There’s a lot to unpack there. Let’s just go with the highlights:
I though the rule was that we can’t comment Biden’s mental state unless we’ve met him. Seems like a bit of a double standard to me. One rule for you and one for everyone else.
What about this comment suggests to you that I don’t think it is possible:
You do understand what “think” and “might be” mean, right?
I doubt he is senile if he can bike. None of us can judge unless/until we see him an unscripted setting.
Joe was never a smooth talker to begin with. He’s been speaking politician for 50 years now.
I don’t give a crap if he glitches from time to time. When the felon glitches that makes policy cause otherwise he would have glitched or been wrong. When Joe glitches we laugh about and move on while his competent staff do their jobs.
Riding a bike is like the one thing you can’t forget how to do.
This is a really good point. The president has a lot less individual power, but man can they screw everyone if they don’t appoint competent people.
I have!
tldr: had a jerb in the 90’s selling candy at Radio City Music Hall during the holiday season while the Christmas Spectacular was running. Donald strolls in with two cute kids and a police officer about 5 minutes after the show started, so he was essentially the only one remaining in the foyer. They march over to my stand where an impeccably dressed ~12 year old? Ivanka and a tubby little fellow, who I’m guessing now was Eric, each ordered two boxes of candy. While talking to the cop, Donald hands me a $20. I give him back his change (lol 90’s prices), which he takes without ever looking at me or saying a word.
Fin
cliffs: I’ve met Don and am thus an authority on everything to do with the election
Knowing how to ride a bicycle isn’t the same thing as having the mental/physical ability to ride one safely.
We’re straying really far from the specific case of Biden here, but in general someone could have substantial memory impairment, but still able to ride a bicycle on a route that the secret service has cleared for him. I’d think you would be one of the last people who would need this explained to them.
Who cares about any of this? I don’t care if his glitches include forgetting his own name, pissing his pants, and periodically shouting coo coo for cocoa puffs. He’s still light years better than Trump. As long as he has a good cabinet and competent staff, I don’t think it much matters
I also agree that his stuttering problem makes it appear like he’s losing it more than he probably has
That said, it’s absurd to blame anyone for thinking 81 is too fucking old to be running for president imo
The real question is if he carries a firearm while biking. That would get my vote.
For your number 1, I can conclude that based on the language I wrote, which is this:
‘He’s no doubt sharper as well from my conversations with him than how Biden appears in public.’
I can compare how Biden appears in public vs. how this other person is in person. I cannot compare them in person. You made a statement about Biden without knowing how he is in person. You could have said, ‘he publicly appears to be better off physically than mentally’ and it wouldn’t have bothered me. But, you said what you said.
And again, what you said triggered the response. I’m just saying I’m tired of hearing this armchair stuff and am done with it. If you want to carry on more power to you.
Why should anyone care how Biden compares to the average 81 year old? Talk about moving goal posts. His age, physical condition, and mental condition are all liabilities and shouldn’t be off limits for conversation, wtf.
Come on, man. Really? You’re thinking someone read my post and thought, “Well, clearly Melk thinks this because he went biking with Biden last weekend.”
You don’t need to pretend that you were raised by wolves. The default assumption is that no one has met Biden or spent significant time with him in person. We’re all critiquing Biden based on what we see and read in various media. We don’t end every with post with a “*based on how Biden appears in public”. It goes without saying. Everyone knows this, and apparently now you do too.
But they should be now
I hate to say this, but I’m pretty sure the two nominees are gonna be Trump and Biden whether any of us likes it or not. We need to move past his age. Yeah, he’s old and yeah ot would’ve been better to go with a younger nominee. But this is what we got and it’s still a heckuva lot better than Trump
At 55, I lose my train of thought when speaking more than I did when I was younger. And as a computer programmer, I have to think about things longer.
But it’s not like being president is a job that requires snap-decisions, like say NFL head coach or SWAT team leader or something. You have time to mull things over!
Gaffes during prepared speeches maybe erode a little bit of public confidence (especially because the media plays them up as just as bad if not worse than Trump posting a New Reich video on Truth Social). But, hear me out on this, maybe they aren’t that consequential to the job of being president.
I can juggle 17 variables in my head at maybe 80-90% of what I could do in my 20s. But I have 25+ years of programming wisdom to make up for it. Knowing which paths to take and which to avoid saves incalculable time and effort over the life of the project. I imagine presidenting has some similar equation.
But get me in a job interview now and the ONLY thing that matters is my ability to quickly solve whiteboard problems under pressure. Which makes zero sense, because quickly programming under pressure basically never comes up in the job. This whole speech gaffe thing feels similar to me.
Another aspect of this is that if I got out of programming now, then tried to get back in when I was 65, it would probably be impossible. But I know I could keep programming between now and then and still be productive. Staying in the game is super important as you get older. So assuming Biden’s acumen is similar to the average 81-year-old who’s been retired for 15 years is a fallacy imo.
tl;dr - Stop being ageist. Respect the wisdom of your elders. They know shit!
Ok, boomer!
When we get to the point of not being able to criticize left leaning politicians for very obvious deficiencies that feels a little too cult-like for me. Isn’t that exactly what we make fun of MAGA people for doing with Trump?
Not to mention I think this board is fairly complimentary of Biden overall. I would guess we are light years more positive as a whole on him than March 2020 for example. And yes no one knows exactly what Biden’s mental faculties are. He is 81 though and just based on that it’s safe to assume there has been some decline. I don’t think he is senile but it’s obvious he isn’t at the same level he was 15 years ago. But that’s normal for any 81 year old. Hell i would easily guess Biden is in the top 10-20% of people that age in mental acuity at least probably higher.
A worthless anecdote but i had dinner Friday with an attorney friend i hadn’t seen in person since before the pandemic. He is 73. Is he still as sharp as he was when I first met him at 60 or so? No. But he is still very sharp. I would pick him in a heartbeat to handle a case for me in his area of law. I guess my point is both things can be true. Biden can be both mentally competent and not as mentally competent as he used to be. It would be very unusual for that not to be the case.
Sir, this is a politics forum.
