Back in the days of yore, before I retired, most of my legal practice was in the area of Social Security Disability. Mental impairments are graded (so to speak) on a continuum: Mild, Moderate, Marked, Extreme.
Before he was even inaugurated I diagnosed Trump’s impairment as extreme, and I think (too lazy to find the numerous links) most professionals who have ventured an opinion agree with me. Not only is he seriously ill, the nature of his mental illness is probably the worst imaginable for a national leader. A bit of depression (e.g., Abraham Lincoln) wouldn’t be disqualifying, but raging narcissism combined with his other symptoms (inveterate lying, total lack of empathy, etc.) are disqualifying in the extreme.
But this post is not about Trump’s extreme mental illness, it’s about Joe Biden’s mild to moderate problem. Recently Joe made it clear that he has no reason to run except to stop Trump, which might be fine if he weren’t the most vulnerable of the possible candidates to Trump’s schoolyard bullying tactics. He might still win, but his is not an attitude designed to rally the base, or anyone else.
But Biden’s problems run deeper. He is a liar. His problem is mild to moderate compared to Trump, but lets face it, we can expect from the press exactly what we’ve seen in the past. Hearken back to those days of yesteryear, in this case the year 2000, when Gore’s alleged untruths (and most of them weren’t even untruths) got endless press while Bush got a free pass. It will happen again in 2020 if Biden is nominated, for after all, we’ve already processed the fact that Trump lies about everything so there’s no reason to write about that, but every stretcher Biden tells will be endlessly magnified. It has been an uneven playing field for years, and that will continue in 2020. Individual members of the press may loathe Trump, but they can’t break free of the unwritten rules that give greater leeway to Republicans than Democrats.
Which brings us to the latest.
Biden has claimed that, although he voted for the Iraq war, he quickly turned against it. Read the entire linked article, but this caught my attention:
“[Bush] looked me in the eye in the Oval Office. He said he needed the vote to be able to get inspectors into Iraq to determine whether or not Saddam Hussein was engaged in dealing with a nuclear program,” Biden told NPR. “He got them in and before you know it, we had ‘shock and awe.’”
Bush spokesperson Freddy Ford denied Biden’s chain of events, telling NPR, “While I’m sure it’s just an innocent mistake of memory, but this recollection is flat wrong.”
As the linked article demonstrates, this statement conflicts with the historical record, since long after shock and awe (July of 2003) Biden said: “Nine months ago, I voted with my colleagues to give the president of the United States of America the authority to use force, and I would vote that way again today.”
The story about looking Bush in the eye is reminiscent of Biden’s lie about pinning a medal on a Navy captain. Charitably speaking, it was an amalgam of stories, in none of which Biden played a prominent part. In reality, it was either a lie or the product of a deteriorating mind. This is not a new thing with Biden, he has a history of fabrications, nothing like Trump’s, but see above.
Of all the possible nominees, Biden gives Democratic leaning voters the most reason to stay home in 2020. If he beats Trump, which is a big if, we are guaranteed to lose both houses in 2022 and the presidency in 2024, and the winner that year may be worse than Trump. After all, we all thought no one could possibly be worse than W.
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