No. of Recommendations: 5
"Even before (he) became the oldest elected president, his mental state was a political issue. His adversaries often suggested his penchant for contradictory statements, forgetting names and seeming absent-mindedness could be linked to dementia."
Familiar Trumpist attack on Biden, one we see here regularly and normally stated in highly insulting terms.
But this comment.....excerpted from a 2015 NYT article written by Lawrence Altman, MD.....is about Ronald Reagan.
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/31/health/parsing-....
A few more relevant excerpts for those who can't access this article....
"In 1980, Mr. Reagan told me that he would resign the presidency if White House doctors found him mentally unfit. Years later, those doctors and key aides told me they had not detected any changes in his mental abilities while in office.
Now a clever new analysis has found that during his two terms in office, subtle changes in Mr. Reagan's speaking patterns linked to the onset of dementia were apparent years before doctors diagnosed his Alzheimer's disease in 1994.
The findings, published in The Journal of Alzheimer's Disease by researchers at Arizona State University, do not prove that Mr. Reagan exhibited signs of dementia that would have adversely affected his judgment and ability to make decisions in office.
But the research does suggest that alterations in speech one day might be used to predict development of Alzheimer's and other neurological conditions years before symptoms are clinically perceptible."
Don't know, of course, whether Joe Biden's verbal slips fall within the spectrum of normal aging or are preclinical signs of Alzheimer's. But if the latter, he certainly is not yet at a point at which his ability to meet the mental demands of office is compromised.
Even without those verbal gaffes, Biden isn't a great public speaker. But the focus should be on what he's accomplished, and under extremelly difficult circumstances. Dear Marjorie Taylor Greene has certainly....and unwittingly....expressed it so clearly that Biden's supporters have transformed her tirade into a campaign ad for Biden.
I'm not thrilled with Biden's age. And I would certainly be happier about his running again if he had chosen a different running mate. My fantasy is that Kamala Harris will be talked into declining to run again, and he can choose someone truly capable of assuming the presidency if needed.
And at least we know that they both respect democracy, the law, our republic, equality, and safety.
