Sunday Noticeboard

Today’s noticeboard is brought to you by Joe Biden’s mind, lately probed in potentially election-influencing ways by the US Department of Justice.

Too broken for court, too senile for jail, but he's still President of the United States

Associated Press reports, although Biden won’t remember:

A special counsel report released Thursday found evidence that President Joe Biden wilfully retained and shared highly classified information when he was a private citizen, including about military and foreign policy in Afghanistan, but concluded that criminal charges were not warranted.

More precisely, the report found no jury would convict someone so enfeebled. Biden’s too senile for court, but seemingly not senile enough – yet – to be thrown out of the White House.

The report from special counsel Robert Hur resolves a criminal investigation that had shadowed Biden’s presidency for the last year. But its bitingly critical assessment of his handling of sensitive government records and unflattering characterizations of his memory will spark fresh questions about his competency and age that cut at voters’ most deep-seated concerns about his candidacy for re-election.

Let’s all of us enjoy a slab of that bitingly critical assessment:

"He [Biden] did not remember when he was vice president, forgetting on the first day of the interview when his term ended ('if it was 2013 – when did I stop being Vice President?'), and forgetting on the second day of the interview when his term began ('in 2009, am I still Vice President?')," Hur wrote.

The special counsel continued: "He did not remember, even within several years, when his son Beau died," which was in 2015.

"And his memory appeared hazy when describing the Afghanistan debate that was once so important to him ..."

Hur also wrote that Biden had "diminished faculties and faulty memory" both when talking to his ghostwriter and in his interviews with the special counsel's team …

In what turned out to be a strategic error, Biden subsequently called a press conference during which he insisted his mind was fine and slammed the report’s compelling detail:

“There’s even reference that I don’t remember when my son died. How in the hell dare he raise that?” Biden said ...

“I don’t need anyone to remind me of when he passed away,” he said.

But he clearly does. He also needs frequent reminders about where his son died. And then this happened:

After assuring us that his memory is fine, Joe Biden refers to Sisi of Egypt as "the president of Mexico." pic.twitter.com/D5Vbckkr1u

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) February 9, 2024

Biden’s always-obvious liquid brain syndrome is now such an election concern that White House reporters have turned on him:

The WH press corps got the signal tonight that it was safe to go into attack mode & make up for lost time. It duly obeyed. Reporters who once competed to throw softballs suddenly competed to hurl stones. What a weird little mob of robots. It was actually chilling to witness.

— Walter Kirn (@walterkirn) February 9, 2024

Some, notably at the New York Times and Washington Post, remain loyal to Team Dementia. They'll probably transfer that devotion to Team Cackle Pants should VP Kamala Harris be elevated:

it's ok, at least the Vice President is there.pic.twitter.com/QWOOQZxy50

— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) February 8, 2024

I’d vote for her. After all, if the world is going to hell, best be quick about it.

UPDATE. Here comes 76-year-old Hillary, bringing her voter-friendly youth angle to the game:

Hillary Clinton calls Joe Biden’s age a ‘legitimate issue’ https://t.co/1HbfrgDV9b pic.twitter.com/jpnTiHwkWo

— New York Post (@nypost) February 10, 2024

UPDATE II. Grandtard needs another nap:

After a disastrous week, Biden takes no questions as he retreats to Delaware for the weekend.

Biden has spent 436 days — 39% of his presidency — on vacation. pic.twitter.com/rvfrUq8JWS

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) February 10, 2024