Dem
47
GOP
53
CNN's Jake Tapper and Axios' Alex Thompson have a new book coming out, entitled Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again. As you can infer from the title, it's a compendium of material, from many Democratic sources (mostly anonymous), about the then-president's infirmities, especially during his last year in office.
There are certainly some eye-opening claims in the book, based on the parts that have already been released. The main revelation (although this was basically already known) is that access to Biden was tightly controlled in 2024, and that Cabinet secretaries rarely (or never) met with him. There's also a tidbit that, had Biden served a second term, he was going to start using a wheelchair. There's another tidbit that, at some point in 2024, Biden met longtime supporter/donor George Clooney at a fundraiser, and did not recognize him.
We felt we should mention this story, because it's getting a lot of coverage already, and will undoubtedly get more next week, when the book is actually released on Tuesday. That said, our instinctive response is that this really isn't all that important. Throughout the day yesterday, we pondered exactly why that was our response, and we ultimately settled on two answers.
The first of those answers is that we just aren't sure how reliable all these witnesses are. We do not propose that the people who were interviewed are lying (although they certainly might be), or that they have an ax to grind (although they certainly could). What we mean is that while some huge percentage of people seem to view themselves as experts on cognitive decline, few of them actually are. In particular, a person suffering from dementia, or other conditions along those lines, does not decline in a linear pattern. They have their good days and their bad days. They may also be better during some parts of the day than others (e.g., sundowning). It's definitely possible that Biden really did fall apart, mentally. But it's also possible that the people around him misread the signs, or made mountains out of molehills, and then built a protective wall around him for political reasons, or out of their love for the man.
The second, and bigger, reason that we don't think this is all that important is that we checked Wikipedia, and it tells us that... Biden isn't president anymore. If he were still in office, then he would absolutely have a responsibility to address these reports, and to provide some accounting for himself and his mental well-being. But even if some harm was done, or some undue risk was assumed—and there is only speculation that this might be the case—those things are now in the past, and the people who were responsible are no longer calling the shots at the White House. As such, the Tapper/Thompson book feels like a bit of a cheap shot.
The counterargument is that the alleged cover-up didn't just take place in the White House, and extended to important people who are still in power, like House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY). That was certainly the tack taken by Wolf Blitzer and Pamela Brown yesterday, as they demanded that Jeffries explain to them why anyone should trust Democrats ever again. Here, in fact, is Blitzer's exact question: "Why should voters trust Democrats when it's clear so many in your party went to great lengths to keep Biden's condition hidden, hidden from the public?"
We really do not want to be an apologist for anyone, but—consistent with what we've already written here—we think Blitzer's question is a pile of malarkey. Remember "What did Nixon know, and when did he know it?" Well, it's not clear what Jeffries (or Chuck Schumer, or any of the other non-White House pooh-bahs) knew, nor is it clear when they knew it. They could well have seen only the best of Biden, or they could have seen the bad parts, but been in denial. And even if they had strong beliefs about Biden's state of mind, what could they plausibly do about it? It wasn't until he blew the debate performance that there was an opportunity to push him out. And you know what happened? With Nancy Pelosi leading the charge, they DID push Biden out.
At the risk of indulging in whataboutism, we'll also add one other observation: Has Wolf Blitzer taken any notice of what the Republicans have been doing for the last few years? There's plenty of reason to believe that they are also covering for someone who has lost his fastball. And, at the same time, they are most definitely covering for someone who tried to foment an insurrection, and who is now running roughshod over the Constitution. From where we sit, that seems just a little worse than prominent Democrats exercising some caution, and choosing not to publicly tear down and humiliate the leader of their Party.
So again, we just are not impressed with any of this reporting, either the book or the response (and that's before we get into the book jacket's laughable claim that Tapper is "one of the most respected journalists in America"). Also, "Original Sin"? Seriously? Is that some sort of old-age joke, implying that Biden was around during the time of Adam and Eve? That his memory problems are due to eating too many apples? If the goal is NOT to be accused of muckraking, then perhaps one should not go with the most over-the-top, crazypants title possible. Even Upton Sinclair would be embarrassed by that one. Still, despite our feelings on the matter, we pass the story along, because we realize readers may see things differently than we do. (Z)