Journal of Other Forum Analysis

[Hap Shaughnessy]

https://www.resetera.com/threads/us-politics-ot-1-smoked-filled-mar-a-lago-rooms.826662/page-233?post=125526579#post-125526579

We would be lying to people if we told them that Biden can do the job for four more years, which is what he is asking and what he is saying.

...which is why you also include of course the built-in succession of power in case he can't fulfill his duties. Why would you ever try to promise anyone that *any* president is guaranteed to finish out their term? It's completely unnecessary. It's the whole point of picking a VP and asking the citizens to vote for not just the presidential candidate.

He could be 20 years younger in the height of his "Diamond Joe" years and still very possibly could have succumbed to a stroke, terminal cancer...any number of things, maybe even a completely novel strain of virus causing a pandemic...

Neither candidate is possessed of the same mental faculties they both demonstrated even just 4 years ago. There's decline apparent in Trump's performance too.

Democrats don't need to get together and decide between throwing Joe under the bus or gaslighting everyone that there's nothing to see there. They could also just frame this as exactly what it is: a choice between two men of advanced age, each at least a decade or more beyond normal retirement age, each with existing signs of mental dropoff and steadily increasing risk for severe mental degradation in the next 4 years. Until there's a mental diagnosis to the contrary, there's nothing to suggest that Biden isn't sufficiently in command of his mental faculties to choose to stay in the race and serve another term, successor in place, any more or less than Trump is fit to do so on the same basis.

https://www.resetera.com/threads/us-politics-ot-1-smoked-filled-mar-a-lago-rooms.826662/page-233?post=125527146#post-125527146

It's honestly crazy how much time we demand candidates go out and campaign. What an absolute waste of time and energy. Why would I want the president, or even a senator to spend months going around giving similar speeches when they should be spending that time actually doing their job? I know there's nothing to be done about it, but it's just so dumb.

Also, there have been some saying they feel lied to by Biden's staff and allies and I have a hard time buying it. Just as I can't deny what I saw on the debate stage was a complete disaster, I also can't deny what I saw in speeches and interviews and press conferences he gave just a few months ago. He sounded older than he used to, no doubt, but he always seemed completely present. The debate was a whole other level I hadn't seen before. And it was their idea! So I'm to believe his staff knew his condition was bad or worsening, and then decided, "hey! Let's set up two debates against Trump and really show the country how Biden is doing"? How does that make any sense? I don't know what happened, but it feels like his team was as blind sided as the rest of us.