Defiance or Denial?
Since the Presidential debate where Joe Biden didn’t exactly do himself any favors with a not-so-hot performance and seemed to give Trump’s polling numbers a slight bump, Biden has been resolute… defiantly so… in saying he has no intention of quitting as the Democrat’s nominee to be president.
At a rally in Madison he delivered an impassioned and spirited speech where he spoke about the Atlanta debate, and said, “Ever since then there’s been a lot of speculation. ‘What’s Joe going to do? Is he going to stay in the race? Is he going to drop out?’ Well, here’s my answer: I am running, and I’m going to win again!”
And a fair amount of congresspeople say they still support Biden’s candidacy.
Others are having second thoughts and doubts about the efficacy of his candidacy and that maybe his mental acuity at his stage of his life is begging to show obvious symptoms and signs of some serious decline.
There is now a growing number of prominent politicians among the Democrats who think Joe should bite the bullet and sit this one out.
In a word they believe Biden is in denial.
Polls since the debate are also indicating that we the voters are tending to lean to the Biden is not fit to serve another four years in the White House. In fact a recent Wall Street Journal poll found that 76% of those identifying as Democrat believe
And 67% of those same voters say they would prefer another Democrat as their nominee.
In a New York Times/Siena College poll 74% percent of voters overall said he is too old to continue his campaign to be reelected and that sounded 59% of those identifying as Democrat.
And a USA Today poll found that 41% of Democrats want Biden replaced as the nominee.
In an interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos he said the debate was “a bad episode… No indication of any serious condition.”
However the interview with Stephanopoulos didn’t provide a heaping helping of reassurance to we the voters that Biden’s mental wherewithal was really all there.
During the 22-minute conversation Stephanopoulos constantly paraded questions that were related to mental acuity for the full 22-minute session and Biden’s answers were tinted with the tone of a guy who is in denial about the severity of the problem now facing him and tended to show an unhealthy over inflated egoism couched in a drive to be right, self-importance and a severe sense of being treated unfairly.
When he was asked if he can serve effectively for four more years, Biden said, “George, I’m the guy that put NATO together. No one thought I could expand it. I’m the guy that shut Putin down. No one thought could happen. I’m the guy that put together a South Pacific initiative with AUKUS. I’m the guy that got 50 nations… not only in Europe, outside of Europe as well… to help Ukraine. I’m the guy that got the Japanese to expand their budget… I don’t think anybody’s more qualified to be president or win this race than me. I’m the most qualified person to beat him… (based on my record) “I’d go down in history as a pretty successful president.”
When Stephanopoulos pointed out that Biden is behind in the polls… which at this time he frankly is.
Biden’s reply, “I don’t buy that.”
Stephanopoulos, a political pundit since the his days in the Clinton White House, told Biden he’d never seen a president with a 36% approval rating get reelected.
Bidens said, “I don’t believe that’s my approval.”
When asked if he is more frail now than he was say 3½ years ago… Bidens simply said, “No.”
While Biden tried to put up a good front it was clear that the posture he displayed with Stephanopoulos was shadowed with and by some of the same problems he showed during the debate debacle… the mouth-agape looks while listening to the question, answers that at times were meandering and off point and where he seemed to lose his train of thought. And of simply appearing to be an elderly man who could be on the brink of some form of dementia. And lastly Bidens tended to sound as if everything included in this debate about his mental stability is simply just not fair.
And if truth be told Biden to a large degree has a point about the fairness or unfairness of it all.
Biden’s presidency has had lot of successes and during his term in office the country has outperformed the economic predictions of many of the so-called experts regarding that important issue
And frankly he is right… the election issues should be about his successes in office, about Trump’s constant lies, and the threat he will be to we the people’s lives and the idea of American democracy.
Instead of talking about the reality that Trump is a “congenital liar” and “pathological liar” the national conversation is all about whether Biden is mentally fit enough to serve four more years in the White House.
So yeah, there is merit to the argument that the news media has been over-obsessing about the mistakes he made during the debate and the persona he displayed blamed.
But the problem is real.
We all are talking about Biden’s mental stability instead of the political and social shit-show that will happen if Trump is returned to the presidency.
Going back to his interview with Stephanopoulos and how it did joe Biden no big favors in making we the people… the voters… feel that a vote for Biden will be a vote for a guy who if elected will be mentally and physically capable of performing the duties of the president of the United States of America.
When Stephanopoulos asked him on three different occasions about his having a full neurological and cognitive examination.
Three times the Biden kind of muttered… “No one said I had to. No one said.” The he added, “They said I’m good.”
And for what it is worth… is this the answer we all want… or need… to hear right now?
With the refusal to undergo a full cognitive examination, Biden and his peeps are caught in a contradiction of their own making.
Prior to the debate Biden’s repeated answer to those folks who had age-related concerns was “watch me.
What we saw and heard didn’t make us feel all that great about his mental capabilities for the long term… for the presidency if reelected. What we saw and heard was instead very worrisome.
Still… Biden should undergo a full and in-depth series of cognitive tests and once and full put to rest the debate of whether his mentally fit to serve for four more years.
If he passes those test? Good it puts the issue to rest once and for all.
If he fails those tests?
Then he should withdraw from the race and let the Democrats replace him on the ticket with a more worthy and mentally capable person.
Still…
This November I will vote for Biden over Trump no matter what happens from now to Election Day.
A mentally diminished Biden is far less dangerous to America’s Democratic Republic than that of an empowered and reelected Trump.
But if I had my druthers…
I’d rather have a person running for the Democrats that made me feel as if we the people have a chance to come out of this snafued situation with a strong and electable candidate who can make a difference in our and out children’s futures.
Either way…
In November I’m voting Blue.
So should you.
Another thousand words…
