Joe Biden’s Stage 4 prostate cancer diagnosis set off an incredible TV firestorm. First the condolences poured in, and within what seemed like minutes, the doubters took issue with the suspicious timing, asking why we should believe anything out of his mouth, especially when he and his tiny inner circle have lied for years about his mental acuity.
Others are trying to use it as a shield. CNNs David Axelrod, a top advisor to Barack Obama and one of the few Democrats to warn during the campaign that the ex-president would be close to 90 at the end of his term, now insists that chatter by pundits and Democrats should be more muted and “set aside” in light of Biden’s sad cancer diagnosis.
In other words, he played the sympathy card. And that’s outrageous.
The fact that Axelrod, a onetime Chicago reporter who has played at the upper echelon of politics for decades, thinks perhaps the greatest coverup in American politics should be swept under the rug because Biden was diagnosed with cancer, is exactly what landed Democrats in this mess in the first place. It reminds me of those three cartoon monkeys with their hands covering their eyes, mouth and ears.
The fact that Biden’s life-threatening cancer has spread to his bones is hard to fathom. And my heart goes out to him and his family. Cancer is a beast.
Name calling and condemnation have no place in this discussion. Taylor Lorenz, a left-wing former reporter for the New York Times and Washington Post, wrote on X about Biden: “I hope he rots in hell and stands in piss.” That’s abhorrent.
How can we not put his “age,” a term being used interchangeably with mental decline, front and center when we hear Jon Favreau, a former Obama speechwriter, admit he was part of the coverup?
On his “Pod Save America” podcast, Favreau confessed that while he didn’t know exactly what was going on behind the scenes, if Joe Biden was the candidate, “I want him to f***g win.”
And we certainly can’t bury our heads when a new, much-touted book reveals countless concealments and contretemps as his wife and small group of advisors secretly debated whether he’d need a wheelchair in a second term.
Over the years I’ve seen Biden in the Senate and as vice president. He’s a likable guy, but he was a different person then. This doesn’t give him a pass, especially when he and his doctors have stubbornly refused to answer questions.
“Original Sin,” the book by CNN anchor Jake Tapper and Axios reporter and CNN contributor Alex Thompson, features 200 interviews from mostly Democrats claiming Cabinet members were shielded from Biden and saying he constantly fumbled important dates. The book points out he couldn’t recognize longtime allies, including actor George Clooney, who raised $28 million for him.
All of this unfolded while his staff was publicly praising his exceptional abilities and slamming conservative media outlets for expressing horror at his decline. Now the Dems, like Axelrod, want to pull the plug just as a treasure trove of new information is revealed?
In June 2024, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, “Right-wing critics of the president have a credibility problem.” She mocked reporters for daring to question her about her 80-year-old boss, claiming she had trouble keeping up with him. Now she’s gone radio silent.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told NBC News at the time that Biden “is sharp, intensely probing and detail oriented and focused.” And Ron Klain, his longtime confidant and chief of staff, said that “the president absolutely is sharp, fit and on top of his game.”
Klain later recanted to author Chris Whipple, who quoted him as saying, when he returned to run debate prep for Biden, that “he’d never seen him so exhausted and out of it” and “wondered half-seriously if Biden thought he was president of NATO instead of the U.S.” That disastrous debate against Trump drove Biden from the race.
Most in the legacy media wanted to keep Donald Trump out of the White House. With a few exceptions, many turned the other way when Biden’s health was concerned.
It’s truly scandalous that high-ranking Biden officials denied what the conservative media were reporting all along. Yes, they had a motive to attack and call out deception, but it doesn’t mean they were wrong.
Even Tapper admitted this, while selling his book, to Megyn Kelly on Sirius XM, saying that “conservative media was right.” To which they now cry too late and too little. It’s hard to disagree.
And Thompson, who is known for his aggressive reporting, admitted on FOX News Sunday, “I do think we didn’t probe more, probe enough, into what was actually going on behind the scenes.”
As for the exasperation at what is called one of the greatest journalistic screwups in history, Thompson responded, “For people in the country who were frustrated with the coverup, “I don’t blame them.”
Why did mainstream media fall down on the job of covering Biden’s failing mental state? Did they do it purposely? Willingly? Or, did they simply believe it wasn’t true? Seems like it was more sinister than not.
All the mea culpas in the world won’t bring back what little credibility we have as chroniclers of the executive branch. As if our reputation wasn’t damaged enough. Think of what lapses in coverage came the closest to this monumental blunder. It was most of the media buying the Bush administration’s argument that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, until our 2003 invasion of Iraq proved that to be a fraud.
Jake Tapper now argues that the media need to do soul searching. The media, for the most part, never do soul searching and can’t stand criticism. But the apologies are a start. Even if journalists got there taking the scenic route.
