USA Politics

I agree with LC about the interview. Biden gave standard politician answers. I didn’t see someone who appeared to be suffering from cognitive decline, but I am also not going to pretend to be a medical expert or someone who is able to assess that based on tv appearances. I do know that if this Biden had shown up to the debate last week, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.

But that’s not what happened.

I see a clear sense of frustration from Biden over the fact that he has a great record and a good enough economy to run on. If he were 20 years younger, heck even 10 years younger, he would glide to re-election. He wants this race to be about his record but it’s not and never will be. He’s failing to speak to valid concerns of voters that he needs. He seems more concerned about preserving his legacy by not becoming a one term president than the bigger picture of how close Trump is to becoming president again. He and his campaign are failing to directly address the situation and if they truly think yesterday was an acceptable performance, then it really is over.

I am not so much concerned with Biden’s ability to do the job as I am with Biden’s ability to carry a message and win the campaign. He has no vision for the next term, he still clearly doesn’t want to talk about abortion which is democrats’ strongest issue, and in general he just isn’t speaking to what voters are looking for. Maybe the debate was just a bad night, but some things are bad enough to cost the election. Every day that things continue In this direction, I’m more convinced that he is going to be unable to win and needs to step aside.

I thought one of the tells from the interview was that he didn’t really directly address the hypothetical of what he would do if democratic leaders held a meeting with him and asked him to step aside. I wonder if that meeting is coming and if the lord almighty Nancy Pelosi is able to talk him out of containing like this. There has been a clear pivot on the house side of trying to figure out if they can still win the majority in a scenario where Biden is losing. Not a good sign.
 
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The campaign is currently losing momentum from what is already a trailing position. To reverse this, he needs to be on the campaign trail every day all day. I'm sure his campaign staff (I hope, anyways) understand that, but I don't think he does. He thinks the polls - whether approval polls or polls against Trump are WRONG. Denial of the uphill situation will not do.
 
It was bad when he said something like at least I tried my best. It’s not what you want to hear in a mere job interview certainly not for the highest job on the planet.

He is a bit naive, guess always been that way.
 
Regarding the interview .. he was fine .. the "no I don't think so" answer to "Did you watch the debate" seems squirmy .. but Biden has always been that way

In any case .. he did fine, but I don't think good enough to stop the bleeding or turn the narrative

We are up to 5 Dem reps calling on him to stand aside .. time is not really on anyone's side. the convention and ballots being locked all happen quite soon. If he is going to step aside, the sooner the better
 
A constant in this campaign and Biden’s entire presidency has been the question of what should be normal expectations. I went back to his debate with Paul Ryan in 2012 and he has some bad stutters in there, worse almost than he’s had recently, but nobody was mistaking that for cognitive decline then. He has never been a good public figure and his approach to that interview was typical Biden, but that’s not going to work now.

Before I thought he could squeak through by having his cabinet campaign for him and making the case that Biden will hire competent people and will block an extreme agenda from Trump. I don’t think the campaign strategy works anymore when there are going to be Dem house candidates actively campaigning against him.

I kinda see his position now as similar to Trump in 2016 (and the 538 model seems to agree when only accounting for polls). Like yea he can win. And you can flip heads three times in a row. Do you want to stake the entire presidency on that?
 
I went back to his debate with Paul Ryan in 2012 and he has some bad stutters in there, worse almost than he’s had recently, but nobody was mistaking that for cognitive decline then.

Of course. It was never about his stutters. It was about his mental decline. Very visible confusion, difficulties to leave the stage, air handshakes, huge memory mistakes, confusing people including himself. There are dozens of memes and videos.





 
Yes, all of which, to me, look either like uncharitable interpretations or just straight up lies to try to make him seem more infirm. I stand by not seeing any sign of true mental decline, he seems about as sharp as an 81 year old can be. It's just that "as an 81 year old can be" is going to be a level well below what many people want to see in their leader. To wit, I think, personally, that Biden is probably mentally adroit enough to serve and continue to serve as president. However, it is very clear that most Americans don't think so, and at the end of the day, that's the dagger.

It probably hurts Biden that most people see his age and think "well that's disqualifying" but see Trump's mindless, actual cheese-slipping-off-the-cracker nonsense and think it's fine because he says it with a strong voice and not the softer sounds of an older man.

Frankly, I think if Biden had the forcefulness of his voice that Trump does, he'd be fine right now, even with the debate misstep. But it is what it is, if his numbers don't rebound over the next week, I think he'll get pushed to exit from all quarters.
 
If one has to resort to memes and out of context video compilations to make a point, maybe the point simply isn't valid. Seems quite desperate to paint a picture to be honest.
 
When one refuses to believe one's own eyes there's nothing left to be said. "Out of context", "quite desperate" I'm astonished by the level of denial. And a generous share of projection.
 
When one refuses to believe one's own eyes there's nothing left to be said. "Out of context", "quite desperate" I'm astonished by the level of denial. And a generous share of projection.
But it's not "one's own eyes". Memes and out of context videos are quite literally the opposite. There's a reason why they are so popular when pushing propaganda. If you had an actual point you could present it without resorting to memes.
 
"According to White House Visitor Logs; a Dr. Kevin Cannard, who is a Neurologist specializing in Parkinson’s Disease at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland has met with U.S. President Joe Biden’s Personal Physician, Dr. Kevin O'Connor at the White House on at least Eight Occasions since August of 2023."
 
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