Hell hath no fury like a media duped. His backers may try to spin President Biden's troubles away, but journalists' ramped-up scrutiny of his mental sharpness will play a role in his bowing out.
Interesting, thanks! I also didn't know that William Jennings Bryan's brother was a prominent politician and nominated for vice president.
Biden's descent was noticeable well before the debate debacle. For instance, his Democratic rivals talked about it openly to his face in the 2020 primary debates, not, in my mind, because they were trying to be opportunistic, but because it was so evident you couldn't NOT talk about it.
The big secret is that Biden did a press conference on January 19, 2022 where his performance left no doubt that he was experiencing cognitive problems. Few people saw it or appreciated it. After that, he basically never did a press conference again. He showed lapses not just in clarity and focus but emotion and judgment, too. Here's a link to the full two hours, if anyone is really interested in being a student of this subject. I am 100% a Never Trumper (if a bit more left than they are), but I used to say that all the Trump campaign should do is play clips from this over and over again. But then this year's debate did that work for them, giving a more recent reminder.
I have a suggestion for VP. You heard it here first. Keep Biden in as President. For VP Obama. The former president. No prohibition on third term and if Biden has any more "moments" Obama can easily step in. Well??
I've not seen Biden that often over the course of his Presidency....I saw his State of the Union the past two years, and short clips here and there. I'd heard all the back-and-forth about his mental acumen, etc., and didn't know enough to draw a judgement, but figured there was partisan bias on both sides.
Even without having seen that much, I followed news coverage pretty closely and was disappointed when Biden decided to run for another term. And I was even more disappointed when the party honchos did all they could to suppress meaningful debate/rivalry among potential candidates. I was very intrigued by Dean Phillips' campaign, and I appreciated his willingness to stick his neck out when others wouldn't. I voted for Phillips in the primary here in Illinois. By that point, it was clear that nobody was going to make any kind of meaningful bid against Biden within the party.
I should add that I believe the issue of whether the media were complicit is a complex one. The media is not one monolithic entity. It's a wide range of individual people across many orgs, with widely varying levels of insight/insider info on the Biden administration. Did some know that Biden had declined and were "covering" for him, at least to some extent? I think so. But to paint it with a broad brush that all, or even most, journalists were "in on it" is not something I can agree with.
A major factor to consider: Biden's team PUSHED for this debate to happen in late June, the earliest timing ever. Would they have done that if they knew just how much Biden had declined? I don't think so. I think he has a "range" of how sharp he is, within a given day, and he came in at the very bottom (or even lower) than that range.
I suspect the stress of being President, being 81, contending with the rigors of the campaign, etc., has accelerated Biden's decline in a big way. And I think it's only going to worsen. I think July 18 is the over/under on when he announces he will not run for re-election.
Matt: In regard to the media being complicit, you say the media is NOT a monolithic entity. On the other hand "hell hath no fury like a media duped" implies it very much is. Perhaps you meant "hell hath no fury like SOME media duped" or "hell hath not fury like the NYT and WaPO duped?" So is the media heterogeneous when dealing with complicity but somehow monolithic when dishing out revenge?
It's nice to see the media start to tell the truth after 4 years of gaslighting and helping to protect the precious. The media even helped Joe in the debate 4 years back when the moderators helped with the laptop is a russian op lie, in real time at a debate
Matt, stop making excuses. The media was NOT duped. I agree with many of the posted comments, and in particular Dan P: "the media was NOT duped, they were COMPLICIT" After almost 50 years in medicine it was obvious to me from the get go that Joe Biden had MORE than mere age related cognitive decline. But the legacy media - rather than doing the job as journalists - turned into biased advocates (I suspect because of the presence of the "evil" Orange Man). The larger issue in terms of our democracy is how the fourth estate - whose historical role was the "seeker of truth" regardless of consequences - turned into ugly whores for one particular political party. The fury by the WH and the Democrats directed at Robert Hur, for revealing the inconvenient truth about Mr. Biden's cognitive impairment, and the coverage by the legacy press was telling (The press was confused. They could not ignore it. The question was how to mitigate it). Talk about threats to our Republic! IMO, you as a journalist should be more concerned about this abrogation of professional standards - journalists I assume have some ... NO? ... than anything else in this Biden fiasco.
And as I told you previously Biden ain't going anywheres. Why? Because hubris is not just a Greek or Shakespearian theatrical affliction for one. And two, power is enticing. It corrupts. No one gives it up willingly (unless you're LBJ). And finally the "man behind the throne" - Jill Biden - is afflicted with these two contagions likely more than is Joe Biden. Dr. Jill likely knows that ole Joe belongs in an assisted living facility. But she also knows that the WH is the best equipped and best staffed assisted living facility on the planet. Ole Joe is staying exactly where he is.
But your profession should have a long look in the mirror.
Matt as a presidential buff just curious has there ever in the history of presidential debates been a worse performance? My suspicion is this was not just a bad day this was the worst debate performance ever. And that this fact is also being given a bye by the media. I even wonder could this be the worst public debate performance ever?
"With so many media outlets now reckoning with whether they have given Biden too much of a pass, the pendulum has emphatically swung the other way. And don’t count on that pendulum swinging back any time soon."
There's absolutely no doubt the media covered for him. It's why no one trusts them. Too many things have been printed on this topic and others that strain credibility. The approved line was often the wrong line. And here's the thing Jack (in Biden voice), people aren't stupid. I could see he was impaired in 2020, but it was easy to hide that fact when you campaign like Covid allowed. In fact I was astonished that the tide this past week turned so fast. I didn't think Biden did bad in the debate from the standpoint, that he has been doing this for a long time. Anyone could see it. Remember the "cheapfakes", the latest lie from the media? I thought he'd done as he has been doing. I could see it, why couldn't anyone else? And now because the official line is Biden can't win, all of a sudden the media discovers this? Bullshit. The media wasn't duped, they were complicit.
But the dems did it to themselves and now they have to live with it. Had Biden governed from the middle as he promised and not lied, he'd have had this election in hand long ago. But he had to pander and here we are.
I can’t disagree, though I also can’t see any feasible/logistical option than to run Harris in his stead. And I’ll vote for her, but this is yet another frustrating example from just my lifetime of the Dems shooting themselves in the foot when they absolutely did not have to.
Interesting, thanks! I also didn't know that William Jennings Bryan's brother was a prominent politician and nominated for vice president.
Biden's descent was noticeable well before the debate debacle. For instance, his Democratic rivals talked about it openly to his face in the 2020 primary debates, not, in my mind, because they were trying to be opportunistic, but because it was so evident you couldn't NOT talk about it.
The big secret is that Biden did a press conference on January 19, 2022 where his performance left no doubt that he was experiencing cognitive problems. Few people saw it or appreciated it. After that, he basically never did a press conference again. He showed lapses not just in clarity and focus but emotion and judgment, too. Here's a link to the full two hours, if anyone is really interested in being a student of this subject. I am 100% a Never Trumper (if a bit more left than they are), but I used to say that all the Trump campaign should do is play clips from this over and over again. But then this year's debate did that work for them, giving a more recent reminder.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_2qaW010-U
I have a suggestion for VP. You heard it here first. Keep Biden in as President. For VP Obama. The former president. No prohibition on third term and if Biden has any more "moments" Obama can easily step in. Well??
I've not seen Biden that often over the course of his Presidency....I saw his State of the Union the past two years, and short clips here and there. I'd heard all the back-and-forth about his mental acumen, etc., and didn't know enough to draw a judgement, but figured there was partisan bias on both sides.
Even without having seen that much, I followed news coverage pretty closely and was disappointed when Biden decided to run for another term. And I was even more disappointed when the party honchos did all they could to suppress meaningful debate/rivalry among potential candidates. I was very intrigued by Dean Phillips' campaign, and I appreciated his willingness to stick his neck out when others wouldn't. I voted for Phillips in the primary here in Illinois. By that point, it was clear that nobody was going to make any kind of meaningful bid against Biden within the party.
I should add that I believe the issue of whether the media were complicit is a complex one. The media is not one monolithic entity. It's a wide range of individual people across many orgs, with widely varying levels of insight/insider info on the Biden administration. Did some know that Biden had declined and were "covering" for him, at least to some extent? I think so. But to paint it with a broad brush that all, or even most, journalists were "in on it" is not something I can agree with.
A major factor to consider: Biden's team PUSHED for this debate to happen in late June, the earliest timing ever. Would they have done that if they knew just how much Biden had declined? I don't think so. I think he has a "range" of how sharp he is, within a given day, and he came in at the very bottom (or even lower) than that range.
I suspect the stress of being President, being 81, contending with the rigors of the campaign, etc., has accelerated Biden's decline in a big way. And I think it's only going to worsen. I think July 18 is the over/under on when he announces he will not run for re-election.
Matt: In regard to the media being complicit, you say the media is NOT a monolithic entity. On the other hand "hell hath no fury like a media duped" implies it very much is. Perhaps you meant "hell hath no fury like SOME media duped" or "hell hath not fury like the NYT and WaPO duped?" So is the media heterogeneous when dealing with complicity but somehow monolithic when dishing out revenge?
It's nice to see the media start to tell the truth after 4 years of gaslighting and helping to protect the precious. The media even helped Joe in the debate 4 years back when the moderators helped with the laptop is a russian op lie, in real time at a debate
Matt, stop making excuses. The media was NOT duped. I agree with many of the posted comments, and in particular Dan P: "the media was NOT duped, they were COMPLICIT" After almost 50 years in medicine it was obvious to me from the get go that Joe Biden had MORE than mere age related cognitive decline. But the legacy media - rather than doing the job as journalists - turned into biased advocates (I suspect because of the presence of the "evil" Orange Man). The larger issue in terms of our democracy is how the fourth estate - whose historical role was the "seeker of truth" regardless of consequences - turned into ugly whores for one particular political party. The fury by the WH and the Democrats directed at Robert Hur, for revealing the inconvenient truth about Mr. Biden's cognitive impairment, and the coverage by the legacy press was telling (The press was confused. They could not ignore it. The question was how to mitigate it). Talk about threats to our Republic! IMO, you as a journalist should be more concerned about this abrogation of professional standards - journalists I assume have some ... NO? ... than anything else in this Biden fiasco.
And as I told you previously Biden ain't going anywheres. Why? Because hubris is not just a Greek or Shakespearian theatrical affliction for one. And two, power is enticing. It corrupts. No one gives it up willingly (unless you're LBJ). And finally the "man behind the throne" - Jill Biden - is afflicted with these two contagions likely more than is Joe Biden. Dr. Jill likely knows that ole Joe belongs in an assisted living facility. But she also knows that the WH is the best equipped and best staffed assisted living facility on the planet. Ole Joe is staying exactly where he is.
But your profession should have a long look in the mirror.
Matt as a presidential buff just curious has there ever in the history of presidential debates been a worse performance? My suspicion is this was not just a bad day this was the worst debate performance ever. And that this fact is also being given a bye by the media. I even wonder could this be the worst public debate performance ever?
"With so many media outlets now reckoning with whether they have given Biden too much of a pass, the pendulum has emphatically swung the other way. And don’t count on that pendulum swinging back any time soon."
There's absolutely no doubt the media covered for him. It's why no one trusts them. Too many things have been printed on this topic and others that strain credibility. The approved line was often the wrong line. And here's the thing Jack (in Biden voice), people aren't stupid. I could see he was impaired in 2020, but it was easy to hide that fact when you campaign like Covid allowed. In fact I was astonished that the tide this past week turned so fast. I didn't think Biden did bad in the debate from the standpoint, that he has been doing this for a long time. Anyone could see it. Remember the "cheapfakes", the latest lie from the media? I thought he'd done as he has been doing. I could see it, why couldn't anyone else? And now because the official line is Biden can't win, all of a sudden the media discovers this? Bullshit. The media wasn't duped, they were complicit.
But the dems did it to themselves and now they have to live with it. Had Biden governed from the middle as he promised and not lied, he'd have had this election in hand long ago. But he had to pander and here we are.
Kleinman nails it. Journos have no grounds for being pissed: they were indeed complicit.
Very much enjoyed your walk-through the very odd circumstances 100 years ago!
I can’t disagree, though I also can’t see any feasible/logistical option than to run Harris in his stead. And I’ll vote for her, but this is yet another frustrating example from just my lifetime of the Dems shooting themselves in the foot when they absolutely did not have to.