country behind the scenes. You need tour mentally fake President to appear fit so people like Ann will fall for your propaganda telling them he is fit as a fiddle. At least until you win the election. He didn’t make it.

n.n said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
ron winkleheimer said...

They, the people around Biden, had him using the back steps to AF1 because he kept falling down on the main steps. And they surrounded him with people when he was walking to and from AF1 in an effort to hide his gait. There was no way they were going to put him in a wheelchair.

I wonder if there is going to be any adverse consequences for the people who hid Biden's decline since they are at least partly responsible for Trump's victory.

Tina Trent said...

He wasn't running to be captain of the track team. We all know it was mental incapacity that was the concern. Gaslight better.

RCOCEAN II said...

The entire MSM, including Chuck Todd and Jake tapper, did absolutely zero reporting and investigation of Biden's condition. They didn't want to know if Biden was in decline. If they ever touched the issue, it was to air Biden's press secretary saying it was nonsense. And the issue was always framed as "Republicans say... or Republican's pounce".

n.n said...

Biden's brain in a wheelchair would indeed garner a weird perception of queer, a progressive condition.

Jersey Fled said...

So you’re telling me the entire Democrat party and left wing press (not to mention a few posters here) lied to us for the last four years?

RCOCEAN II said...

I was trying to understand the end of the clip. Chuck Todd starts babbling about pundits being embeded in the media, and the "Consumers" being unable to "disaggregate the two".

Straining to understand. I assume what's he's trying to say is that there are objective reporters and pundits (who are really Democrat operatives") and two are separate and distinct. Which of course is a lie. They're all (or at least 90 percent) liberal/leftist and vote Democrat.

I find it interesting that he's hobnoobing with Jeffrey Katzenberg who's so "embedded" in Democrat party politics that he's reassuring "people" off the record that Biden is Ok. Katzenberg was chairman of Disney. Which owns ABC news. And puts out other media that brainwashes the American public.

RCOCEAN II said...

Todd seems to have gotten shrunk with age. He's now 5-1 instead of 5-2.

wendybar said...

And yet, Tapper kept on lying to us about his president. No bias there!!! What a bunch of malarky they are spouting now that the world knows the media in America hate us, and spew propaganda to change elections.

RCOCEAN II said...

I often wondered why a complete mediocrity like chuck Todd got his own Network TV show. Maybe its because he's socializing with Jeffrey Katzenberg.

Tina Trent said...

Thank you, Ride Space Mountain. Why ignore Democrat's sickening mocking of Governor Abbot's wheelchair? Republicans have been nothing but decent about Fetterman, while Democrat journalists mocked Steve Scalise and Rand Paul and celebrated Trump being shot. We're just better people overall.

Ann Althouse said...

Sorry not to be able to tell Todd and Tapper apart!

RCOCEAN II said...

Final comment. What''s amazing about this whole thing, is it just didn't matter. There's no reason to believe a healthy young Biden would've done anything different as POTUS. There's no reason to believe Biden would've beaten Trump. And there's no reason to believe "President Kam" would've done anything different from a 2nd term Biden.

Also interesting, that Chuck todd is completely uninterested in why Biden pardoned his whole family and the entire J6 committee and everyone who testified before it.

ron winkleheimer said...

"There's no reason to believe a healthy young Biden would've done anything different as POTUS. There's no reason to believe Biden would've beaten Trump. And there's no reason to believe "President Kam" would've done anything different from a 2nd term Biden."

Agreed. Biden was never the sharpest knife in the drawer, but compared to Kamala he was Einstein. He was put into the presidency because the PTB in the Democrat party knew they could control him.

Wilbur said...

AA, in your defense, Todd and Tapper - and the rest of the MSM crew - are all pretty fungible.

Space City Girl said...

Using a wheelchair when one is paralyzed or an amputee is much different than using a wheelchair when one is elderly. In the elderly, physical decline goes hand in hand with mental decline.

Aggie said...

Since Biden has been appearing recently in public without a wheelchair, I guess this means that the campaign team concluded the risk of him falling during the campaign would have drawn attention to his frailty, and emphasized his diminished mental capacity as well, in a collateral way. In other words, they realized that the Potemkin village they had erected of Biden as a vital, energetic leader was so fragile that another display of senescence might have brought the whole, tottering edifice down. What complete, self-serving imbeciles they are - Joe included.

Jamie said...

So now we are switching to Biden's physical decline.
A less important factor. (FDR was still mentally fit.)


Throughout the campaign, lefties (including every one who posts here, if memory serves) tried to pretend that we people with eyes and ears were just ageist - critical of Biden because he was simply old. And then they'd point out that Trump is also old.

And of course we still have a couple posting regularly here since the election who insist that it's Trump who shows signs of dementia.

Sebastian said...

"What does it say to people with disabilities to hide your need for a wheelchair?" It doesn't say anything about "people with disabilities" but the wheelchair would have said a lot about Biden's overall decline, common in the elderly and obvious to the public. Hence the need to live the lie.

Dan from Madison said...

Sharp as a tack.

ron winkleheimer said...

"And of course we still have a couple posting regularly here since the election who insist that it's Trump who shows signs of dementia."

I know a guy like that in real life. Last time I saw him he was wearing a "Canada, not your 51st state" hat and a "Gulf of America" t-shirt. Other than the TDS he seems perfectly reasonable.

Peachy said...

Biden's mental decline and his family's corruption - made Crook Joe the perfect obedient puppet to the Soros objective.

Quayle said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
n.n said...

Biden's fitness is a function of evolution.

baghdadbob said...

They should have opted for the wheelchair and simply depend on the compliant press to never let the public see it. It worked for FDR.

Leland said...

I understand the concern with falling from decline in mental faculty, but a wheel chair would not have meant his inability to serve as President. His inability to recall events was a problem with being President.

Christopher said...

All I want to hear from these clowns is an abject apology for participating in the coverup, for mocking everyone who spoke out about their coverup while it was taking place, and how soon they're handing in their two-week resignation notices. The gall of these people! We were alive at the same time you were, you asshats, do you think we didn't see what you did?

And Space City Girl is 100% on point re the significance of wheelchairs with the declining elderly.

mindnumbrobot said...

So when do the Congressional hearings start?

Breezy said...

Joe nixed the wheelchair - he wouldn’t be able to surreptitiously sniff people’s hair while seated.

Readering said...

Chuck Todd in a studio was not in the company of Biden, so he relied on reports of others and own tv observations like the rest of us. The deterioration was being trumpeted in comments here. My perception led me to vote for Dean Phillips and I was sure Biden would have to seize on Trump's rejection of the debate commission to back out of debating.

Francis started using wheel chair in 2022

Ice Nine said...

Four words: jake tapper lara trump. Goog it.

Tapper should be ashamed about his claim that he didn't cover up what was going on with Biden. But of course Democrats - and their MSM errand boys - are unfamiliar with the concept of shame.

mindnumbrobot said...

Readering said...
"Chuck Todd in a studio was not in the company of Biden, so he relied on reports of others and own tv observations like the rest of us."

I'm almost embarrassed for you.

Martin said...

Jake Tapper can play the poor sad deceived journalist all he wants. I don't believe him. If he had to be at least suspicious of Joe's mental state which should have caused him as a good journalist to dig for the answers so that the nation could be informed. Since this didn't happen I am stuck with the conclusion Jake knew and supported the coverup in furtherance of Dem party goals.
Forget it, Jake, It's DC Town.

Rocco said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
bagoh20 said...

I guess we all agree now that "normalcy" wasn't all that great or even normal.

rhhardin said...

He needed a wheelchair for his brain.

Iman said...

Fake Jake Tapper will always have fanboi Patterico in his corner.

hawkeyedjb said...

At least Tapper has done us the favor of confirming that he is not a reporter, and that his job is to repeat unquestioningly the output of the Party, without skepticism. But we already knew that.

ron winkleheimer said...

In an earlier era they would have been able to pull it off. There would have been no way for the information to be disseminated to a wide audience. That's why the Democrat party and the GOPe want censorship and European countries are imposing it. You might get a lot of noise in a peer-to-peer communication model but you also get a lot of robustness. I remember back when it was common to say that the internet is designed to route around censorship. Elon Musk might be remembered just as much for buying Twitter as for pioneering relatively cheap space flight.

Readering said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Hassayamper said...

Of course Todd knew. They all knew.

However much you hate the news media, it's not enough. They are parrots and puppets and stenographers, and every word they publish can safely be assumed to be left-wing lies and propaganda until proven otherwise.

Yancey Ward said...

Super Sleuths, Jake Tapper and Chuck Todd, are piecing the veil that concealed Joe Biden's mental and physical deficiencies during his term as President. Amazing, isn't it, how those clever Biden handlers fooled the entire world for 5 years.

Iman said...

Biden’s problem wasn’t that he was lame
Biden was and is insane in the membrane

Iman said...

Contemporary Liberalism is a mental disorder.

Chris-2-4 said...

I think you might have overcorrected (or did the same thing in reverse) the "Added" content alludes to Todd again when that video IS Tapper... :)

GRW3 said...

They couldn't put Biden in a wheelchair because he didn't suffer from childhood polio or have a tree fall on him: the reason would have been obvious (well it was already obvious to those who did not need to ignore it). Tapper and Todd are sort of interchangeable, so the confusion is understandable. Some are holding out hope that Jill will get big bucks to tell the absolute truth about how things happened.

ron winkleheimer said...

How internet censorship works:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ohH-RkSLo4

n.n said...

Biden's brain in a hospice... we control the legacy media, tune public perception, from Democratic Corruption to The Outer Limits.

Paul said...

But Biden would be SENILE and in a wheelchair.. big difference.

Kate said...

I think of my dad, whose gait declined. He was so resistant to aid. It took a great unsteadiness for him to agree to a walker. A wheelchair would've been a humiliation to him. Aging is brutal.

These reporters and staff casually discussing whether THEY would've put HIM in a wheelchair is disgusting.

Jaq said...

“The problem with the internet is that there are no gatekeepers.” - Hillary Rodham Clinton

MadisonMan said...

Did we ever see Nancy Pelosi in a wheelchair after she broke her hip?

Lazarus said...

Tapper and Todd are sort of interchangeable ...

That is just too, too true. My memory was that Tapper was too polished and therefore less trustworthy and too dismissive of opposing opinions, but at this point I have trouble remembering which one was the goatee guy.

Original Mike said...

"and I was sure Biden would have to seize on Trump's rejection of the debate commission to back out of debating."

I thought you were claimng Trump would back out of the debate, but perhaps that was Inga. You're hard to tell apart, kinda like Tapper and Todd.

walter said...

Mere frailty isn't the reason to reject "Pedo Pete".

Lazarus said...

If they put Biden in a wheelchair, they could probably make up a story pretend for a few months that it wasn't because of senility. Maybe he grabbed the dog's tail again coming out of the shower.
*
Are Tapper and Todd really "reporters"? They aren't explicitly hired to represent a divergent point of view as commentators are, but how much "reporting" do they really do? They do seem to be more commenting on the news than breaking it. Maybe we need a new portmanteau word -- "reportater" or "anchortator." That's assuming that all the "tater" and "tator" words aren't reserved for Brian Stelter.

Dude1394 said...

If he had been in a wheelchair democrats would be calling him wheels, right?

Shackleton said...

If Biden had been relatively lucid and it was merely a physical ailment it probably wouldn’t have made much difference. He may have even gotten some sympathy votes.

In the end it was just easier to drop him from the ticket.

traditionalguy said...

Interesting to compare Slow Joe to FDR. But it’s not their need for wheelchairs stupid. It’s their mental deterioration. And both of them were far over the hill mentally long before the Media was allowed to mention it.

Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...

Boring topic. We all know they lied and we know why they lied.

Real journalists would be interested in reporting on who was running the country the last four years.

Mary Beth said...

Anyone else annoyed by how he puts an extra "n" in "pundit" (pundint)?

RideSpaceMountain said...

Dude1394 said, "If he had been in a wheelchair democrats would be calling him wheels, right?"

Nah, they'd be running 24/7 coverage on why republicans are so heartless for noticing. Jasmine would ditch the ghetto skank act and be on MSDNC three times daily talking about high-mindedness.

Jupiter said...

"The hiding expresses shame that hurts others in your group ...".
So, Althouse, are you saying that if I fall down and break a leg, I have thereby entered the "group" of the broken-legged, and owe some sort of allegiance to my fellow invalids? Must I get an extra-thick cast, and limp and stagger lugubriously about, so as to emphasize my suffering and incapacity? Have you really internalized the Left's victim-identity bullshit to the point where that seems evident to you?

Big Mike said...

The media needs to end its enmeshment with the Democratic Party, but I don't think they can, I don't think they want to, and it's too late now anyway.

@Althouse, it’s been that way since Ronald Reagan.

robother said...

These 2 videos are the opposite of the old razzle-dazzle. It's not just Biden who's lost a step or two. That's some clumsy hoofing: a real Todd-Tapper.

Readering said...

The FDR 1944 comparison is interesting. He was much younger when he was dying. But I think many Dems just wanted to see Biden make it six months into another term, as in 44 they were looking to VE Day.

Howard said...

Formerly top of the line mainstream media personalities falling like a lead Zeppelin seek forgiveness of their sins covering for the anti-democratic corruptocrats at the DNC

Breezy said...

“The media needs to end its enmeshment with the Democratic Party, but I don't think they can, I don't think they want to, and it's too late now anyway.”

People like Bill Melugin and other dedicated young reporters may be leaving the rot in the dust sooner rather than later. We’ve seen all the non-Fox news companies take a beating lately…. Perhaps the current lot will determine they’ve made enough money selling their souls and will simply get off our TV’s, as Imus used to say.

boatbuilder said...

What bullshit. Tapper and Todd have staffers who spend all day every day working on their contacts in The White House, Congress, and all corners of official and unofficial Washington to dig up and explore any potentially newsworthy angle on just about everything. How many stories about Trump are supported by "persons familiar with the situation" "speaking without authorization"?
They all knew Biden was compromised. Pretending that they were in the dark because Dem insiders lied to them is multiple levels of deceit. They get good stuff from their Dem sources because they do what they are told.

Earnest Prole said...

Gee Jake, if only there were some institution capable of
bravely speaking truth to power in the moment rather than the ass-covering afterward.

Peachy said...

"Jake Tapper Uncovers Startling Evidence That Biden’s Decline Was Covered Up By Jake Tapper"

The BB.

Hassayamper said...

@Althouse, it’s been that way since Ronald Reagan.

It's been that way since John Reed and Walter Duranty.

boatbuilder said...

If a gay person chooses to be "in the closet," why is that anyone's business but that person's?
It's not only a bad analogy, it's a total non-sequitur. A gay person in private life is not the President of the United States.

exhelodrvr1 said...

It was pretty clear in the 2020 campaign that he had dementia, let alone in 2024

Lem Vibe Bandit said...

Sorry not to be able to tell Todd and Tapper apart!

YouTube: Let's hear Jack Palance tell it

Lem Vibe Bandit said...

How come I'm not hearing the 2017 Mainstream Media favorite word - "Collusion"?

Everything they've accused Trump of doing, they went ahead and colluded themselves.

Lem Vibe Bandit said...

YouTube: Give me my "Biden sharp as a tack" montage Please!

Aggie said...

This is as naked as the progressive media dishonesty can get. They want the salvation of a Return of the Loyal Viewers, but first they must have redemption, and they're hoping the public will accept the farce of their 'Now it can be Told' shtick.

They're trying very hard to be dignified about it, but the smell of fear is in the air. They're pissing themselves the same way the priesthood did, back when Guggenheim was cranking the press and people were learning to read. Sorry kids: The jig is up.

Jersey Fled said...

Strange that all of these polished professors journalists who were blind to Biden's decline seem to have a unique ability to read Trump’s mind.

Nice said...

The wheelchair bit is an obvious lie. Is Biden in a wheelchair today? I don't watch politics anymore, so I don't know. If he needed a wheelchair, then we'd see him in one these days, when it doesn't matter because he's not running for anything anymore, or is he? Maybe in Biden's own mind, he still running and can come back at any moment.

Ralph L said...

Tapper got the inside skinnies in exchange for not publicizing them until after the election. Seeing what poor shape Biden was in in 2020, was that a legit thing to do? I think not, though I'd really like to know who did what in the Biden WH. None should be allowed near the levers of power again, though no doubt they were or will be handsomely rewarded by someone.

Readering said...

Nice: the reporting is that doctors worried that if Biden suffered a fall he would thereafter need a wheelchair. Which sounds like most any politician in their eighties.

Ralph L said...

"I think many Dems just wanted to see Biden make it six months into another term"
After the 2020 election, I believed he would be pushed out by summer 2021, end of the year at the latest. Kamala must be really unimpressive in person.

Ralph L said...

"Tapper got the inside skinnies in exchange"
I should probably say "probably got" here. That used to be a standard practice for campaign biographers. Seems to have disappeared.
Whatever happened to Bob Woodward? All his sources died or retired? No protégé?

Tacitus said...

"Joe nixed the wheelchair - he wouldn’t be able to surreptitiously sniff people’s hair while seated."
Well, he certainly would have difficulty sniffing scalp level hair, but being at about waist level...............

RCOCEAN II said...

Trump latched onto the autopen issue and tried to troll them into looking into it, if only to prove him wrong. But the MSM aren't interested in who was approving the documents Biden "auto-signed". Just as they aren't interested in reporting who was really running White House. Or how much interaction Biden had with his cabinet.

RCOCEAN II said...

The MSM didn't care for 4 years. Why start now?

RCOCEAN II said...

FDR was OK - even though he was in a wheelchair. Except for the last year, when he was dying of heart disease. He had to on long vacations, usually as part of something related to the war effort to keep the public fooled. He went on an "Inspection of the Pacific military bases" in July-August 44 which lasted 5 weeks. And his trip to Yalta was also 5 weeks, even though the conference itself was only 8 days or so. He also spent 4 week "relaxing" in April 44 at Bernie Baruch's plantation in SC. And of course he spent 3 weeks at Warm Spings in Dec 44, and died there in April 44.

His flunkeys made it appear FDR war working. Warm Springs was labeled the "Southern White House" but in fact he did little but read, work on his stamp collection, and chitchat.

gspencer said...

". . . but in fact he [FDR] did little but read, work on his stamp collection, and chitchat"

And plot whatever other dreadful things he could do to the Spirit of 1787 before he passed on.

Gave us a mongoloid administrative state, big government and the UN. He probably heads the list of The Worst.

Kevin said...

"Biden's physical deterioration — most apparent in his halting walk — had become so severe that

...it was imperceptible to the left-wing media.

Jamie said...

Chuck Todd in a studio was not in the company of Biden, so he relied on reports of others and own tv observations like the rest of us.

But "the rest of us" were yelling about Biden's obvious deterioration and being scolded for falling for deep fakes. What was Todd doing?

For that matter, what were those few of "the rest of us" who somehow failed to notice (or "failed to notice") the fact that Biden was barely functional even in 2020 doing?

Enigma said...

The plot of Weekend at Bernie's (1989) became real in 2020, and the Party wanted the fun to continue for a profitable sequel. The Biden backroom staff and megadonors dreamed of this -- having an even more vegetative figurehead plus access to his autopen.

Richard Dolan said...

"enmeshment"? That's a seriously unattractive word which I've not come across before. The online definition says that it's a word used in psychological discussions, mostly relating to dysfunctional families and how, at times, family members can loose some autonomy. Anyway, the problem with Todd and Tapper and their ilk isn't that they are "enmeshed" with the Dems. It's that they're card-carrying members of Team Dem trying to pretend they're not.

Lazarus said...

When the media agreed not to photograph FDR in his wheelchair weren't they agreeing not to examine his condition very closely or publicize it? Why is it hard to admit that today's media agreed not to look at Biden's mental decline? Two differences between then and now: 1) people knew that FDR had had polio, though not how bad it was, and 2) it was easier to hide FDR's wheelchair and leg braces than Biden's ineptitude and senility.

Jim at said...

I admit I'm getting a kick out of the media types claiming they were bamboozled by the Administration about Biden's condition ... while they were in on it the entire time.

You'd think those on the left would wake up and realize how much they're being lied to. But, no.

JAORE said...

So the media was lied to by the Biden team.... sure, sure. Did Jake or the multitude of others ever think about, let alone follow up on, the many other lies of team B?

Iman said...

Biden’s physical dissolution is payback for a life of lies, corruption, molestation of whoever caught his “fancy” and grift.

Iman said...

Just one of the many malignant tumors that comprise the stage 4 cancer known formally as the Democrat Party.

Big Mike said...

It's been that way since John Reed and Walter Duranty.

@Hassayamper, I stand corrected.

Readering said...

NY Times out with its review of the book. It notes the Yympathetic treatment by Thompson/Tapper of Biden classified documents special counsel Hur and his report. I remember at the time saying this should finally start a conversation about replacing Biden as nominee. Instead liberal friends just said they needed to stage an intervention for me. Sigh.

Lawnerd said...

I wonder if they will disclose that Joe had to wear Depends brand adult diapers?

Jamie said...

Readering @5:42 - yes, you were correct about the Hur report! And it's too bad your friends didn't (I would say, since it was so obvious well before that, were unwilling to) see it.

Oso Negro said...

@ Lawnerd - I wonder when we will learn what they doped him up with on occasions of state

Jaq said...

I knew a 70 year old man who was in a wheelchair due to childhood polio. He was a retired CEO and sharp as a f*g tack. There was no comparison to Joe Biden.

Christopher B said...

Why would Hur's report have started a conversation about replacing Biden? Despite a what a lot of pro-Trump people claim, Hur was very careful to explain his concern as a prosecutor was a jury could be lead to sympathize with Biden as an old man with memory problems, not that Biden was mental unfit for a trial.

Ralph L said...

Hur may have thought Biden was faking. He wouldn't be the first person to try it.

Deep State Reformer said...

When Althouse said, "I'm embedding this because Todd's inability to enact sincerity is so funny that I think an aspiring comic actor could use this as a model.", I believe that this is the best snark from her ever I've ever read. While it was mean, it is also spot on, hilariously funny, right on target and a pleasure to read.

Kirk Parker said...

Ralph L,

"Kamala must be really unimpressive in person."

Indeed; sucks to be her.

Jamie said...

Hur was very careful to explain his concern as a prosecutor was a jury could be lead to sympathize with Biden as an old man with memory problems, not that Biden was mental unfit for a trial.

Hur was indeed careful in his framing. But what he did say - that the jury would perceive Biden as being an old man with memory problems - took the question out of the realm of his opining on Biden's mental state and plunked it down in front of the public: "You would, if you were on the jury, wouldn't you?" He said out loud what everyone who didn't have some kind of stake in hiding the truth had already concluded.

But it didn't start the preference cascade that (1) it should have, (2) some, including me and apparently Readering, expected, and (3) I wouldn't be surprised to learn Hur himself expected. Because those who did have a stake in hiding the truth also held the megaphone and the curtain behind which the little man was hiding, and did everything in their power to continue hiding the truth.

As to the possibility that Hur thought Biden was faking his mental feebleness - I don't buy it. His feebleness, mental and physical, was on public display just about every time he appeared on camera, from 2020 onward, and worsening at a rapid rate. No one who watched any address, who watched any public appearance, who took the slightest note of how infrequently statements attributed to Biden could actually be traced to Biden himself, had any excuse for not seeing what was there. All the blindness was willful among every single media figure, Congressmember, world leader. The only people I would give a pass are people like my in-laws, who don't watch TV news and glean everything about news from reading the sources who were doing the hiding.

Jamie said...

Kamala must be really unimpressive in person.

I guess she was likeable enough.

Nice said...

"RCOcean II : The MSM didn't care for 4 years. Why start now?"
____________________________________________________________

That's what makes this so interesting--they must think that he's a legitimate 2028 Candidate, otherwise why go to so much trouble to head him off? Clearly Biden is a threat---in their minds. If they're engaging in all these preventative tactics now, you have to wonder what extreme lengths they'll go to, to stop him, when he formally announces he's running.

donald said...

“Maybe it’s because he's socializing with Jeffrey Katzenberg.”

Is that what they’re calling it these days IYKWIMAITYD ?

Lazarus said...

GHW Bush had great fun when he was in a wheelchair, getting sympathy and groping the nurses. Joe Biden would have loved it too, especially if the chair was motorized. Vroom! Vroom! It wouldn't have been very presidential, but the press would have covered for good old Joe.

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