This appeared a few days ago:
Peggy Noonan
Joe Biden can’t spin his way out of this
July 4, 2024
We
are living big history. We do that so often we don’t always notice. But a proud
president is hunkered down in the White House, and his party is frantically
trying to decide whether to press him to step aside from his bid for
re-election after a catastrophic 90 minutes revealing that he is neurologically
not up to the demands of a campaign or a second term. (And revealing, too, that
his true condition, the depth of his decline, had been kept,
quite deliberately and systematically, from the American people. Oh, the
histories that will be written, and the villains that will be named.)
To
me it feels like August 1974. The president’s position isn’t going to get
better, it is going to get worse. The longer he waits to step aside the
crueller his departure will be.
The
post-debate polls show he is losing support both overall and
in the battlegrounds. A cratering like that doesn’t happen because you had a
bad night, or a cold, or were tired. It happens when an event starkly and
unavoidably shows people what they already suspected. It happens when the event
gives them proof.
Before
the debate a majority of those polled said they no longer thought he had it in
him physically or mentally to do the job of president anymore. After the debate
that number reached 72%. You can’t un-ring that bell.
There’s
no repairing this. His staff can’t spin or muscle their way out. He is
neurologically compromised, we can all see it, it isn’t his fault. You have no
governance in how you age and at what speed, or what illnesses or conditions
arise. You only have governance in what you do about it.
Those
who support the president offer suggestions on conference calls. “Just get him
out there—long, live interviews, lots of news conferences, a big rally in the
round with Q&A from the voters.”
They
don’t know what they’re talking about. He can’t do what they want him to do. He
can’t execute it. He tried to do it last week—the debate was, in effect, a
live, high-stakes interview. He won’t be able to do it next week or next month
either. Old age involves plateaus and plummets. It gets worse, not
better.
The
president’s staffers fantasize that they can plow ahead with teleprompter
events—he looks stronger at the podium. But no one doubts he can stand and
read. His staffers think they can smooth past things with supportive interviews
with sympathetic journalists, but that won’t work either, not long term.
Because everyone saw the debate, or, since, has seen pieces of it, and the image of a debilitated president has burned its way
into the American brain and there’s no erasing it.
A
big part of the president’s personal mythos, and it is shared by all of
Biden-world, is that the guy’s a survivor, he always pulls through, you knock
him down, he gets back up. An inner belief like that can get you far and gird
you. But it can also harden into mere conceit and unrealism, and blind you to
the real facts of current circumstances.
I
don’t agree with the narrative that what was revealed in the debate was a
sudden and dramatic decline. What he has been showing, for at least two years,
is a steady and unstopping decline. In January 2022 we worried here about the
president’s propensity for “unfinished sentences, non sequiturs; sometimes his
thoughts seem like bumper cars crashing and forcing each other off course.” In
April 2022 we wrote of a poll in New Hampshire that asked if Joe Biden was
physically and mentally up to the job if there is a crisis. Fifty-four percent
said, “not very/not at all.” In June 2022 we said there’s a broad sense it’s
not going to get better: “He has poor judgment and he’s about to hit 80 and
it’s not going to change.” Voters feel “unease.” In December 2022: Mr. Biden
doesn’t think he’s “slipping with age,” but he’s wrong. “He’s showing age and
it will only get worse, and he will become more ridiculous, when he’s deeper
into his 80s.”
Trusted
Biden intimates must tell him to get out of the race. “You got rid of Donald
Trump. You got us out of Afghanistan. You passed huge FDR-level bills that
transformed the social safety net. . . . You did your job in history. You
fulfilled your role. And now you should go out an inspiration.”
In
September 2023 Mr. Biden had been busted in the press for telling tall tales
that didn’t check out. We noted that while repeated lying is “a characterological fault, not knowing
you’re lying might suggest a neurological one.” “The age problem will only get
worse.” “In insisting on running he is making a historical mistake. . . . He
isn’t up to it.”
What
we saw in the debate isn’t new. That’s why voters won’t accept the idea that it
was just a bad night. They think it’s been a bad and worsening two years.
small
a thing for such big history. In any case it isn’t about one man’s personal
needs, or his family’s enjoyment of importance and the blessings of proximity
to power. It isn’t a party question or a White House question, it’s about
America. Can America afford for another four years to have an obviously
neurologically impaired president? No, it isn’t safe. It is on some level
provocative. Weakness provokes. The president’s rationalizers point out that
he’s fine from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. I am sure presidents Xi of China and Putin of
Russia will only decide to take back Taiwan or move on Poland at lunch time
EST, to keep things fair. Why wouldn’t they schedule their aggressions around
the president’s needs?
The
elected officeholders of the Democratic Party should take responsibility and
press the president to leave. You can’t scream, “Democracy is on the line,” and
put up a neurologically compromised candidate to fight for it. They haven’t
moved for two reasons. One has to do with their own prospects: You don’t want
to be the one who kills the king, you want to be the one who warmly mourns the
king and takes his mantle after someone else kills him. The other is fear of
who would replace him on the ticket, and how exactly that would happen.
Journal
Editorial Report: Democrats now face a hard choice.
These
are understandable fears. But the answer isn’t to hide in a dumb fatalism, a
listless acceptance of fate. It makes no sense to say, “Joe Biden is likely
going to lose so we should do nothing because doing something is
unpredictable.” Unpredictable is better than doomed.
This
is a party afraid of itself, literally afraid of its own groups and component
parts. They are afraid of their own delegates. Party professionals think
letting the convention decide would reveal how fatally shattered and divided
the party is—how wild it is. But that’s how the party looks now, with its
leaders in Washington frozen and incapable and no one in charge.
What
a tragedy this is. A president cratering his historical reputation, his wife
and family ruining any affection history would have had for them when Donald
Trump wins. They have no idea how they’re going to look.
The
Wall Street Journal
Here is the link:
https://ww.theaustralian.com.au/business/the-wall-street-journal/joe-biden-cant-spin-his-way-out-of-this/news-story/4aa98eaa872748ac8ee69a94bb6071dc
To come right to the point Joe Biden
has seen (much) better days and needs – for all our sakes – give up the
Presidency rather than thinking he can go on for four more years
Joe Biden is well past his prime and
over the next four years will just get worse – dementia / cognitive decline is
not something that improves – without a specific remediable cause—and so we can
assume it will just get worse.
Joe needs to simply sign off and let
someone else steer the ship. He is a good man, and was a good president- time
to rest and sleep more!! To go on is frankly wrong.
Sadly we do not have a system that
manages this issue well – food for thought I reckon. It is really hard to know when your time is up - and even harder to accept it!
David.
US President Joe Biden and former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump participate in the first presidential debate of the 2024 elections. Picture: AFP.
President Biden, battling a hoarse voice and sometimes stammering, delivered an unsteady performance Thursday evening in his first debate against former President Donald Trump.
It was the sort of showing Democrats feared the incumbent, who polls show faces greater concerns about his age and vitality than Trump, would deliver. It lacked the energy and combativeness Biden mustered for his State of the Union speech earlier this year, an appearance that gave Democrats some optimism about his campaign vigor.
The challenger mostly kept his composure, something he isn’t known for. The much-talked-about mute buttons -- put in place because Trump so frequently talked over Biden when they debated in 2020 -- didn’t seem to come into play often.
Their high-stakes meeting in Atlanta, hosted by CNN and moderated by the network’s Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, delivered some firsts. It was the first modern debate between a sitting and former president, the first featuring a felon, and the first held in a studio with no live audience since the Kennedy-Nixon debate in 1960.
Those factors influenced the dynamics of a 90-minute show that brimmed with insults and policy contrasts, a face-off held much earlier in an election year than is typical. The race is narrowly divided nationally, but Trump leads in several battleground states.
“Biden experienced the worst opening 15 minutes of a presidential debate ever,” said Aaron Kall, the University of Michigan’s director of debate.
Both old, but one looked older
The two men are just a few years apart in age, but Biden looked older in his presentation during an exhausting evening in front of what was expected to be a sizable television audience. A person familiar with the president’s health said he is suffering from a cold.
Biden also had his share of gaffes. As he answered a question about the national debt and started talking about health policy, he stammered and appeared to lose his train of thought at the end of his answer.
“Making sure that we’re able to make every single solitary person eligible for what I’ve been able to do with the Covid. Excuse me, with dealing with everything we have to do with,” Biden said. “Look, if we finally beat Medicare.”
Trump responded: “Well he’s right. He did beat Medicare. He beat it to death.” Trump and his allies in the days leading up to the debate had put forward unfounded accusations that Biden, 81, would arrive on stage with performance-enhancing chemicals in his system. It was an allegation Trump, 78, also made before he debated Biden in 2020.
Age is a top-of-mind issue for many voters, and the current president is the oldest person to serve in the office. Trump, if elected, would be poised to claim that record near the end of a second term.
But the challenger, unlike the incumbent, remained robust in his presentation throughout. He also sought to highlight Biden’s stammers, including after a meandering answer to a question about immigration.
“I really don’t know what he said at the end of that sentence,” Trump said. “I don’t think he knows what he said either.” Asked about the issue of age, Biden had a line at the ready: “This guy is three years younger and a lot less competent,” he said.
Trump responded to a question about his age by saying he would like Biden to take a cognitive test and release the results, triggering a chuckle from the president.
Sharpest attacks
If there was any uncertainty, the debate made clear neither man has any respect for the other, despite their joint status in an elite club of living past and present White House occupants. As they took the stage, neither moved to shake hands as has often been customary.
Biden challenged Trump over reports that he has called Americans who died in war “losers” and “suckers.” Referencing his son, the late Beau Biden, an army officer, Biden said: “My son was not a loser. He’s not a sucker. You’re the sucker. You’re the loser.” Trump again asserted he had never made the comments. Trump’s chief of staff at the time has confirmed he used those derogatory words.
The former president also suggested Biden isn’t fit for office. “He’s not equipped to be president,” Trump said. “His presidency, without question, the worst president, the worst presidency, in the history of our country. We shouldn’t be having a debate about it. There’s nothing to debate.” Biden sought to highlight Trump’s past and potential future legal issues and suggested at one point that the thrice-married man has the “morals of an alley cat.” Soft landing or surging prices The economy is typically listed by the largest share of voters when they are asked by pollsters what their top issues are in this presidential race. Trump talked down the current environment, while Biden argued things are looking up, even though more work remains to be done.
Trump sought to hang the issue of inflation, which has slowed considerably but remains especially painful for lower and middle-income Americans, directly on Biden. “Inflation is killing our country,” he said.
“Working-class people are still in trouble,” Biden acknowledged. “We’re working to bring down the price at the kitchen table, and that’s what we’re going to get done.” The president also repeatedly sought to remind viewers of some of the bad things that played out during Trump’s tenure.
“We had an economy that was in free fall,” he said. “The pandemic was so badly handled. Many people were dying. All he said was, ‘It’s not that serious. Just inject a little bleach in your arm.’” Trump at a Covid briefing in 2020 pondered whether treatments involving light or disinfectants should be studied.
Abortion
Trump continued his effort to stake out a Republican abortion position after the Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade galvanized voters in support of abortion access.
First he praised the justices he put on the court for the ruling, repeating a baseless claim that “every legal scholar” wanted Roe v. Wade overruled. But then he stressed that he supports exemptions to any abortion law for rape, incest and the life of the mother, arguing that while some don’t agree, “you’ve got to get elected.” Trump also appeared to commit to allowing the abortion pill to remain available across the United States. “The Supreme Court just approved the abortion pill. I agree with their decision to have done that. I will not block it,” Trump said.
Biden, who has made abortion rights a central plank of his campaign and has targeted Trump for appointing three justices to the Supreme Court that overturned Roe, seized on Trump’s statement that the issue should be left to the states, saying it was “a little like saying, ‘We’re going to turn civil rights back to the states.’” The ruling has unfurled a patchwork of laws across the country, and created uncertainty over related issues, including the future availability of abortion pills from mail-order pharmacies. The debate came shortly after the Supreme Court said it would allow emergency abortions in Idaho without deciding key issues in the case.
No rapport
During the commercial break, Biden and Trump remained at their lecterns and looked ahead as photographers took photos, according to a White House pool report. The candidates didn’t say anything or make eye contact with each other.
Toward the end of the debate the two began bickering about golf, as older men sometimes do. “He can’t hit a ball 50 yards,” Trump said of Biden. That prompted a retort from Biden: “I’m happy to play golf with you, if you carry your own bag.”
Dow Jones
Here is the link:
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/the-wall-street-journal/joe-biden-crashed-in-first-clash-with-donald-trump-and-other-takeaways-from-the-debate/news-story/a0a3adc98329426667195742b0723c7f
I just found the whole thing pathetic and sad – and a serious worry for Australia going forward with either of these men in the Oval Office.
David.